The young Wilhelm Kienzl (1857 - 1941)
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The Austrian Wilhelm Kienzl was a greatly respected opera composer and conductor until the 1930s.
Now he is completely unknown to many opera lovers.
In German-speaking Europe, his name is linked to 'Der Evangelimann (The Evangelist)', an opera held for 'oversentimental', for which most music critics no longer have any interest.
The reason for this must be the tenoraria on biblical text with accompanying children's choir -scene: 'Selig sind die Verfolgung leiden... (Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness, for of them is the Kingdom of Heaven)'.
This song has become part of the religious ideas of believers over the years and as such extremely popular. Thanks to the tenors Tauber, Völker, Patzak, Schock, Wunderlich, Gedda, Domingo etc., who kept on singing it - often surrounded by a devoted swarm of children - enthusiastically .
After the 2nd World War, Rudolf Schock again made the song popular. On gramophone record for the first time in 1952:
After the 2nd World War, Rudolf Schock again made the song popular. On gramophone record for the first time in 1952:
In 1953 the song sounded from the white screen in the Tauber/Schock film 'Du bist die Welt für mich (You are the World for Me)' and after that Rudolf Schock sang the aria many times on the record and in countless (choir) concerts.
In 1972 it even came to complete opera performances on the Viennese 'Volksoper' with Rudolf Schock in the role of "Evangelimann Mathias".
Another tenor scene from an opera by Kienzl also reached the 21st century: the 'finale of the first act' from the opera 'Der Kuhreigen'.
Richard Tauber sang the first finale before World War II (1931), Rudolf Schock did so after World War II (1955). Later Fritz Wunderlich followed.
The Dutch, internationally known opera critic Leo Riemens (1910-1985) wrote in 1955, when Rudolf Schock's 'Kuhreigen' recording came out, that he did not understand the "neglect" of that special opera ( Elsevier's Great Opera Book).
In the Dutch monthly 'Luister(Listen!)' he applauded Schock's performance of the 'Kuhreigen' finale. But his expectation, that the record would be a second Kienzl bestseller, did not come true. Only now - on YouTube - the interest increases:
Der Evangelimann/ The Evangelist (1895)
is in fact a veristic opera about people who are left with skin and hair to the merciless reality of life. 'Verismo' ( from Italian) means 'realism' and stands for the literary mainstream in the second half of the 19th century. Novels from those years are about people who are exposed to an unmoved reality. Especially Italian opera composers were inspired by the verismo . In German-speaking countries, that movement seemed to be limited to an opera such as 'Tiefland (The Lowlands)': Link Eugen d'Alberts 'Tiefland' (German & Dutch).
In the meantime, however, there are other voices in the serious musical world that conclude that Kienzl's operas surprisingly tie in with the verismo operas of a Giordano, Mascagni, Leoncavallo and Puccini!
Short content of 'The Evangelist':
Wilhelm Kienzl bases the textbook - written by himself - on historically transmitted events:
'Mathias, office clerk in an Austrian monastery, and his older brother, the teacher Johannes are both in love with Martha, niece and foster daughter of their superior.
The girl answers Mathias' love, to which the jealous Johannes informs her father.
Mathias is fired and says goodbye to Martha emotionally. Johannes listens to this togetherness and in blind hatred he starts fire:
...Mathias is accused of the deed. His dismissal must have been the motive. He is sentenced to 20 years in prison.
After his release, Mathias hears that Martha found a final resting place in the Danube. He decides to go through the country as an evangelist...'
Der Kuhreigen (1911)
(is a song with which, for centuries, farmers in the Swiss Alps called their cows to be milked).
Wilhelm Kienzl wrote the opera libretto too. Again his plot is based on historical facts and the content may also perceived as "veristic".
The story plays during the French Revolution of 1792 (In the finale of the 1st act, Swiss mercenary soldiers from the French king hang around in the courtyard of a barracks near Paris).
'Mathias, office clerk in an Austrian monastery, and his older brother, the teacher Johannes are both in love with Martha, niece and foster daughter of their superior.
The girl answers Mathias' love, to which the jealous Johannes informs her father.
Mathias is fired and says goodbye to Martha emotionally. Johannes listens to this togetherness and in blind hatred he starts fire:
...Mathias is accused of the deed. His dismissal must have been the motive. He is sentenced to 20 years in prison.
After his release, Mathias hears that Martha found a final resting place in the Danube. He decides to go through the country as an evangelist...'
Der Kuhreigen (1911)
(is a song with which, for centuries, farmers in the Swiss Alps called their cows to be milked).
Wilhelm Kienzl wrote the opera libretto too. Again his plot is based on historical facts and the content may also perceived as "veristic".
The story plays during the French Revolution of 1792 (In the finale of the 1st act, Swiss mercenary soldiers from the French king hang around in the courtyard of a barracks near Paris).