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Home , Aegisthus, Arabella discography, Ariadne auf Naxos, Dantons Tod (opera), Die Liebe der Danae, Die schweigsame Frau

8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU:8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU 21-02-2011 9:17 Pagina 8

Richard Also Available STRAUSS • auf (Final Scenes) S OMA BEE H CH T A IR M S

8.111347 8.111033-34

1 s 947 Recording

Erna Schlüter • • Paul Schöffler • Karl Friedrich • Royal Philharmonic and Chorus

8.111011-13 8.111014-15 Sir

8.111372 8 8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU:8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU 21-02-2011 9:17 Pagina 2

where he first studied before moving to to work and Iseut in Frank Martin’s Le Vin herbé (1948). Her with Marco Sammarco. His début was as the Herald in attractive voice and compelling stage manner were in in 1925, the following year much admired. She died in in June 1949. becoming a member of that company and remaining The Austrian Karl Friedrich (1905-1981) until 1938. From there he moved to the Vienna State was born in Vienna and studied at that city’s until he retired in 1970. His début was as Musikakademie. His début took place in Karlsruhe in GREAT OPERA RECORDINGS Donner in 1934 at , where he would sing 1931, followed by engagements in Stralsund, until 1953; he first appeared in 1938 at , where Magdeburg and Düsseldorf before he sang at the Vienna Richard he sang regularly until 1965. Schöffler made his first . He sang regularly at the American appearance at the in New between 1937 and 1950. He also sang operetta and took STRAUSS York in 1950 after which he continued for nine seasons part in Austrian Radio studio broadcasts of Lehár’s until 1964. In addition to creating the title-rôle in and Paganini under the composer’s direction. (1864-1949) ’s in 1947 and Jupiter In the latter part of his career he moved into in Strauss’s in 1952, both at parts. Salzburg, his repertoire included , Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) spent a huge Elektra, Op. 58 Scarpia, Amfortas, Kurwenal, Pizarro, Iago, Orest, amount of time (and money) in the in the Tragedy in One Act – by Wotan and the Grand Inquisitor. He also sang in the years leading up to 1924. He then, in late 1932, founded 1950s in . After retiring he moved to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which played at Elektra ...... Erna Schlüter () Britain, where his sister was married to the English Covent Garden from 1933 until 1939 when the Orest ...... Paul Schöffler () conductor Mark Lubbock. He died in Amersham, conductor was in overall control of the International ...... Ljuba Welitsch (soprano) Buckinghamshire. Seasons in that house. During the years 1941 and 1944 Aegisth ...... Walter Widdop (tenor) The Russian-born soprano Maria Cebotari (1910- he conducted opera at the Metropolitan Opera House in The Tutor ...... Ernst Erbach () 1949) appeared with a travelling company before New York. Returning to Britain in 1944 Sir Thomas Monica Warner (soprano) joining the Moscow Arts Theatre. She moved to founded the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which he Gwladys Garside (mezzo-soprano) and studied with Oskar Daniel. Her début was in 1931 conducted until his death. His post-war operatic Maids ...... Maud Heaton () as Mimì in La Bohème at Dresden, where she sang until ventures were devoted to several studio broadcasts, Die Sylvia Patriss (contralto) 1936, in addition to creating the rôle of Aminta in Meistersinger von Nürnberg and at ’s . She Covent Garden in 1951, Delius’s in in Royal Philharmonic Chorus • Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performed with the Dresden Company when they 1953, and a memorable season at the Teatro Colón, Sir Thomas Beecham appeared at London’s in 1936, Buenos Aires in the late summer of 1958. He also made singing Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Zerlina (Don commercial recordings of Gounod’s in 1948 Giovanni) and Sophie (). She then (Naxos 8.110117-18), Puccini’s La Bohème (1956) Recorded in EMI Studio No. 1, Abbey Road, London, 27th-29th October, 1947 joined the Staatsoper in Berlin, where she appeared (Naxos 8.111249-50), Mozart’s Die Entführung aus Matrix nos.: 2EA 12456-2, 12457-2, 12458-1, 12459-2, 12460-2, 12461-1, 12462-2 and 12463-3 during the years 1936-44 before moving to Vienna in dem Serail (also 1956) and (1958-59). First issued on HMV DB 9393 through 9396 1946. At the Salzburg Festival she created the rôles of Lucille in Gottfied von Einem’s Dantons Tod (1947) Malcolm Walker

