''Columbus'' is a 1933 opera by

Werner Egk Werner Egk (, 17 May 1901 – 10 July 1983), born Werner Joseph Mayer, was a German composer. Early career He was born in the Swabian town of Auchsesheim, today part of Donauwörth, Germany. His family, of Catholic peasant stock, moved to Augsb ...

. Originally a

radio opera Radio opera (German: 'Funkoper' or 'Radiooper') is a genre of opera. It refers to operas which were specifically composed to be performed on the radio and is not to be confused with broadcasts of operas which were originally written for the stage. ...

, Egk revised it in 1942 for the stage. The Munich premiere was acclaimed in the press and joined the year's repertoire at the Freiburg Theatre, though some dissented. The lack of melody in the opera brought negative comment from

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

in comparison to Meyerbeer's

grand opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and Orchestra, orchestras. The original productions consisted of spectacular design and stage effects with plots normally based on o ...

on the life of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama ''

L'Africaine ''L'Africaine'' (''The African Woman'') is an 1837 five-act French ''grand opéra'' by Giacomo Meyerbeer, with a libretto by Eugène Scribe. By 1852, the plot had been revised to depict fictional events in the life of Portuguese explorer Vasco da ...

''.Michael H. Kater ''Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits'', 0195099249 (2000) p.212: "To Werner Egk, in alliance with whom Strauss would face Joseph Goebbels over serious-music rights in 1941, Strauss reportedly said in his best Bavarian dialect around that time, with reference to Egk's ''Columbus'': 'So you are the new Meyerbeer but without melody."

Recording

*''Columbus'' - Ernst Gutstein,

Fritz Wunderlich Friedrich "Fritz" Karl Otto Wunderlich (26 September 1930 – 17 September 1966) was a German lyric tenor, famed for his singing of the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart repertory and various lieder. He died in an accident aged 35. Biography Wunde ...

, Hans Herbert Fiedler, Willy Ferenz, Georg Pappas, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks,

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (, BRSO) is a German radio orchestra. Based in Munich, Germany, it is one of the city's four orchestras. The BRSO is one of two full-size symphony orchestras operated under the auspices of Bayerischer Rundf ...

References

1933 operas German-language operas Operas by Werner Egk Operas Radio operas Cultural depictions of Christopher Columbus {{German-opera-stub