''Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin'' is an opera in two acts by Austrian composer Franz Schreker with a libretto by the composer.

Composition history

The work was composed from 1909 to 1912. Schreker revised it into a one-act version entitled ''Das Spielwerk'' in 1915. Both versions are published by

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-bas ...

Performance history

The original two-act version was given a simultaneous premiere in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

on 15 March 1913. Although it failed to repeat the success of Schreker's previous opera ''

Der ferne Klang ''Der ferne Klang'' (''The Distant Sound'') is an opera by Franz Schreker, set to his own libretto. Begun in 1903, it was first performed by the Oper Frankfurt on 18 August 1912. It was the composer's breakthrough to fame, and was frequently pe ...

'', the Vienna production caused a scandal which only helped to make Schreker's name more widely known and consolidate his reputation as one of Vienna's foremost modernists.Christopher Hailey: 'Franz Schreker: A cultural biography' (Cambridge University Press, 1993) The premiere of the revised one-act version took place on 30 October 1920 at the National Theater Munich conducted by

Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the U ...

. The prelude, under the title ''Vorspiel zur Oper 'Das Spielwerk, can be performed separately.

Recordings

''Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin'': Thomas Johannes Mayer, Julia Henning, Hans-Jürgen Schöpflin, Matthias Klein, Anne-Carolyn Schlüter, Hans Georg Ahrens, Bernd Gebhardt, Jörg Sabrowski, Jakob Zethner, Paul McNamara, Martin Fleitmann, Kieler Opernchor, Kinderchor Kiel, Philharmonisches Orchester Kiel, Ulrich Windfuhr 2003, Classic Production Osnabrück.Gramophon
Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin
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References

;Sources *Hailey, Christopher, ''Franz Schreker: A cultural biography'' Cambridge University Press, 1993 {{DEFAULTSORT:Spielwerk und die Prinzessin Operas by Franz Schreker 1913 operas German-language operas Operas