Cardillac

Cardillac is an opera by Paul Hindemith in three acts and four scenes. The libretto was by Ferdinand Lion, and based on the short story Das Fräulein von Scuderi by E.T.A. Hoffmann. The first performance was at the Staatsoper, Dresden on 9 November 1926. Hindemith revised both the score and the text, for the reason that, according to Ian Kemp, the musical idiom "seemed crude and undisciplined". This second version was first performed at the Zurich... more

Cardillac is an opera by Paul Hindemith in three acts and four scenes. The libretto was by Ferdinand Lion, and based on the short story Das Fräulein von Scuderi by E.T.A. Hoffmann. The first performance was at the Staatsoper, Dresden on 9 November 1926. Hindemith revised both the score and the text, for the reason that, according to Ian Kemp, the musical idiom "seemed crude and undisciplined". This second version was first performed at the Zurich Stadttheater on 20 June 1952. Hans-Ludwig Schilling has published a comparison of the two versions. After 1953, Hindemith sanctioned only the 1952 revised version for theatrical performances. However, after the composer's death in 1963, the original version became available again for production. The US premiere was at Santa Fe Opera in 1967. The first UK performances were in March 1970 at Sadler's Wells, by the New Opera Company. The setting is Paris in the 17th century. It begins with the crowd agitated about a series of recent mysterious... less