8.111372 2 7 8.111372 8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU:8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU 21-02-2011 9:17 Pagina 6

Naxos was to repay a debt of gratitude to the producer 1930 she was a member of the Stuttgart State Opera for his rescue of Der Rosenkavalier at a where her rôles included Elena in , crucial moment when a firm director was required. The , Leonora in and Donna Anna in Don first version of the opera was in a single act to be played Giovanni. She also appeared in the première of after Hofmannsthal’s German translation of Molière’s Winfried Zilling’s Der Rossknecht. In 1934 she sang the comédie-ballet , for which title part in Richard Strauss’s under Strauss had composed incidental music. The work was the composer’s direction. In 1940 she became a member Richard given its première in Stuttgart in October 1912. This of the where she remained until version proved impractical in that it required both a her retirement in 1956. Schlüter appeared as Elektra at STRAUSS theatrical company and an operatic ensemble on the Covent Garden in 1953-54. Her United States début was (1864-1949) same evening. Furthermore, an audience for the play to have taken place in 1947 but she was refused a visa to was not necessarily interested in the ensuing opera and sing at the Metropolitan. In 1947 she sang Ellen Orford vice versa. Strauss and Hofmannsthal soon realised that in the German première of Britten’s Peter Grimes. their original concept was impractical and revised the The red-headed Bulgarian soprano Ljuba Welitsch Ariadne auf Naxos, Op. 60 score into a version with a sung prologue and a single (1913-1996) studied singing in Sofia and following Opera in One Act with Prologue – Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal act. This was given in Vienna in October 1916 and is further tuition in Vienna, made her début in Sofia in Ariadne ...... Maria Cebotari (soprano) the version normally given today. 1936. Engagements followed in (1937-40), ...... Karl Friedrich (tenor) The Prologue in the revised version is more in the Hamburg (1941-43), (1943-46) and the Vienna nature of a conversation between the characters and State Opera (1946-58). She first appeared in London Najade ...... Margaret Field-Hyde (soprano) contains few and duets. Set in the house of a with the visiting Company in 1947 Dryade ...... Gwladys Garside (contralto) ‘bourgeois gentilhomme’, the scene finds a troupe of and returned to the house between 1948 and 1952. ...... Edith Furmedge (soprano) commedia dell’arte players and an opera company, both Welitsch also appeared with Glyndebourne Festival Zerbinetta ...... Margaret Field-Hyde (soprano) engaged by the owner to provide simultaneous Opera at the Edinburgh Festival in 1948-49. Her performances before a grand fireworks display. In the American career was confined to the Metropolitan Royal Philharmonic Orchestra lively preparations that ensue the performers are all at Opera, where she appeared between 1948 and 1952. As Sir Thomas Beecham one with another over the entertainment, with the a performer she was a somewhat temperamental but distraught Composer concerned with the abridgement dramatic singer whose most memorable interpretation Recorded in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 1, London, 13th-15th October, 1947 of his opera. Eventually the opera proceeds. Set on a was as the heroine in Richard Strauss’s , which desert island in ancient times, it tells of Ariadne she sang under the conductor in 1944. Matrix nos.: 2EA 12440-1, 12420-1, 12419-1, 12421-1, 12422-1, 12423-1, 12424-1 and 12425-1 lamenting her abandonment by . She is The Yorkshire-born tenor Walter Widdop (1892- Unpublished on 78 rpm subsequently unmoved by entertainments of the 1949) studied with a local teacher and later served in the comedians or by the suggestion of Zerbinetta that there British Army during the Great War. His stage début was are many suitable men available. Bacchus then arrives, as Radames in with the British National Opera believed by Ariadne to be the god of death, but he Company in 1922. The following year he sang persuades her to a life with him. Joyfully they depart , followed by Siegmund in Die Walküre (1932) with Zerbinetta offering a whispered approval. and Tristan (1933 and 1937-38). He appeared in The German soprano Erna Schlüter (1904-1969) Gluck’s Armide opposite in 1928. He also made her début in her native Oldenburg as the Third sang in Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Australia, Lady in Die Zauberflöte in 1922. Originally a contralto but never appeared in the United States. Widdop was a she also sang the title-rôle of Gluck’s much admired singer who recorded and Azucena in Il trovatore. She moved to Mannhein in extensively. The night before he died he had sung 1925 and changed to a soprano, singing Santuzza, the Lohengrin’s Farewell at a Promenade Marschallin and Tosca. Five years later she sang her Concert. first Brünnhilde in Siegfried. During the decade starting Paul Schöffler (1897-1977) was born in Dresden, 8.111372 63 8.111372 8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU:8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU 21-02-2011 9:17 Pagina 4

