Psychological thriller - Ernst Krenek Karl V, Bayerisches Staatsoper

Ernst Krenek's Karl V op 73 at the Bayerisches Staatsoper, with Bo Skovhus, conducted by Erik Nielsen, in a performance that reveals the genius of Krenek's masterpiece. Contemporary with Schreker's Die Gezeichneten, Schoenberg's Moses und Aron, Berg's Lulu, and Hindemith's Mathis der Maler, Krenek's Karl V is a metaphysical drama, exploring psychological territory with the possibilities opened by new musical form. Its descendants include Dusapin,BeatFurrer  and Ferneyhough. This opera and, indeed, most of Krenek's work before he left his roots, confronts the anguish of a world in chaos : the certainties of the Old Order replaced by unprecedented and often dangerous change.  After the end of the First World War, Austria was no longer part of an Empire, and Austrians, like Krenek, had to reconsider their place in the world.  Please also see my piece on Krenek's song cycle Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen, where the composer assesses Lieder at a time when the Nazis were just coming to power.  Krenek's opera isn't an examination of the past but a commentary on his own times, and is still prescient in our own.

Krenek's Karl V is based on the last hours of the life of Charles V, Hapsburg King of Spain and the Americas, Holy Roman Emperor and conqueror of the Turks: the first multi -national world empire, which easily surpassed in scale the original Roman Empire.  It prospered through war and political intrigued, fuelled by the brutal exploitation of other empires across the world.  Yet., after a long and eventful reigh, Charles V has abdicated, of his own will, and retreated to the monastery San Jerónimo de Yuste. Yet he can find no peace.  Instead, he faces the greatest challenge of his life : how will he face his conscience before God ?

Krenek's Karl V isn't realistic narrative, but an ethical and philosophical exploration, with words and music. Structurally the opera operates on multiple levels and multiple dimensions, constantly moving back and forwards in time. Since Karl V predates Berg's Lulu by several years, Krenek could have invented opera as cinema. Certainly he, like Berg, was interested in modern art, modern ideas and the movies.  Just as in film, orchestral music  occurs mainly at critical junctures where voices are stilled, such as the beginning of the final act. Though Krenek uses dodecaphonic form, Karl V connects to devotional practice which would have been familiar to the devout.   Krenek also employs Sprechstimme throughout to emphasize philosophic ideas. Singing, in the normal sense, would distract, and normal speech would be too mundane.  Eventually your ears adjust and the Sprechstimme becomes effortlessly natural.

In his sanctuary, Charles hears the voice of God himself, calling him to account.  Thus Skovhus is costumed, in this Fura dels Baus productioned directed by Carlus Padrissa, costumes by Lita Cabellut, Skovhus is dressed not as a monarch but as a juggler whose cap has pointed horns on his head, like  a crown seen askew.  Before God, no mortal is mighty.Audiences   who insist that Karl should be dressed as a king just won't get that, but that's their loss. In Krenek's libretto (which he wrote himself), images of Time and Destiny recur : thus the images of clocks, globes, glass (strong but breakable) that inform the staging.  The opening sequence is astonishing -  the  acrobats and dancers that are La Fura dels Baus's forte, emerge from the darkness, moving, twisting and re-forming.  There is purpose behind this, almost impossible to achieve with quite the panache we saw here. This represents Titian's painting The Last Judgement, which Charles V treasured.  What could be more appropriate for Charles's own Judgement ?  If some modern audiences don't like cultural or intellectual references, maybe Art is beyond them. Or God, for that matter.  Significantly, Krenek mentions the painting in the libretto : it is the cohesive image that pulls everything together.

With his confessor Juan de Rega (Janus Torp) beside him, he examines his conscience through a series of vignettes, symbolized by key figures in his past.  His mother Juana (Okka von Dammerau) appears.  Though Juana was Queen of Castile and Aragon, she became insane : so much for wealth and power. Charles relives an event where he's given an apple, within which there is a worm : an allegory if ever there was one. Charles re-encounters Martin Luther (Michael Krauss) who defied the Pope.  The Reformation that followed was the beginning of the end for the Holy Roman Empire, and indeed of Hapsburg hegemony in the Netherlands and German-speaking countries.  Yet Charles did not condemn. In the opera, he refuses to desecrate Luther’s tomb.  Will this act of decency balance the damage ?  Charles is surrounded by enemies : from within the Church, from France and from the Turks.  His sister Elenore (Gun Brit-Barkmin) appears.  He arranged a dynastic marriage for her with Francis I  (Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke) of France, but it brought her sorrow, not happiness. It didn't bring peace, either. Francis made an alliance with Suleiman and the Turks against Austria. That, too, is on Charles's conscience, though Elenore later hints at another more secretive trauma : while in France, Charles had some kind ofvsexual encounter.  Since Charles had been devoted to his wife Isabella (Anne Schwanewilms) and esteemed chastity, that sin might have weighed more heavily on Charles than on other men, like the less moral Francis.  Charles responds tenderly to his vision of Isabella, but she's long dead, caged in a frame that suggests a skeleton. Pizarro ( Kevin Connors) returns with plunder from the Americas. Charles knows this gold was won by bloodshed. Could he have changed anything ? Another dilemma : wealth or guilt.  Finally, Charles cracks and has a seizure and the First Part is brought to an abrupt end.

