''Neues vom Tage'' (English: ''News of the Day'') is a

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

(''Lustige Oper'') in three parts by

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

, with a German

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

Marcellus Schiffer Marcellus Schiffer was the name used by Otto Schiffer (20 June 1892 – 24 August 1932), a German cabaret writer, graphic designer, painter and librettist. Life Schiffer was born in Berlin. His father, Siegfried Schiffer (1849–1897), was a Je ...

. The opera is a satire of modern life, celebrity and marriage, involving parodies of both

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, s ...

's music and Berlin

Kabarett Kabarett (; from French ''cabaret'' = tavern) is satirical revue, a form of cabaret which was developed in France by Rodolphe Salis in 1881 as the ''cabaret artistique''. It was named Le Chat Noir and was centered on political events and satire. ...

. The opera became notorious for a scene with a naked soprano (Laura) singing in the bath about the wonders of modern plumbing, though Hindemith replaced her with the tenor (Hermann) in the revised version. The on-stage nudity particularly aroused the ire of Ernst "Putzi" Hanfstängel, Hitler’s musical advisor, and was later indirectly cited by

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

as evidence that the " degenerate art" of " cultural bolshevist" composers should be excluded from Germany.

Performance history

''Neues vom Tage'' was first performed on 8 June

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

, at the

Kroll Opera House The Kroll Opera House () in Berlin, Germany, was in the Tiergarten district on the western edge of the '' Königsplatz'' square (today ''Platz der Republik''), facing the Reichstag building. It was built in 1844 as an entertainment venue for th ...

, Berlin, under the musical direction of

Otto Klemperer Otto Nossan Klemperer (; 14 May 18856 July 1973) was a German conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the United States, Hungary and finally, Great Britain. He began his career as an opera conductor, but he was later bet ...

. Hindemith revised the opera, changing the text and adding a little new music, for the

Teatro San Carlo The Real Teatro di San Carlo ("Royal Theatre of Saint Charles"), as originally named by the Bourbon monarchy but today known simply as the Teatro (di) San Carlo, is a historic opera house in Naples, Italy, connected to the Royal Palace and a ...

, Naples, on 7 April

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

. The premiere of the work in the United States was at the

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the f ...

in 1961.

Roles

Recordings

Hindemith: ''Neues vom Tage '' – WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln *Conductor:

Jan Latham-Koenig Jan Betrand Latham-Koenig, (born December 1953) is a British conductor and sex offender. He conducted all of the BBC ensembles, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He was appointed an OBE for services to Rus ...

*Principal singers: Elisabeth Werres (Laura), Claudio Nicolai, (Eduard), Ronald Pries (Hermann) / Horst Hiestermann (Herr M), Martina Borst (Frau M), Oscar Garcia de Gracia (Hotel director), Arwed Sandner (registrar) / Celso Antunes (1st manager; head waiter), Wolf Geuer (2nd manager), Thomas Donecker (3rd manager), Christoph Scheeben (4th manager; guide), Dieter Gillessen (5th manager), Heribert Feckler: bass (6th manager), Sabine Bitter (room maid) *Recording date: 1987 *Label: WERGO – 28 61922 (CD)

References

Notes

Sources

* * * Skelton, Geoffrey (1992). "''Neues vom Tage''" in ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...

'', ed.

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

, London: Macmillan Reference * Hindemith, Paul (2003). ''Neues vom Tage. Lustige Oper in drei Teilen (Sämtliche Werke I,7-1)'' ed. Giselher Schubert, Mainz: Schott Musik International

External links

*
Page about the Aachen production in 2000
{{Authority control Operas by Paul Hindemith German-language operas Operas 1929 operas Zeitoper