Elektra Richard Strauss (1864-1949) Elektra and Ariadne auf Naxos: Final Scenes Final Scene 4 Ich habe ihm das Beil nicht geben können! 2:12 (Elektra, Chrysothemis, Maids, Aegisth, In October 1947 at the age of 83, a very sprightly in a staged performance on Sunday 12th October 1947 1 Was willst du, fremder Mensch? 8:03 Chrysothemis, Voices) Richard Strauss made his first-ever flight to Britain to in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Beecham played the (Elektra, Orest) 5 He! Lichter! Lichter! 4:26 take part in a festival of the composer’s music organized Overture, followed by an abridged Final Scene. Strauss 2 Elektra! Elektra! 2:36 (Aegisth, Elektra) by the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham and Ernst Roth, was once again in the audience and the subsequent (Orest, Elektra) 6 Elektra! Schwester! 6:01 his publisher at Boosey and Hawkes. Incidentally, the recording was planned on 13th-14th October as a 3 Orest! Orest! Orest! 10:16 (Chrysothemis, Voices, Elektra) conductor and composer had known each other since souvenir of the occasion. The results, however, proved (Elektra, Orest, Tutor) 7 Schweig, und tanze 1:53 1910 and had not met since 1936. An additional purpose unsatisfactory and were rejected by the conductor on (Elektra, Chrysothemis) of the visit was to collect some of the royalties that had musical grounds, and release was delayed until 1979, accrued to the composer during the Second World War. the year of the anniversary of Beecham’s birth. It would also be the last time he would conduct in Elektra, Strauss’s fourth opera, interested the public. At the end of the month at the final concert the composer from the time he saw a production of the composer conducted the in an tragedy at the end of 1905 by the young Austrian poet arduous programme that contained the Sinfonia Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The composer had originally Ariadne auf Naxos domestica. Strauss was delighted with the whole affair wanted to compose a score for a comedy, but he was and certainly returned home a contented and wealthier suitably impressed by the musical opportunities the play 8 Opera Overture 4:58 ! Du schönes Wesen! 6:34 man. offered. Correspondence between composer and (Bacchus, Ariadne) For the record, Beecham had introduced Elektra to librettist began two years later and the première took Final Scene @ Bin ich ein Gott! 4:10 London in February 1910 and gave the British première place in Dresden on 25th January 1909. The score is the (Bacchus, Ariadne) of Salome in December the same year. He later directed composer’s most dissonant and brutal, conveying 9 Ein schönes Wunder! 3:41 # Gibt es kein Hinüber? 2:29 the third performance of Der Rosenkavalier in London intense psychological tension throughout. Little wonder (Najade, Dryade, Echo) (Ariadne, Bacchus) in February 1913 and presented the first version of this one-act work should have caused such a huge 0 , Circe, kannst du mich hören? 5:52 $ Töne, tö ne, süße Stimme 4:51 Ariadne auf Naxos to London in May of that year. The divergence of opinion with the musical press; so much (Bacchus, Ariadne, Najade, Dryade, Echo) (Najade, Dryade, Echo, Ariadne, Zerbinetta, latter work was the last Strauss opera Sir Thomas gave so that even a century on its stark realism remains very Bacchus) in Britain at the 1950 Edinburgh Festival. powerful. Beecham conducted two concert performances of The opera is set in the courtyard of the palace in Elektra at the BBC’s Maida Vale No. 1 Studio before an . A bedraggled Elektra laments the death of her invited audience on 24th and 26th October. Regarding father King , who has been murdered by Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn the choice of soloists the conductor was fortunate that Klytemnestra and her lover . Elektra dreams the Vienna State Opera Company were appearing at the of the return of her brother , but her thoughts are Special thanks to Richard A. Kaplan for providing source material Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and was thus able rudely shattered when news is brought of his death. The to make use of their artists in his performances and heroine then begs her sister Chrysothemis to aid her subsequent recordings. The composer attended Elektra vengeance, but to no avail. Elektra then digs up the and at the end of the first declaimed a loud ‘Bravo’. He hatchet that killed her father, buried in the courtyard. A later embraced the conductor and was extremely stranger interrupts her but slowly she begins to realise satisfied with the performance. Sadly when it came to that this is her disguised brother bent on vengeance. On Producer’s Note the recording on 27th-29th October just the Final Scene entering the palace Orestes kills Klytemnestra and was chosen as the costs and potential sales of a Aegisthus. Elektra dances triumphantly in satisfaction, The sources for the present transfers were American RCA Victor shellac pressings for Elektra, and a set of white complete Strauss opera on 78 rpm shellac discs could but collapses and dies. As the opera ends Chrysothemis label shellac HMV test pressings for the unpublished-on-78 Ariadne album. not be justified on commercial grounds. is heard calling for Orestes. Mark Obert-Thorn In the case of Ariadne auf Naxos, which was given The background to the writing of Ariadne auf 8.111372 45 8.111372 8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU:8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU 21-02-2011 9:17 Pagina 4