In the Second Part, Charles lies in "The Vale of Tears", ie a coma, drifting ever further from reality.  Now Krenek's orchestration proves its value, commenting without words. Mysteriously beautiful, searching sounds suggest that, while Charles V's body is in a comatose state, his soul is traversing the universe : the spirit of religious music in modern abstraction.  All his life, Charles dedicated himself to the service of the Church but even that's imploding around him.  What hope has Charles of beating the Turks when he can't count on fellow Catholics? Treachery and intrigue everywhere, Moritz of Saxony, Charles's protégé, betrays him by leading  Protestant insurrection. Even on his deathbed, Charles is taunted by his supposed friend Francesco Borgia (Scott MacAllister).  Only Eleanor offers mercy.  Charles was vilified because few understood his motivations, which were ultimately altruistic. "I did not want to make the State a new tin God", he says, "True unity lies in a belief in the Eternal. Everything earthly is an elusive bond".  Does Charles, with his ideas of unity and fairness, live in a bygone age ?  But Krenek also adds the phrase "or maybe he lives 400 years in the future". The German choruses chant "We don't want to be citizens of the world!"   A Turkish astrologer sees a star disintegrate. "A good omen" chuckles the Sultan (Peter Lobert). "The people of Europe are free, and they will use this freedom to fight among themselves even more brutally."  The Three Ghosts (and the Three Clocks) appear as Charles's mind starts to disintegrate. Has he faced his conscience? Would he have been in any position to change what happened ?   Things might not have worked out but at least his intentions were good, and to that, he was true.

Though this new production might seem controversial, it is a lot closer to Krenek than the Bregenz production conducted by Lothar Koenigs and directed by Uwe Eric Laufenberg production with Dietrich Henschel, available on DVD.  Bo Skovhus is superb in the title role, expressing both the anguish and dignity in the role, carrying off the Sprechstimme with aplomb. The other roles are supportive, though critical.  Anne Schawnenwilms will draw international audiences. But Okka Van Dammerung  and Gun-Brit Barkmin are rising stars of their generation, well worth listening out for, both very impressive here.  Wolfgang Albinger-Sperrhacke shows why he's one of the great character tenors of our time, creating a Francis at one neurotic and majestic.In these times a more apocalyptic approach is valid. Thank goodness Krenek isn't still alive to see the world fall apart all over again !  And la Fura dels Baus make Titian come alive in all his swirling baroque glory, laced with menace.

Please read my other posts on Krenek, use the label below.

Livestream tomorrow : Ernst Krenek Karl V

Livestream from The Bayerisches Staatsoper tomorrow at 6pm UK (7pm in Germany) Ernst Krenek's opera Karl V, (PLEASE SEE MY REVIEW HERE) which ostensibly deals with Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor but is anything but about the past.  Below is what I wrote a few years back about the Uwe Eric Laufenbergproduction with Dietrich Henschel.

Are we witnessing live 1933 the remake?  Is history repeating itself? The premiere of Ernst Krenek's Karl V, scheduled for 1934, was overtaken by events. Now more than ever we must take heed of this opera and its horrifying prophecy. Krenek's Karl V Op 73 is based on the life of Charles V, Hapsburg King of Spain and the Americas, Holy Roman Emperor and conqueror of the Turks: the first multi -national world empire, which easily surpassed in scale the original Roman Empire.  The grandest monarch in European history lies dying, preparing himself for judgement before God.  Priests and bishops are praying,  but the king turns to his youthful confessor, Juan de Regla, precisely because  he's objective and hasn't yet  been sucked into the morass of intrigue that curses the corridors of power. Karl V unfolds through a series of vignettes. Structurally the opera operates on multiple levels and multiple dimensions, constantly moving back and forwards in time. Since Karl V predates Berg's Lulu by several years, Krenek could have invented opera as cinema. Certainly he, like Berg, was interested in modern art, modern ideas and the movies.  Just as in film, orchestral music  occurs mainly at critical junctures where voices are stilled, such as the beginning of the final act. 

