Weinberger: Svanda Dudak.(music audio)(Sound Recording Review)

WEINBERGER: Svanda Dudak

Monogarova, Kostyuk; Robavs, Choupenitch, Teliga, Sharratt, Kozel, Ruane; National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus, Wexford Festival Opera Chorus, Reynolds. No texts or translations. Naxos 8.660146-47

Jaromir Weinberger's delightful Svanda Dudak (Svanda the Bagpiper) enthralled the world for a short period after its premiere in Prague in 1927. Translated into seventeen languages and given premieres at the Metropolitan Opera and Covent Garden, the opera all but disappeared twenty years later and has barely been heard since.

Why did it vanish? The story is certainly appealing enough. A moral fable about a local Orpheus and his wife, Svanda celebrates the true love of the title character and Dorota. Spurring the proceedings along, a mentoring Robin Hood figure, the naughty Babinsky, puts one over on the haughty rich and even gets the better of the Devil. The charming locales include an unassuming Czech village, a fabled kingdom ruled by an ice princess and her evil right-hand man, and Hell itself. Love, magic, good versus evil and a colorful score make for an entertainment that is equal parts Rusalfa, Hansel und Gretel and The Bartered Bride. The evident influence of Smetana's folkloric melodies is grounded by a Germanic contrapuntal influence. (Weinberger studied for a time with Max Reger.) Scenes are punctuated by numerous orchestral interludes, some fantastical, some tuneful folk dances, that propel the action. When the folk themes are not being sung, they are largely carried by the strings, as in the eleven-minute overture, and punctuated by the effervescent lines of the winds and brass that dance around them. Weinberger's palette is varied and complex. So why has this opera not endured?

I don't have an answer--unless it is that the challenge of marketing a single opera by an otherwise unknown ...