Elektra Richard Strauss (1864-1949) Elektra and Ariadne auf Naxos: Final Scenes Final Scene 4 Ich habe ihm das Beil nicht geben können! 2:12 (Elektra, Chrysothemis, Maids, Aegisth, In October 1947 at the age of 83, a very sprightly in a staged performance on Sunday 12th October 1947 1 Was willst du, fremder Mensch? 8:03 Chrysothemis, Voices) Richard Strauss made his first-ever flight to Britain to in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Beecham played the (Elektra, Orest) 5 He! Lichter! Lichter! 4:26 take part in a festival of the composer’s music organized Overture, followed by an abridged Final Scene. Strauss 2 Elektra! Elektra! 2:36 (Aegisth, Elektra) by the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham and Ernst Roth, was once again in the audience and the subsequent (Orest, Elektra) 6 Elektra! Schwester! 6:01 his publisher at Boosey and Hawkes. Incidentally, the recording was planned on 13th-14th October as a 3 Orest! Orest! Orest! 10:16 (Chrysothemis, Voices, Elektra) conductor and composer had known each other since souvenir of the occasion. The results, however, proved (Elektra, Orest, Tutor) 7 Schweig, und tanze 1:53 1910 and had not met since 1936. An additional purpose unsatisfactory and were rejected by the conductor on (Elektra, Chrysothemis) of the visit was to collect some of the royalties that had musical grounds, and release was delayed until 1979, accrued to the composer during the Second World War. the year of the anniversary of Beecham’s birth. It would also be the last time he would conduct in Elektra, Strauss’s fourth opera, interested the public. At the end of the month at the final concert the composer from the time he saw a production of the composer conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra in an tragedy at the end of 1905 by the young Austrian poet arduous programme that contained the Sinfonia Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The composer had originally Ariadne auf Naxos domestica. Strauss was delighted with the whole affair wanted to compose a score for a comedy, but he was and certainly returned home a contented and wealthier suitably impressed by the musical opportunities the play 8 Opera Overture 4:58 ! Du schönes Wesen! 6:34 man. offered. Correspondence between composer and (Bacchus, Ariadne) For the record, Beecham had introduced Elektra to librettist began two years later and the première took Final Scene @ Bin ich ein Gott! 4:10 London in February 1910 and gave the British première place in Dresden on 25th January 1909. The score is the (Bacchus, Ariadne) of Salome in December the same year. He later directed composer’s most dissonant and brutal, conveying 9 Ein schönes Wunder! 3:41 # Gibt es kein Hinüber? 