Mysteriously beautiful, searching sounds suggest that, while Charles V's body is in a comatose state, his soul is traversing the universe.  Krenek also employs Sprechstimme throughout to emphasize philosophic ideas. Singing, in the normal sense, would distract, and normal speech would be too mundane.  Eventually your ears adjust and the Sprechstimme becomes effortlessly natural. In Charles V's time,  Protestantism challenged Catholic Europe. Unlike earlier schismistic movements, it took root and morphed into politics, partly because  Charles V allowed a level ,of religious toleration, but the genie of nationalism was let out f the bottle. Eventually Charles V's mercenary German armies attack Rome,  calling the Pope the Anti Christ.  Meanwhile the Conquistadors were annihilating the Incas. Charles V knows that the gold Pizarro brings back is tainted with blood.   Yet another battle between empires raged in the Mediterranean and Africa.  Charles V visualized a Christian Europe strong enough to repel Islam, which, as he knew, had once occupied Spain.  But is Charles V cursed?

Four Spirits appear in his dreams, the first the Curse of the Pope. The second represents the indifference of the French Court. Charles imprisons Francis, the King of France, with whom Charles's own sister Eleanor falls in love. Seeking peace, Charles sets Francis free to return to Paris with Eleanor as Queen. The third fury represents German nationalism, an issue that greatly vexed Krenek himself, who understood the danger that Nazism would bring as early as the mid 1920's. Just as in Krenek's Jonny speilt auf, there's a black man in Charles V, a deliberate taunt at the Nazis. The fourth spirit connects to the king's personal life.  Please see my articles on Krenek's Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen HERE and HERE. 

Charles's vision of  Europe united in a new Pax Romana falls apart. The Church resents his power and can't handle the Protestant threat. Francis proves no ally and breaks Eleanor's heart.  What hope has Charles of beating the Turks when he can't count on fellow Catholics? Treachery and intrigue everywhere, Moritz of Saxony, Charles's protégé, betrays him by leading  Protestant insurrection.  Even on his deathbed, Charles is taunted by his supposed friend Francesco Borgia. Only Eleanor offers mercy.

Charles was vilified because few understood his motivations, which were ultimately altruistic. "I did not want to make the State a new tin God", he says, . "True unity lies in a belief in the Eternal. Everything earthly is an elusive bond".  Moritz of Saxony sneers that the King lives in a bygone age. But Krenek also adds the phrase "or maybe he lives 400 years in the future". The German choruses chant "We don't want to be citizens of the world!" Wearied and sick at heart, Charles V abdicates and retreats to a monastery.  An Emperor choosing to live like a monk (albeit one with Titian as wallpaper).  Charles V's core values were not those of the petty, selfish world around him.  A Turkish astrologer sees a star disintegrate. "A good omen" chuckles the Sultan. "The people of Europe are free, and they will use this freedom to fight among themselves even more brutally." The dying Charles holds a crystal globe in one hand and a crucifix in the other. He had not dreamed of peace for his own sake, but in the name of God. "But an impulse from within has corroded the globe with venom."

1933 the remake ? Krenek Karl V prophetic

Are we witnessing live 1933 the remake?  Is history repeating itself? The premiere of Ernst Krenek's Karl V, scheduled for 1934, was overtaken by events. Now more than ever we must take heed of this opera and its horrifying prophecy.

Krenek's Karl V Op 73 is based on the life of Charles V, Hapsburg King of Spain and the Americas, Holy Roman Emperor and conqueror of the Turks: the first multi -national world empire, which easily surpassed in scale the original Roman Empire.  The grandest monarch in European history lies dying, preparing himself for judgement before God.  Priests and bishops are praying,  but the king turns to his youthful confessor, Juan de Regla, precisely because  he's objective and hasn't yet  been sucked into the morass of intrigue that curses the corridors of power.

Karl V unfolds through a series of vignettes. Structurally the opera operates on multiple levels and multiple dimensions, constantly moving back and forwards in time. Since Karl V predates Berg's Lulu by several years, Krenek could have invented opera as cinema. Certainly he, like Berg, was interested in modern art, modern ideas and the movies.  Just as in film, orchestral music  occurs mainly at critical junctures where voices are stilled, such as the beginning of the final act.  Mysteriously beautiful, searching sounds suggest that, while Charles V's body is in a comatose state, his soul is traversing the universe.  Krenek also employs Sprechstimme throughout to emphasize philosophic ideas. Singing, in the normal sense, would distract, and normal speech would be too mundane.  Eventually your ears adjust and the Sprechstimme becomes effortlessly natural.


