No saints in two acts

The cast of Wiener Staatsoper’s first-ever performance of Lulu in 1968 reads like a Who’s Who of then-contemporary Austro-German opera: the 28-year-old Anja Silja, Martha Mödl, Waldemar Kmentt, Hans Hotter, Hilde Konetzni, Manfred Jungwirth, Heinz Zednik, and Karl Böhm presiding over a production by Otto Schenk.

Silja, who is still active in opera today at age 76, sang the title role in Wien 19perform Schigolch around the world into his 80s, memorably singing the part again in San Francisco in 1989.

This is, of course, the original two-act version given until the death of the Widow Berg (who, some claim, was visited by Alban in her dreams and he told her not to release the third act of Lulu), which cleared the way for the discovery of exactly how much of the third act Berg did compose. This turned out to be considerably more than anyone thought and Viennese composer Frederic Cerha was engaged to complete the scoring according to Berg’s notes and fill in the missing bits.

Unfortunately this was not completed in time for the Met’s premiere of the work, and—as in this performance—was concluded with the suite of the opera. With his music—particularly Wozzeck—deemed entartete Kunst (degerate art) by the Third Reich, Berg lost the will to complete the opera, turning his attention to his heartbreaking Violin Concerto, and instead composed a stand-alone concert suite which served as the finale to the opera until the legendary 1979 Paris premiere of Cerha’s edition.

While the third act substantially alters the opera, turning it into a musical and dramatic palindrome, there is still much to admire in this truncated edition and serves as a showcase for the versatility of singers with reputations grounded in Wagner and Richard Strauss. Böhm’s clear, crisp conducting remains revelatory. Hereinspaziert!

Alban Berg: Lulu

Original Two Act Version

Wiener Staatsoper

Karl Böhm, conductor

16 December 1968

Lulu: Anja Silja
Dr. Schön: Ernst Gutstein
Alwa: Waldemar Kmentt
Gräfin Geschwitz: Martha Mödl
Schigolch: Hans Hotter
Der Maler: William Blankenship
Der Tierbändiger: Gerd Nienstedt
Rodrigo: Oskar Czerwenka
Der Prinz: Mario Guggia
Der Theaterdirektor: Manfred Jungwirth
Die Garderobiere: Hilde Konetzni
Der Gymnasiast: Rohangiz Yachmi
Der Kammerdiener: Heinz Zednik
Der Medizinalrat: Hans Brand

In case you missed it, last week I uploaded Anna Netrebko‘s performance of Richard Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder from a concert in Wien on 09 June conducted by Christian Thielemann. As always, you can find it here on my Mixcloud page.