2:29 the third performance of Der Rosenkavalier in London intense psychological tension throughout. Little wonder (Najade, Dryade, Echo) (Ariadne, Bacchus) in February 1913 and presented the first version of this one-act work should have caused such a huge 0 Circe, Circe, kannst du mich hören? 5:52 $ Töne, tö ne, süße Stimme 4:51 Ariadne auf Naxos to London in May of that year. The divergence of opinion with the musical press; so much (Bacchus, Ariadne, Najade, Dryade, Echo) (Najade, Dryade, Echo, Ariadne, Zerbinetta, latter work was the last Strauss opera Sir Thomas gave so that even a century on its stark realism remains very Bacchus) in Britain at the 1950 Edinburgh Festival. powerful. Beecham conducted two concert performances of The opera is set in the courtyard of the palace in Elektra at the BBC’s Maida Vale No. 1 Studio before an Mycenae. A bedraggled Elektra laments the death of her invited audience on 24th and 26th October. Regarding father King Agamemnon, who has been murdered by Producer and Audio Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn the choice of soloists the conductor was fortunate that Klytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Elektra dreams the Vienna State Opera Company were appearing at the of the return of her brother Orestes, but her thoughts are Special thanks to Richard A. Kaplan for providing source material Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and was thus able rudely shattered when news is brought of his death. The to make use of their artists in his performances and heroine then begs her sister Chrysothemis to aid her subsequent recordings. The composer attended Elektra vengeance, but to no avail. Elektra then digs up the and at the end of the first declaimed a loud ‘Bravo’. He hatchet that killed her father, buried in the courtyard. A later embraced the conductor and was extremely stranger interrupts her but slowly she begins to realise satisfied with the performance. Sadly when it came to that this is her disguised brother bent on vengeance. On Producer’s Note the recording on 27th-29th October just the Final Scene entering the palace Orestes kills Klytemnestra and was chosen as the costs and potential sales of a Aegisthus. Elektra dances triumphantly in satisfaction, The sources for the present transfers were American RCA Victor shellac pressings for Elektra, and a set of white complete Strauss opera on 78 rpm shellac discs could but collapses and dies. As the opera ends Chrysothemis label shellac HMV test pressings for the unpublished-on-78 Ariadne album. not be justified on commercial grounds. is heard calling for Orestes. Mark Obert-Thorn In the case of Ariadne auf Naxos, which was given The background to the writing of Ariadne auf 8.111372 45 8.111372 8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU:8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU 21-02-2011 9:17 Pagina 6