In Charles V's time,  Protestantism challenged Catholic Europe. Unlike earlier schismistic movements, it took root and morphed into politics, partly because  Charles V allowed a level ,of religious toleration, but the genie of nationalism was let out f the bottle. Eventually Charles V's mercenary German armies attack Rome,  calling the Pope the Anti Christ.  Meanwhile the Conquistadors were annihilating the Incas. Charles V knows that the gold Pizarro brings back is tainted with blood.   Yet another battle between empires raged in the Mediterranean and Africa.  Charles V visualized a Christian Europe strong enough to repel Islam, which, as he knew, had once occupied Spain.  But is Charles V cursed? Four Spirits appear in his dreams, the first the Curse of the Pope. The second represents the indifference of the French Court. Charles imprisons Francis, the King of France, with whom Charles's own sister Eleanor falls in love. Seeking peace, Charles sets Francis free to return to Paris with Eleanor as Queen. The third fury represents German nationalism, an issue that greatly vexed Krenek himself, who understood the danger that Nazism would bring as early as the mid 1920's. Just as in Krenek's Jonny speilt auf, there's a black man in Charles V, a deliberate taunt at the Nazis. The fourth spirit connects to the king's personal life.  Please see my articles on Krenek's Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen HERE and HERE. 

Charles's vision of  Europe united in a new Pax Romana falls apart. The Church resents his power and can't handle the Protestant threat.  Francis proves no ally and breaks Eleanor's heart.  What hope has Charles of beating the Turks when he can't count on fellow Catholics?  Treachery and intrigue everywhere, Moritz of Saxony, Charles's protégé, betrays him by leading  Protestant insurrection.  Even on his deathbed, Charles is taunted by his supposed friend Francesco Borgia. Only Eleanor offers mercy.

Charles was vilified because few understood his motivations, which were ultimately altruistic. "I did not want to make the State a new tin God", he says, . "True unity lies in a belief in the Eternal. Everything earthly is an elusive bond".  Moritz of Saxony sneers that the King lives in a bygone age. But Krenek also adds the phrase "or maybe he lives 400 years in the future". The German choruses chant "We don't want to be citizens of the world!" Wearied and sick at heart, Charles V abdicates and retreats to a monastery.  An Emperor choosing to live like a monk (albeit one with Titian as wallpaper).  Charles V's core values were not those of the petty, selfish world around him.  A Turkish astrologer sees a star disintegrate. "A good omen" chuckles the Sultan. "The people of Europe are free, and they will use this freedom to fight among themselves even more brutally." The dying Charles holds a crystal globe in one hand and a crucifix in the other. He had not dreamed of peace for his own sake, but in the name of God. "But an impulse from within has corroded the globe with venom."  Photo shows Dietrich Henschel as Charles V, in the production by Uwe Eric Laufenberg, who directs the new Bayreuth Parsifal.

For Krenek danger came from Germany. Now things are a bit different but the scenario isn't so far off. Please click here to see my post London Belongs to Me, Richard Attenborough's prophetic film  

Florian Boesch Ernst Krenek Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen Wigmore Hall

Florian Boesch and Roger Vignoles at the Wigmore Hall in Ernst Krenek Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen. Matthias Goerne has called Hanns Eisler's Hollywooder Liederbuch the Winterreise of the 20th century. Boesch and Vignoles showed how Krenek's Reisebuch is a journey of discovery into identity at an era of extreme social change. It is a parable, indeed, of modern times. 

Before the recital, Boesch and Vignoles spoke  for about 15 minutes, explaining the context and imagery which are fundamental to a true understanding of the depths of this piece, which is unusual though by no means a rarity.  If only more performers were as articulate as they were, since the better informed an audience is, the more they'll get out of a performance. Although this recital was one of the highlights of the year, the Wigmore Hall was only half-full, since the Royal Opera House Andrea Chénier was being screened elsewhere. Here is a differemce  between Lieder and opera, even if some do not understand. The Wigmore Hall's reputation has been built on very high standards. Boesch and Vignoles gave the core Wigmore Hall a challenge to rise to.

"Ich reise auf, mein Heimat zu entdecken". From the outset, the 'Motif ' makes it clear that this is a voyage of self discovery, not sight-seeing. Specifically, Boesch quoted from  'Auf und ab', where the tourists were guided by the "durren Weisungen  der Reisebücher, Alpenführer, Fahrpläne und  Prospekte". Spouting received wisdom, they don't think for themselves. They take photographs of each other "und dahinter auch wohl einen Berg und sehen nichts" They've travelled, but haven't engaged with experience. "Gelangweilt verhüllen die grossen alten Berge  ihre Häuptter, wenn die Põbel ihnen auf die Füsse tritt.".  A metaphor for the Lieder ethos, where what you get equates with what you put in of yourself.

Krenek grew up in the comfortable certainties of pre-war Vienna. Everything changed with the collapse of the grand Empire. Austrians were cut of from  "Welschland", the Süden, and to the idealized image of southern climes which runs so strongly through the Northern European imagination, from neo-classical times, through Goethe and to the late Romantics. Imagine Hugo Wolf  cut off from his dreams of the South.  How then should Austrians come to terms with an  identity within narrow borders, and  a new relationship with Germany?  Furthermore , the 1920's were a time of rapid social change. Krenek himself was part of the avant garde, incorporating jazz into classical tradition. The image of a black saxophonist, which so horrified the Nazis, has its origins in Krenek's Jonny spielt auf.   When Krenek journeyed to the Alps, he wasn't sight-seeing, but observing.

The Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen  meant so much to Krenek that he wrote the texts himself, as rapidly as he wrote the music. It's hard to stress enough the importance of context and extra-musical meaning. Boesch referred to the "blutigen HansWurst", the evil clown of German language satire. When he's mentioned in the song 'Politik', with specific references to war and mountains in the west (Bavaria) , the implications are clear. "Beendet die Todesmaskerade". Miss that reference and miss much of the point of the whole cycle. Indeed, this song could hardly be more trenchant or specific. the empire was called on to shepherd the people of the south and the east,  but "Wir haben die Aufgabe nicht erfüllt". The punishment was war and deprivation. Cut off by trade blockades, civilians starved. In the Alps, as Krenek and his contemporaries knew only too well, there was warfare as savage as anything on the Western Front. Trench warfare,  but in deep snow. And this in a region where Italians and Austrians had more or less peaceably co-existed. Krenek emphasizes the difference between genuine love of homeland and the "Blutige Gespenst" of extremist nationalism. Hitler couldn't come to terms with the new, truncated Austria. As Boesch said, it might well be that "Das Nahe, Kleine, Einzelne empfiehlt sich der Betrachtung".

Krenek was also paying homage to Franz Schubert.'Unser Wein (dem Andenken Franz Schuberts)' is the most "Schubertian" song in Krenek's cycle, with its images of golden, lilting lyricism, but it would be wrong, I think, to look for simplistic connections. Krenek visits Schubert territory, but from new perspectives, a far greater tribute than mere quotation or imitation. On the surface, the poem purports to be about wine.  In the context of the rest of the song cycle, its real meaning may be more complex. Austrian wine "ist kõsstlich unser Wein nur dem, der ihn zu finden weiß". Outsiders may not know it because it's "anspruchslos im Äußern ist die Gabe" ie, not mass-marketed for unquestioning hordes. Schubert's idiom is also too pure to lend itself to vulgarity. Images of distorted music occur several times in the cycle.  Trashy Schlager played on scratchy gramophones, a  small town band plays "feurige Weisen, ein bißchen falsch, ein we it schnell", Even in 'Unser Wein', the melody is ever so slightly out of kilter. But that's the point. When the whole world is off balance, how else can things be?

Krenek writes in a thoroughly modern (for his time) idiom. His quirky phrasing creates disconcerting undercurrents which express the unease inherent to meaning.  Syncopation creeps in, as if mechanical processes are disrupting supposedly natural smooth flowing lines. Krenek describes speeding trains,  revving motorcycle engines, and even the sound of heavy cars skidding on rutted roads. Krenek alludes to Schubert's penchant for repetitive motifs, but gives them tensions that suggest mechanical, impersonal processes. Krenek's music rises up the scale and expands in volume, then does sudden switchbacks. changes direction and abruptly breaks off.  Krenek was a lifelong modernist, and a devotee of dodecaphony. He acknowledges the past but is driven, inexorably, forward. In Reisebuch aus den östereichischen Alpen, he shows that  there are many other means (eg, tempo, pauses and rhythms) which a composer can employ to make his music distinctive. Tonality, as such, is neither here nor there, and can be stretched in highly individual ways.
 
The protagonist in Winterreise cannot linger. Nor can Krenek.  In the Alps, weather conditions are extreme. Sunshine can suddenly turn to thunderstorm.  "Unverlässlich wie ein Lieferant wechselt es von Stunde zu Stunde". An obvious allusion for  turbulent times. Hard as their existence may be, the local populace scrape a living, even when they're dead ("Friedhof in Gerbirgsdorf")  They endure,  "Wetter komm und reinige uns von Dummheit, Bosheit, schleichender  Gemeinheit!" ('Gewitter')  Change isn't necessarily negative.

In 'Ausblick nach Süden', Ktrenek lovingly looks back, but knows the dream must end. A thistle cannot become a rose even when transplanted to an ideal garden. As he speeds home on the train, he ponders the "Schmerz der Vergänglichkeit", the "pain of transistoriness," as he put it himself.  The song ends with a glowing, rising figure, expanding on the word "Heimat", as if by illuminating it in this way,  its beauty might seem its attainment. But then comes the 'Epilogue', dispelling easy answers.

The musical language Krenek employs in the 'Epilogue' is so unusual and so individual that there's nothing quite like it in the art song repertoire  The piano tolls ominously. The voice part unfolds, almost bereft of accompaniment. Plaintive declamation, suggesting ancient plainchant. Are we at last approaching the secretive wisdom the monks in 'Kloster in den Alpen' didn't waste on gawping tourists?  "Seltsam ist die Strasse, die hinführt". The landscape here is alien, urban, and industrial, yet here Krenek finds a resolution.

