Peer Gynt (opera)

Peer Gynt is a 1938 opera by Werner Egk to a libretto after the play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen. The premiere took place 24 November 1938 at the Berliner Staatsoper where Egk was the conductor at the time.^[1]

The opera was controversial in the Nazi press. This criticism was quashed when Hitler, an attendee at the performance, allegedly approved of the work.^[2] Despite Stravinsky-like music the premiere met the approval of Goebbels, which has since tainted both the opera and composer. The opera was not performed in the Third Reich after 1940.

Recording

• Peer Gynt, Wilfried Vorwold (bass), Kari Løvaas (soprano), Norma Sharp (soprano), Cornelia Wulkopf (alto), Janet Perry (soprano), Waldemar Wild (bass). Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Heinz Wallberg, Orfeo Classics 1982

References

1. The Oxford Dictionary of Music 0199578540 ed. Michael Kennedy, Tim Rutherford-Johnson, Joyce Kennedy-2013 p.256 "operas: Columbus (1933 radio, 1942 stage); Die Zaubergeige (1935, rev. 1954); *Peer Gynt (1938); Circe (1945, rev. 1966 as 17 Tage und 4 Minuten); *Irische Legende (after Yeats, 1955, rev. 1970); Der Revisor (after Gogol's The *Government Inspector, 1957); Die Verlobung in San Domingo (1963). "
2. McCredie, Andrew D. "Egk, Werner". www.oxfordmusiconline.com. Oxford. Retrieved 2 December 2016.