The flexatone or fleximetal is a modern percussion instrument consisting of a small flexible metal sheet suspended in a wire frame ending in a handle. Used in classic cartoons for its glissando effect, its sound is comparable to the musical saw.
Ernst Heinrich Krenek was an Austrian, later American, composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now (1939), a study of Johannes Ockeghem (1953), and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music (1974). Krenek wrote two pieces using the pseudonym Thornton Winsloe.
Lothar Zagrosek is a German conductor. As a youth, he sang in the Regensburg Cathedral choir, including performances as the First Boy in The Magic Flute at the 1954 Salzburg Festival. From 1962 to 1967, Zagrosek studied conducting with Hans Swarowsky, István Kertész, Bruno Maderna and Herbert von Karajan.
Hugues-Adhémar Cuénod was a Swiss classical tenor, sometimes placed in the haute-contre category, and music educator known for his performances in international opera, operetta, both traditional and musical theatre, and on the concert stage, where he was particularly known for his clear, light, romantic and expressive poised interpretation of mélodie.
Robert Merwald is a German baritone active in opera, oratorio, and lied, primarily in Germany and Austria.
Schwergewicht, oder Die Ehre der Nation is a burleske Operette with text and music by Ernst Krenek, his Op. 55 and the third of his 1928 one-acters. This satirical skit was provoked by the German ambassador's comment that sports heroes – and not artists – were the true ambassadors of nations, and the title character Ochsenschwanz ("oxtail") is a reference to the boxer Max Schmeling.
Tarquin is a chamber opera by Ernst Krenek to an English libretto by Emmet Lavery. Written in 1940, it is Krenek's only unpublished opera, though a premiere in German translation took place in 1950 in Cologne.
What Price Confidence? is a chamber opera in nine scenes with music and libretto by Ernst Krenek, his Op. 111. This "little drawing room comedy" is set in London at the turn of the 20th century, and features a protagonist not unlike Max in Jonny spielt auf, as the author points out in a preface; it owes something to Melville as well, as do his next two operas.
Cefalo e Procri is a chamber opera in three scenes and a prologue by Ernst Krenek, his Op. 77, begun in 1933 and finished on 3 August 1934. The Italian libretto by Rinaldo Küfferle was commissioned by Universal Edition for the third Venice Festival. The half-hour work was revived at the Gran Teatro La Fenice in Venice in October 2017 as part of a short double-bill with a setting of the 'Lamento di Procri' by Silvia Colasanti, conducted by Tito Ceccherini.
Zeitoper was a short-lived genre of opera associated with Weimar Germany. It is not known when or by whom the term was coined, but by 1928 Kurt Weill was able to complain that it was more a slogan than a description. Like opera buffa it used contemporary settings and characters, comic or at least satiric plots and aimed at musical accessibility. Two distinguishing characteristics are a tendency to incorporate modern technology and frequent allusions to popular music, especially jazz. This last, more than any social satire, earned the suspicion of the political right and ensured that it would not survive into the Nazi era.
Alma Mary Templeton Moodie was an Australian violinist who established an excellent reputation in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. She was regarded as the foremost female violinist during the inter-war years, and she premiered violin concertos by Kurt Atterberg, Hans Pfitzner and Ernst Krenek. She and Max Rostal were regarded as the greatest proponents of the Carl Flesch tradition. She became a teacher at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt. However, Alma Moodie made no recordings, and she appears in very few reference sources. Despite her former renown, her name became virtually unknown for many years. She appeared in earlier editions of Grove's and Baker's Dictionaries, but does not appear in the more recent editions.
Zdeněk Otava was a Czech operatic baritone who had a lengthy career at the Prague National Theatre that spanned more than four decades. Musicologist Alena Němcová stated that, "Otava's voice had a very wide vocal range and a marked intensity, and while light, was extremely varied in colour, with an even tone, free of vibrato; his diction was absolutely clear." In addition to his opera career, he was also a successful recitalist, particularly known for his performances of the contemporary Czech repertoire. His voice is preserved on a number of recordings made on the Supraphon label.
Opera North is an opera company based at the Grand Theatre, Leeds. This article covers the period between the severing of its ties with English National Opera and the departure of its founding music director David Lloyd-Jones.
William Leonard Blankenship was an American operatic tenor, music pedagogue at the collegiate level, stage and television actor, and stage director.
Edytha Fleischer-Engel was a German soprano and voice teacher. She began her career as a principal artist at the Berlin State Opera and the Salzburg Festival.
Der Sprung über den Schatten is a 1924 opera by Ernst Krenek. The work parodied expressionism and psychoanalysis, and prefigured Jonny spielt auf in including jazz elements.
Das geheime Königreich is an opera in one act with words and music by Ernst Krenek, his Op. 50 and the second of three one-acters which premiered on 6 May 1928 at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden as part of the Mai-Festwoche Wiesbaden. It is subtitled Märchenoper in 1 Akt and has been called a satirical fairy-tale opera.
Christophorus (oder Die Vision einer Oper) is an opera in a prologue, two acts and epilogue by Franz Schreker with a German-language libretto by the composer.
Adele Kern real name Adele Kern-Klein was a German operatic and operetta coloratura soprano. She was known for her technical perfection and joy of playing. From 1927 to 1935, she sang at the Salzburg Festival as well as at the state operas of Vienna, Berlin and Munich.
Gustav Brecher was a German conductor, composer, and music critic. As director of the Leipzig Opera, he conducted world premieres of works by Ernst Krenek and Kurt Weill, including Jonny spielt auf and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. He was dismissed by the Nazis in 1933, lived at risk in Stalingrad, Berlin, Prague, and finally Ostend, where he took his life together with his wife's.
