Jaromir Weinberger: Wallenstein

Description

In 1927 the Czech composer Jaromir Weinberger celebrated a sensational success with Schwanda the Bagpiper. Then, in 1938, one year after the premiere of Wallenstein in Vienna, Weinberger had to flee from the Nazis. He did not have much success in the United States, suffered while in exile, and took his own life in 1967. Wallenstein was completely forgotten, certainly also because of the great challenges posed by its performance. Cornelius Meister, the principal conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, writes, 'Along with a large chorus and orchestra, there are numerous stage musicians who are divided into three groups, including a harpsichord, a large military band, and trumpets. Weinberger has a different style featured in each of the six scenes, from the operetta, atonality, and folk-inspired music to romantically ramified counterpoint, so that one almost has the impression that several composers are at work.' The opera is based on Friedrich Schiller's trilogy of the same name on the subject of the downfall of the famous General Wallenstein during the Thirty Years' War.