Naxos was to repay a debt of gratitude to the producer 1930 she was a member of the Stuttgart State Opera Max Reinhardt for his rescue of Der Rosenkavalier at a where her rôles included Elena in I vespri siciliani, crucial moment when a firm director was required. The Tosca, Leonora in Il trovatore and Donna Anna in Don first version of the opera was in a single act to be played Giovanni. She also appeared in the première of after Hofmannsthal’s German translation of Molière’s Winfried Zilling’s Der Rossknecht. In 1934 she sang the comédie-ballet Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, for which title part in Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos under Strauss had composed incidental music. The work was the composer’s direction. In 1940 she became a member Richard given its première in Stuttgart in October 1912. This of the Hamburg State Opera where she remained until version proved impractical in that it required both a her retirement in 1956. Schlüter appeared as Elektra at STRAUSS theatrical company and an operatic ensemble on the Covent Garden in 1953-54. Her United States début was (1864-1949) same evening. Furthermore, an audience for the play to have taken place in 1947 but she was refused a visa to was not necessarily interested in the ensuing opera and sing at the Metropolitan. In 1947 she sang Ellen Orford vice versa. Strauss and Hofmannsthal soon realised that in the German première of Britten’s Peter Grimes. their original concept was impractical and revised the The red-headed Bulgarian soprano Ljuba Welitsch Ariadne auf Naxos, Op. 60 score into a version with a sung prologue and a single (1913-1996) studied singing in Sofia and following Opera in One Act with Prologue – Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal act. This was given in Vienna in October 1916 and is further tuition in Vienna, made her début in Sofia in Ariadne ...... Maria Cebotari (soprano) the version normally given today. 1936. Engagements followed in Graz (1937-40), Bacchus ...... Karl Friedrich (tenor) The Prologue in the revised version is more in the Hamburg (1941-43), Munich (1943-46) and the Vienna nature of a conversation between the characters and State Opera (1946-58). She first appeared in London Najade ...... Margaret Field-Hyde (soprano) contains few arias and duets. Set in the house of a with the visiting Vienna State Opera Company in 1947 Dryade ...... Gwladys Garside (contralto) ‘bourgeois gentilhomme’, the scene finds a troupe of and returned to the house between 1948 and 1952. Echo ...... Edith Furmedge (soprano) commedia dell’arte players and an opera company, both Welitsch also appeared with Glyndebourne Festival Zerbinetta ...... Margaret Field-Hyde (soprano) engaged by the owner to provide simultaneous Opera at the Edinburgh Festival in 1948-49. Her performances before a grand fireworks display. In the American career was confined to the Metropolitan Royal Philharmonic Orchestra lively preparations that ensue the performers are all at Opera, where she appeared between 1948 and 1952. As Sir Thomas Beecham one with another over the entertainment, with the a performer she was a somewhat temperamental but distraught Composer concerned with the abridgement dramatic singer whose most memorable interpretation Recorded in EMI Abbey Road Studio No. 1, London, 13th-15th October, 1947 of his opera. Eventually the opera proceeds. Set on a was as the heroine in Richard Strauss’s Salome, which desert island in ancient times, it tells of Ariadne she sang under the conductor in 1944. Matrix nos.: 2EA 12440-1, 12420-1, 12419-1, 12421-1, 12422-1, 12423-1, 12424-1 and 12425-1 lamenting her abandonment by Theseus. She is The Yorkshire-born tenor Walter Widdop (1892- Unpublished on 78 rpm subsequently unmoved by entertainments of the 1949) studied with a local teacher and later served in the comedians or by the suggestion of Zerbinetta that there British Army during the Great War. His stage début was are many suitable men available. Bacchus then arrives, as Radames in Aida with the British National Opera believed by Ariadne to be the god of death, but he Company in 1922. The following year he sang persuades her to a life with him. Joyfully they depart Siegfried, followed by Siegmund in Die Walküre (1932) with Zerbinetta offering a whispered approval. and Tristan (1933 and 1937-38). He appeared in The German soprano Erna Schlüter (1904-1969) Gluck’s Armide opposite Frida Leider in 1928. He also made her début in her native Oldenburg as the Third sang in Barcelona, Amsterdam, Germany and Australia, Lady in Die Zauberflöte in 1922. Originally a contralto but never appeared in the United States. Widdop was a she also sang the title-rôle of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice much admired oratorio singer who recorded and Azucena in Il trovatore. She moved to Mannhein in extensively. The night before he died he had sung 1925 and changed to a soprano, singing Santuzza, the Lohengrin’s Farewell at a Henry Wood Promenade Marschallin and Tosca. Five years later she sang her Concert. first Brünnhilde in Siegfried. During the decade starting Paul Schöffler (1897-1977) was born in Dresden, 8.111372 63 8.111372 8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU:8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU 21-02-2011 9:17 Pagina 2

