| Arnold Schoenberg: Vision (Satire) - Oil on cardboard (undated). |
As I promised earlier today, here's an extra post dedicated to the memory of Marie Gutheil-Schoder, the soprano who created the solitary role in the original production of Schoenberg's Erwartung in 1924. She was known in her day as not just a great opera singer, but as a great operatic actress. Gustav Mahler called her a musical genius. That's something that should certainly make you sit up and notice! Unfortunately, Gutheil-Schoder left behind only a very few recordings: a couple excerpts from Carmen, an aria from The Merry Wives of Windsor, and some duets from Tales of Hoffmann, all recorded in 1902. But her legacy did live on in the form of the great mezzo Risë Stevens, who was one of her students.
So, it's a Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. You're feeling a great emptiness in your life... a vast, gaping hole, one that only post-Romantic Expressionist atonality can fill. You've come to the right place! (Read more below...)