SCHUMANN : GENOVEVA

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 8th of August  2010  3.04 - 5.30 pm

INTRODUCTION
PREVIEW
PICTURES

SCHUMANN: Genoveva, an opera in four acts
Genoveva...................... Anne Schwanewilms
Siegfried........................ Morten Frank Larsen
Golo............................. Shawn Mathey
Margaretha................... Birgit Remmert
Hidulfus/Drago.............. Markus Marquardt
Balthasar....................... Jae-Hyong Kim
Caspar.......................... Gun-Wook Lee
MDR Radio Chorus & Orch/Jun Märkl (German Radio, Hallé)

One interesting thing about this rare and only opera by Robert Schumann is its Wagnerian connections: it was composed when Richard was working on his Lohengrin, and both stories are set in Brabant, concerning a lady who is falsely accused of wickedness (here Genevieve, there Elsa of Brabant). Richard (never one to be diplomatic) criticized Robert's libretto for Genoveva; but Robert continued to admire Wagner's work, and even imitated him (no recitatives, no spoken dialogue, sung through all the way). Incidentally, the hero is called Siegfried.

The introduction is from Wikipedia; the preview has a synopsis and excerpts from this performance; the pictures are on the booking page for this production (sorry, no tickets available now).

Jacques Offenbach  also composed an operetta on this theme, Geneviève de Brabant,  which includes the Gendarmes' Duet ("we run them in in"), which was later used in the USA for the Marines' Hymn ("we done them in"?).