''Ein Landarzt'' (''A Country Doctor'') is a one-act chamber opera composed by

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...

. The libretto was written by Henze and is closely based on

Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typ ...

's 1917 short story "Ein Landarzt". The work was originally composed as a

radio opera Radio opera (German: 'Funkoper' or 'Radiooper') is a genre of opera. It refers to operas which were specifically composed to be performed on the radio and is not to be confused with broadcasts of operas which were originally written for the stage. ...

and was premiered on 19 November 1951 in a broadcast by

Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR; ''Northwest German Broadcasting'') was the organization responsible for public broadcasting in the German Länder of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September 1945 to ...

. Henze subsequently revised the work in 1964 both as a

monodrama A monodrama is a theatrical or operatic piece played by a single actor or singer, usually portraying one character. In opera In opera, a monodrama was originally a melodrama with one role such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau's ''Pygmalion'', which wa ...

for baritone and chamber orchestra and as a one-act staged opera. The stage version was premiered by the

Oper Frankfurt The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Shrek's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, '' Fennimore und Gerda'' by Frede ...

on 30 November 1965.

Background and performance history

Radio opera version

The original version of ''Ein Landarzt '' was composed specifically for radio performance and was a commission from the German public radio network

(NWDR). It premiered as an NWDR radio broadcast from Hamburg on 19 November 1951 with Hans Herbert Fiedler in the title role and conducting the NWDR Symphony Orchestra. In 1953 the opera was entered in the

Prix Italia The Prix Italia is an international Television, Radio-broadcasting and Web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with the ...

where it received the Premio

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

. Henze reworked the opera into two further versions in 1964, a monodrama and a stage version. The original radio opera was itself revised by Henze in 1994 with a narrator added and some of the original

radiophonic The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering work in electron ...

effects removed from the score. This revised version premiered in a

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

(WDR) broadcast from Cologne on 27 September 1996 with

Roland Hermann Roland Hermann (born 17 September 1936; died 17 November 2020) was a German operatic baritone and former professor at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. A member of the Opernhaus Zürich, he performed leading roles internationally, not only i ...

in the title role and

Markus Stenz Markus Stenz (born 28 February 1965, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate) is a German conductor. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Volker Wangenhein and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. Stenz has ...

conducting the

WDR Symphony Orchestra The WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne (German: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln) is a German radio orchestra based in Cologne, where the orchestra mainly performs at two concert halls: the WDR Funkhaus Wallrafplatz and the Kölner Philharmonie. Histor ...

. Henze himself took the role of narrator. The 1996 performance was subsequently released on CD in 2005 coupled with another one-act opera by Henze, '' Das Ende einer Welt''.

Monodrama version

In 1964, Henze reworked the radio opera version as a vehicle for

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's Lieder, ...

. This version, scored for solo

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

and chamber orchestra, was premiered by Fischer-Dieskau in a performance in Berlin on 13 October 1965 with Henze conducting the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

. This version in English translation as ''A Country Doctor'' was performed in a semi-staged production at London's St. Pancras Arts Festival in 1966. The monodrama was revived by the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

on 8 June 2015, again in a semi-staged production, with Martin Hässler in the title role and Timothy Redmond conducting the Guildhall Orchestra.

Stage version

The stage version, re-worked from the radio opera by Henze in 1964, premiered at the

on 30 November 1965 in a double bill with the premiere of his ''Das Ende einer Welt''. The production was designed and directed by Hans Neugebauer with

Ernst Gutstein Ernst Gutstein (15 May 1924 – 24 February 1998) was an Austrian operatic baritone. He made an international career and also performed regularly at the Vienna State Opera. His repertoire included both tragic and comic characters, one of his sign ...

in the title role and

Wolfgang Rennert Wolfgang Rennert (1 April 1922 – 24 March 2012) was a German conductor. He focused on opera, at the Oper Frankfurt, Staatsoper Berlin, Mannheim National Theatre and the Semperoper, among others. He premiered operas, such as Louise Talma's '' D ...

conducting. Its US premiere was in 1968 at the

Aspen Music Festival The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado. It is noted both for its concert programming and the musical training it offers to mostly young-adult music students. Founded in 1949, the ...

performed in English translation as ''A Country Doctor''. Later performances include Amsterdam (1970),

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the prov ...

(1971),

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

(1974), and Munich (2006).

Synopsis

A country doctor is summoned to a house 10 miles away where a young boy is seriously ill. He asks his maid Rosa to find him a horse, but she returns unsuccessful. A mysterious stable boy appears bringing a team of fine horses and promptly assaults Rosa, kissing and biting her. The doctor is magically transported to the patient's house by the horses but is deeply troubled by having left Rosa in the hands of the boorish stable boy. The young patient, who has a deep wound in his side, begs the doctor to let him die. The boy's family forcibly undress the doctor and make him lie in the boy's bed, threatening to kill him if the boy is not healed. The doctor manages to escape on one of the horses but, as if in a nightmare, finds himself unable to return home and condemned to travel for eternity.

Roles

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landarzt, Ein Adaptations of works by Franz Kafka Operas 1951 operas 1965 operas German-language operas Operas by Hans Werner Henze One-act operas Radio operas