where he first studied before moving to Milan to work and Iseut in Frank Martin’s Le Vin herbé (1948). Her with Marco Sammarco. His début was as the Herald in attractive voice and compelling stage manner were Lohengrin in Dresden in 1925, the following year much admired. She died in Vienna in June 1949. becoming a member of that company and remaining The Austrian tenor Karl Friedrich (1905-1981) until 1938. From there he moved to the Vienna State was born in Vienna and studied at that city’s Opera until he retired in 1970. His London début was as Musikakademie. His début took place in Karlsruhe in GREAT OPERA RECORDINGS Donner in 1934 at Covent Garden, where he would sing 1931, followed by engagements in Stralsund, until 1953; he first appeared in 1938 at Salzburg, where Magdeburg and Düsseldorf before he sang at the Vienna Richard he sang regularly until 1965. Schöffler made his first State Opera. He sang regularly at the Salzburg Festival American appearance at the Metropolitan Opera in New between 1937 and 1950. He also sang operetta and took STRAUSS York in 1950 after which he continued for nine seasons part in Austrian Radio studio broadcasts of Lehár’s until 1964. In addition to creating the title-rôle in Giuditta and Paganini under the composer’s direction. (1864-1949) Gottfried von Einem’s Dantons Tod in 1947 and Jupiter In the latter part of his career he moved into in Strauss’s Die Liebe der Danae in 1952, both at comprimario parts. Salzburg, his repertoire included Don Giovanni, Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) spent a huge Elektra, Op. 58 Scarpia, Amfortas, Kurwenal, Pizarro, Iago, Orest, amount of time (and money) in the opera house in the Tragedy in One Act – Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal Wotan and the Grand Inquisitor. He also sang in the years leading up to 1924. He then, in late 1932, founded 1950s in San Francisco. After retiring he moved to the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which played at Elektra ...... Erna Schlüter (soprano) Britain, where his sister was married to the English Covent Garden from 1933 until 1939 when the Orest ...... Paul Schöffler (baritone) conductor Mark Lubbock. He died in Amersham, conductor was in overall control of the International Chrysothemis ...... Ljuba Welitsch (soprano) Buckinghamshire. Seasons in that house. During the years 1941 and 1944 Aegisth ...... Walter Widdop (tenor) The Russian-born soprano Maria Cebotari (1910- he conducted opera at the Metropolitan Opera House in The Tutor ...... Ernst Erbach (bass) 1949) appeared with a travelling company before New York. Returning to Britain in 1944 Sir Thomas Monica Warner (soprano) joining the Moscow Arts Theatre. She moved to Berlin founded the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which he Gwladys Garside (mezzo-soprano) and studied with Oskar Daniel. Her début was in 1931 conducted until his death. His post-war operatic Maids ...... Maud Heaton (contralto) as Mimì in La Bohème at Dresden, where she sang until ventures were devoted to several studio broadcasts, Die Sylvia Patriss (contralto) 1936, in addition to creating the rôle of Aminta in Meistersinger von Nürnberg and The Bohemian Girl at Richard Strauss’s Die schweigsame Frau. She Covent Garden in 1951, Delius’s Irmelin in Oxford in Royal Philharmonic Chorus • Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performed with the Dresden Company when they 1953, and a memorable season at the Teatro Colón, Sir Thomas Beecham appeared at London’s Royal Opera House in 1936, Buenos Aires in the late summer of 1958. He also made singing Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Zerlina (Don commercial recordings of Gounod’s Faust in 1948 Giovanni) and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier). She then (Naxos 8.110117-18), Puccini’s La Bohème (1956) Recorded in EMI Studio No. 1, Abbey Road, London, 27th-29th October, 1947 joined the Staatsoper in Berlin, where she appeared (Naxos 8.111249-50), Mozart’s Die Entführung aus Matrix nos.: 2EA 12456-2, 12457-2, 12458-1, 12459-2, 12460-2, 12461-1, 12462-2 and 12463-3 during the years 1936-44 before moving to Vienna in dem Serail (also 1956) and Carmen (1958-59). First issued on HMV DB 9393 through 9396 1946. At the Salzburg Festival she created the rôles of Lucille in Gottfied von Einem’s Dantons Tod (1947) Malcolm Walker