Throughout the cycle,. Krenek hints at images of death. Wine cellars are cold and silent, like tombs, "wie die Gräber orientalischer Kõnige". The King who is sleeping here is wine.  This "tomb" has a purpose,  for it's part of the process of creation. Good wines need to mature to develop. Quite the opposite of the instant expertise of the tourists in 'Auf und Ab', who mistake data for genuine wisdom.  In 'Unser Wein', Krenek contemplated Schubert. In vino veritas. For thousands of years, wine has been a symbol of free expression. It's  a perfect metaphor for creativity. The image of the wine cellar also connects to the image of mountains as ancient fastnesses, under which, in Alpine legend, mythic powers dwell. The 'Epilogue' thus draws together many strands from the songs that have gone before, while heading forth in a completely new direction.

At the gate to the wine cellar is an inscription, probably carved deep into the wood  in archaic Gothic script. "Ich lebe, und weiß nicht, wie lang. Ich sterbe, und weiß nicht, wann.   Ich geh'  und weiß nicht, wohin. "  A simple ditty, yet one which conveys existential angst,  the "Ewiger Zwiespalt der Kreatur!". For the first time in this cycle, Krenek repeats words, as if ruminating.  Boesch sang with measured deliberation, enhancing the effect. Perhaps we don't need to know the answers to life, but still find happiness where we can. 

Boesch brings exceptional authority to his traverse of Krenek's Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen.  At the heart of  this amazing song cycle lies anguish and protest. Boesch's phrasing was uncompromisingly direct. He didn't mitigate the violence in the background, so fundamental to the whole meaning of the cycle.  Yet, warmed by the richness of his Austrian burr,  his singing glowed with gentle humanity.  Perhaps that's the key to the resolution Krenek finds in the 'Epilogue', and also, possibly in Schubert. Ostensibly simple things sometimes hold clues to the vast questions of life. Perhaps that was just as well for Krenek, who was forced into exile by the Anschluss and thereby lost his physical Heimat less than 10 years after writing the Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen. 

This review also appears in Opera Today. Please also see my other posts on Lieder, on MOuntains in Music usw

Florian Boesch tonight Wigmore Hall Krenek

Florian Boesch and Roger Vignoles tonight at the Wigmore Hall with Ernst Krenek  Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen . Boesch has had these songs in his repertoire for some years, so hearing him do the whole cycle will indeed be a special occasion. Before the recital, Boesch will be speaking about the piece for 10 to 15 minutes. Don't miss this. (My full review is HERE)

Boesch is an exceptionally intelligent, analytical thinker with great insights into what he does.  For Austrians  Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen  isn't a collection of scenic vocal postcards. As we head towards the centenary of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, we should reflect on Krenek's  Krenek's Reisebuch , which is one of the milestones of 20th century song, like the true masterpiece, Hanns Eisler Hollywooder  Leiderbuch.

Fresh from the scandalous success of his opera Joinny spielt auf, with its black saxophone players and jazzy rebellion,  Krenek withdrew to live for a while in the Austrian Alps among the local people, sharing their hardships and traditions, a complete antidote to the shallow "Vienna City of Dreams" myth.  Krenek was also reflecting on Franz Schubert, who had died only a hundred years before, and whose work was still being  codified into the D system we know today. So Krenek, like Schubert, sets out on a journey of discovery, "mein Heimat zu entdecken". Perhaps, in the process, he was finding himself.  

Please read my main piece on  Krenek Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen HERE.   I've loved it since I heard Wolfgang Holzmairs's recording ages ago, long before the existence of Amazon, when you had to write to suppliers and do complex things about payment., Holzmair is passionate about Austrian repertoire, bringing composers like Franz Mittler to a wider audience (even though Mittler's text are sardonic Vienna dialect, impenetrable to many). There is a recording by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, but with all respect, it's not recommended, at all.   His sensibilities are too "Prussian". Holzmair (and Boesch) have the Austrian burr which warms the songs  like sunlight. 

If Boesch records this cycle, get it. His voice has the kind of firmness that could bring out the intelligence of Krenek's observations. This cycle contains what must be the first ever Lieder dealing with the rise of the Nazi Party. It was written soon after the Beer Hall Putsch when many wrote the dangers off.  It's significant that Hitler came from the Linz region, but went to Munich to make his mark.

Where does Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen stand in relation to Krenek's other work ?  He's visiting Schubert territory, but not seeing things through Schubert's perspective. Ideas meant much to him. He wrote his own texts and also the clumsy English translation.  Krenek's tribute to Schubert is to be himself, and to be original.  He'd been prolific before this song cycle and would have other major works like Karl V. He didn't move to the US until 1938.  But would he have become what he did in later life without a thorough grasp of his Heimat?

