Word: frau
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...past decade, four of the most widely praised new Metropolitan Opera productions-Mozart's Don Giovanni, Berg's Wozzeck, Strauss's Salome and Die Frau ohne Schatten-all had one element in common: Conductor Karl Böhm. It was hardly coincidence. Long recognized as one of the world's foremost maestros, Böhm helped lead the way in elevating his profession to its rightfully high place in opera. Now 72, he dates his career back to the days when many opera houses did not even bother to list the conductor's name...
Palace and hovel, ships, torches, caves, rocky passes, thunderstorms, primeval forest, a chorus of "unborn children." The whole idea for a new opera called Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow) so excited Richard Strauss that he wanted to be gin composing right on the spot. That was in 1911. It was eight years, however, before the shadow became a reality, and then, despite wide critical acclaim, it was 40 years more before it was staged in the U.S. Trouble was, with all those ships and rocky passes, the technical demands of the fanciful libretto were more than...
...nothing approached Die Frau ohne Schatten. Poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal's libretto requires a primer course in the mythology of six cultures in order to be fathomed, moves murkily between the spirit world, the human world of an impoverished dyer and his sensuous wife (Baritone Walter Berry and Soprano Christa Ludwig), and the go-between world of an emperor and his wife (Tenor James King and Soprano Leonie Rysanek). The empress, alas, is without a shadow-she cannot bear children-and with the aid of a Mephistophelean nurse (Mezzo-Soprano Irene Dalis) she attempts to divest the dyer...
...conducted with thunderous brilliance by the late composer's gifted friend, Karl Bohm. By turns raging and receding, mischievous and mystical, the orchestration powerfully underscored the mysterious gulfs between the two worlds and buttressed each role with bold, contrasting shades of vocal writing. Big, robust, infinitely rich, Die Frau was symphonic opera music-and Metropolitan Opera-at its best...
...series, Astronauts Hector (Jack Mullaney) and Mac (Frank Aletter) are rocketed aloft faster than the speed of light-and suddenly find themselves in the Stone Age. This week, the show's third, they continue their prehysterical adventures, with Imogene Coca playing a cave frau...