8.111372 2 7 8.111372 8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU:8.111372 bk Beecham conducts Strauss_EU 21-02-2011 9:17 Pagina 8

Richard Also Available STRAUSS Elektra • Ariadne auf Naxos (Final Scenes) S OMA BEE H CH T A IR M S

8.111347 8.111033-34

1 s 947 Recording

Erna Schlüter • Ljuba Welitsch • Paul Schöffler Maria Cebotari • Karl Friedrich • Walter Widdop Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus

8.111011-13 8.111014-15 Sir Thomas Beecham

8.111372 8 8.111372 rr Beecham conducts Strauss_EU:8.111372 rr Beecham conducts Strauss_EU 21-02-2011 9:10 Pagina 2

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R E C O R D I N G S NAXOS Historical R. STRAUSS: Elektra and Ariadne: Final Scenes 8.111372 35:28 32:35 Elektra Ariadne Time 68:03 , Beecham , Playing Elektra MONO 8.111372 Was willst du, fremder Mensch? fremder du, willst Was Elektra! Elektra! Orest! Orest! Orest! das Beil Ich habe ihm He! Lichter! Lichter! Elektra! Schwester! und tanze Schweig, Opera Overture Wunder! Ein schönes du mich hören? kannst Circe, Circe, Wesen! Du schönes Bin ich ein Gott Hinüber? Gibt es kein süße Stimme töne, Töne, ADD in London three years later. The later. years in London three Elektra – Final Scene 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Ariadne auf Naxos – Final Scene 8 9 0 ! @ # $ , and HMV test pressings for for and HMV test pressings , Ariadne Elektra Richard (1864–1949) STRAUSS Sir Thomas Beecham 27th-29th October, 1947 27th-29th October, 1947 13th-15th October, Elektra – Final Scene – Final Elektra which were unpublished on 78rpm, this Naxos Historical album celebrates the enormous this Naxos Historical album celebrates the on 78rpm, unpublished which were Recorded in EMI Studio No. 1, London in EMI Studio No. Recorded Road, Abbey 1, London in EMI Studio No. Recorded Road, Abbey Ariadne auf Naxos – Final Scene Ariadne auf Naxos Royal Philharmonic Chorus • Royal Philharmonic Orchestra • Royal Philharmonic Chorus Royal www.naxos.com Reissue Producer and Restoration Engineer: Mark Obert-Thorn and Restoration Engineer: Reissue Producer material source providing for Kaplan A. Special thanks to Richard Collection) Thomas Beecham (Private photo: Cover auf Naxos Beecham had introduced Thomas Beecham. Strauss and Sir Richard admiration between mutual of the first version presented to London in 1910 and Sourced from American RCA Victor shellac pressings for for Victor shellac pressings American RCA from Sourced recordings heard here of the final scenes from each opera were made almost three decades later made almost three each opera were of the final scenes from here heard recordings of the recording For of the composer. in the presence given performances following Ljuba Erna Schlüter, music of Strauss’s interpreters was fortunate the renowned to be to able call upon Opera Vienna State Opera at the Royal with the appearing who were and Paul Schöffler, Welitsch Garden. Covent House, Elektra ...... Erna Schlüter Orest ...... Paul Schöffler Chrysothemis...... Welitsch Ljuba . AegisthWiddop ...... Walter Ariadne...... Maria Cebotari Bacchus ...... Karl Friedrich Zerbinetta ...... Field-Hyde Margaret .

All rights in this sound recording, artwork, texts and translations reserved. Unauthorised public performance, broadcasting and copying of this compact disc prohibited. ൿ & Ꭿ 2011 Naxos Rights International Ltd. Made in Germany NAXOS Historical Schlüter • Welitsch • Cebotari • Beecham 8.111372 8.111372 rr Beecham conducts Strauss_EU:8.111372 rr Beecham conducts Strauss_EU 21-02-2011 9:10 Pagina 1 9:10 Pagina 21-02-2011 Strauss_EU conducts rr Beecham Strauss_EU:8.111372 conducts rr Beecham 8.111372