Holzmair Krenek tonight at Wigmore Hall

Tonight at the Wigmore Hall, Wolfgang Holzmair sings a programme he devised nearly 20 years ago. Holzmair is an exceptionally erudite singer, who not only knows parts of the song repertoire others don't, but also knows why they are important, and why they can change the way we listen. In this unique programme he mixes songs from Ernst Krenek's Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen with songs by Franz Schubert. This won't be any simple mixed recital: Holzmair's choices are carefully woven  together so the whole flows almost seamlessly.

 It's a very deliberate Ruckblick on Schubert through the perspective of a composer living in modern Austria, only a few years after the end of the Hapsburg Empire. Suddenly, the Austria Schubert knew was a rump, divested of the nations that made Vienna a world city, and the certainties Schubert knew were transformed. Krenek in the 1920's was the enfant terrible of his time, scandalizing audiences with his opera Jonny spielt auf, which featured a black saxophonist playing jazz.  Perhaps its success shook Krenek himself, for he took time out to immerse himself in Austrian tradition.  He spent many months in the Austrian Alps, living with the peasants, and experiencing their hardships. Like Schubert before him, he walked, closely engaged with nature and the rhythms of the human body. For years, I've been writing about the role of mountains in music, and how they've shaped the aesthetic of Mahler, Schubert, Hugo Wolf, Richard Strauss and so on. Krenek is making a similar pilgrimage, getting to terms with landscape and its place in the Romantic Imagination.

The Schubert connection is just as significant, for Krenek was writing 100 years after Schubert's death. Schubert wasn't nearly as omnipresent as he is now. His works had only recently been catalogued, thanks to funds generated by interest in the centenary.  Krenek and many others at the time were on a learning curve as far as Schubert was concerned. So  Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen is a new work, but also inspired by Krenek's response to Schubert as relatively "new" music.

The cycle also deals with Austrian identity and German domination, still sore points today. Krenek even writes about Nazis in Bavaria, barely 3 years after Hitler had been released from prison after the Beer Hall putsch. Some might have been lulled into thinking the party was neutralized. Not Krenek. Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen is not, as has been suggested, a "humorous" cycle though there's wit in it.

Perhaps Krenek's figuring out who he is, as a composer living in modern times, troubled by constant, threatening change. Back home, he comes across a strange, sleepy village in the suburbs. There's a motto written above a doorway. "Ich lebe, und weiss nicht wie lang. Ich sterbe, und weiss nicht, wann. Ich geh', und weiss nicht, wohin., mich wundert's dass ich noch Frolich bin." Suddenly, Krenek (who wrote the text as well as the music) find what might be the key: accepting that you'll never know the answers. Accepting that life's uncertain, yet making the most of it. Krenek's Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen really is a parable for modern times. .

Here is a link to something I wrote about Krenek's Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen  a few years ago. Surprisingly almost no-one has written about it, so remember you saw it here first. Holzmair and Russell Ryan, who is also playing tonight, toured Europe and the US with this programme 15 years ago, when the Austrian government was sponsoring the "Year of the Mountains", featuring films, music, and literature associated with mountains.

Wolfgang Holzmair's probably done more than most to bring this song cycle into the mainstream.  He's passionate about Austria, and lesser-known Austrian composers, as diverse as Franz Mittler and Robert Stolz.  He deserves much credit. This is his 1998 recording, a beautiful mini album, lovingly illustrated with period photos. Track it down, because even if there are new versions, this one is the classic. All 20 songs plus an extra bonus the Fiedelleider op 64.  If you can't get a recording, get the score from Universal Edition. I heard him sing the programme at an intimate recital  in 1999, organised by the Austrian Cultural Forum, held in the Leighton House Museum before it was renovated. Holzmair has in fact recorded the "special" programme, but it's not commercially available anymore. I bought my copy from him personally after another semi-private recital organized by Richard Stokes, whose insights into this repertoire are exceptional. 

Ernst Krenek: Die Nachtigall

Ernst Krenek - Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen

"Ich reise aus, mein Heimat zu entdecken"  On this stirring note begins Ernst Krenek's Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen. It sounds confident and hearty but this is no Romantic hero striding into the world. Unglaube gegen uns  selbst ist zuviel in uns verwurzelt (lack of faith in ourselves is deeply rooted). This song cycle is, no less, a parable for modern times, when the idea of identity is constantly being challenged by change. Like Hanns Eisler's Hollywood Liederbuch, Krenek's Reisebuch is one of the milestones of 20th century song.
 
Not many years previously, the Hapsburg Empire had collapsed. Previously Vienna had been the capital of a culturally diverse, polyglot nation. Suddenly it was a severed rump of German speakers, who weren't German. So Krenek set off into the mountains to make sense of what might be the Austrian soul. In the second song, Verkehr, Krenek makes it clear he's dealing with modern conditions. He travels by electric train, and then a bus. Dangerously steep inclines, teetering on precipices. Will the machines survive? Then he visits a monastery, where the monks aren't Technik Sklaven, but live quietly, with their ancient library.

