Marietta’s Song

[Thesauron]

Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957) was a musical child prodigy when he grew up in Vienna. At 7, he was writing original music, at 11 his first ballet, The Snowman, premiered in Vienna at great success. He was very prolific throughout his teens, writing sonatas and orchestral pieces. When he was 19, he was approached to adapt the novel Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City) into an opera in 3 acts. It premiered a few years later in Hamburg and Cologne. When the Nazis gained power in Germany and Austria, he fled to the US, where he became one of the first international composers to work in Hollywood, earning two Academy Awards and two nominations. Being a European jew, his early work was soon forgotten, and Die Tote Stadt wasn’t performed again until 1965.

 

Here, a song from Die Tote Stadt, Mariettas Lied (Marietta’s Song), is performed by soprano René Fleming and also in another version by Nicola Benedetti.

 

Fleming is an american lyric soprano. In 2008 she was awarded the Swedish Polar Music Prize for her services to music.

 

 

 

Benedetti is a Scottish classical violinist. At age eight, she became the leader of the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain. At the age of 16, she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in May 2004. In September 2012, she performed at the Last Night of the Proms. She was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire(CBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours, "For services to Music".

 

 

 

Edited June 23, 2019 by Thesauron