In the mountains, life is brutally difficult. Steep slopes, dark valleys, poor soil. The weather's treacherous. Sudden storms blow up, even in summer. It's always raining. Wetter and Regentag, relentless pounding motifs, echoing the grim reality of life for the locals.  As Krenek notes, the dead are exhumed after 10 years because the land's too precious. Their remains are put on display for gawping visitors. Suddenly you realize just how much a tourist Schubert was. He liked the scenery, but was, essentially, an outsider on holiday. Krenek constantly refers to the contrast between sojourners and locals, those who have to live with the consequences of change. and those who can run away.

Hence the "modern" images that keep recurring, and sub themes of anomie and disorientation. Musically,  Krenek uses jerky, angular forms that break up the seamlessness of the world he's describing, because it's on the verge of disintegration. 

Mountain folk need tourists because they're desperately poor. But tourists bring irremediable change.Alpenbewohner is a remarkable song, where the locals look sullenly at the wilden Nomaden who descend upon them, speaking oddly "although in German", their motorcycles tearing up the silence, vulgar because they have money.  But what do the locals want? More tourists, preferably English, for whom there must be English churches and 18 hole golf courses, because they can't take Austria for what it is. Look at the scars caused by ski slopes in this photo. Golf courses are even more disastrous to the fragile alpine environment. The rich Germans disrupt the Austrian stillness with their vulgarity and motorbikes, but the locals are so poor they have to sell out to the tourists. Krenek didn't know, in 1929, how prophetic his observations would prove..

Krenek follows this song with Politik. It explicitly refers to the First World War and the sufferings it brought to Austria, "Look to the West" he says "where a free people live on free mountains". It's Switzerland, not Bavaria, a small self-contained country that values neutrality. Yet later, Krenek thinks of Italy but knows that "a thistle transplanted in a lovely garden will not become a rose".
 
Again and again, images of gentle somnolence in the music are shattered by outbursts. The explosive Gewitter (Thunderstorm) isn't merely descriptive, but emphasizes sudden upheaval, from which there's no escape. So Krenek goes back to Vienna (on a schnelle Zug) Huge swelling crescendo on the words Liebes Vaterland. But it isn't just the mountains he's referring to, but his identity as a Viennese.

Krenek had just had a wild success with Jonny Spielt Auf, with the black jazz saxophonist. "Degenerate"!  screamed critics who wanted time turned back. So Krenek goes to the mountains, the "pure source" where people still sang folk songs and lived primeval lives. Significantly, Krenek relates to Schubert, not Mahler, Wolf or Mozart. Intriguingly, the song Krenek dedicates to Schubert is Unser Wein. It's a gay,. lilting melody, but the punchline is that Austrian wine is "valued only by those who know to seek it out". In 1929, Schubert wasn't quite as ubiquitous as he is today. Perhaps Krenek's hinting at deeper levels in Schubert, which we're familiar with now, but in those days, Schubert's  image was prettified through operettas like Blossom Time. 

Perhaps Krenek's figuring out who he is, as a composer living in modern times, troubled by constant, threatening change. Back home, he comes across a strange, sleepy village in the suburbs. There's a motto written above a doorway. "Ich lebe, und weiss nicht wie lang. Ich sterbe, und weiss nicht, wann. Ich geh', und weiss nicht, wohin., mich wundert's dass ich noch Frolich bin." Suddenly, Krenek (who wrote the text as well as the music) finds what might be the key: accepting that you'll never know the answers. Accepting that life's uncertain, yet making the most of it. Krenek's Reisebuch aus den österreichischen Alpen really is a parable for modern times.

Wolfgang Holzmair's probably done more than most to bring this song cycle into the mainstream.  He's passionate about Austria, and lesser known Austrian composers, as diverse as Franz Mittler and Robert Stolz.  He deserves much credit. This is his 1998 recording, a beautiful mini album, lovingly illustrated with period photos. Track it down, because even if there are new versions, this one is the classic. All 20 songs plus an extra bonus the Fiedelleider op 64.  If you can't get a recording, get the score from Universal Edition.

Holzmair also devised a special programme combining songs by Schubert with songs from this Krenek cycle. It was beautifully well chosen, highlight inner themes both composers wrote about. I heard him sing the programme at an intimate recital  in 1999, organised by the Austrian Cultural Forum, held in the Leighton House Museum before it was renovated. He is singing this special programme at the Wigmore Hall, where Florian Boesch sang excerpts fro the Krenek songbook two years ago.  .Holzmair has in fact recorded the "special" programme, but it's not commercially available anymore. I bought my copy from him personally after another semi-private recital. Must dig it up. Please  also see  my latest on this cycle HERE and a review, coming up soon !