''Notre Dame'' is a romantic opera by Franz Schmidt, to a libretto by himself and Leopold Wilk (1876–1944), a professional chemist and amateur poet. It is based loosely on the 1831 novel ''

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' (french: Notre-Dame de Paris, translation=''Our Lady of Paris'', originally titled ''Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482'') is a French Gothic novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1831. It focuses on the unfortunate story of ...

'' by Victor Hugo.

Composition

The opera was written between 1904 and 1906.Oxford Journals
/ref> Schmidt approached the opera by writing the orchestral parts of the score first, adding the vocal parts in later. He incorporated some material from an unfinished fantasia for piano and orchestra. ''Notre Dame'' was first performed in Vienna on 1 April 1914. The principal female role of Esmeralda was created by

Marie Gutheil-Schoder Marie Gutheil-Schoder (16 February 1874 – 4 October 1935) was an important German soprano. Born Marie Schoder in Weimar, she married Gustav Gutheil in 1899, with whom she lived until his death in 1914. In 1920, she married the photographe ...

. The work was popular till the early 1920s, then faded from view. It has been revived in Vienna and Dresden, and has been recorded at least twice. The opera is best known for its orchestral ''Intermezzo'', which was first performed, along with the ''Carnival Music'',Notre Dame
Classical Archives on 6 December 1903 in Vienna, as ''Zwischenspiel aus einer unvollständigen romantischen Oper''. These pieces were not composed with any opera in mind, but were later incorporated into ''Notre Dame'', which he started writing in August 1904. The composer and violinist

Karl Goldmark Karl Goldmark (born Károly Goldmark, Keszthely, 18 May 1830 – Vienna, 2 January 1915) was a Hungarian-born Viennese composer.Peter Revers, Michael Cherlin, Halina Filipowicz, Richard L. Rudolph The Great Tradition and Its Legacy 2004; , p. ...

described the ''Intermezzo'' as "the most beautiful of Gypsy music".

Roles

Revivals

* post-World War II,

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August ...

* 1975,

Julia Migenes Julia Migenes (born March 13, 1943) is an American soprano working primarily in musical theatre repertoire. She was born on the Lower East Side of New York (Manhattan) to parents of Irish and Puerto Rican descent. (Her stepfather was of Greek ...

, Walter Berry,

Vienna Volksoper The Vienna Volksoper (''Volksoper'' or ''Vienna People's Opera'') is an opera house in Vienna, Austria. It produces three hundred performances of twenty-five German language productions of opera, operetta, musicals, and ballet, during an annual s ...

* 2010,

Camilla Nylund Camilla Nylund (born 11 June 1968) is a Finnish operatic soprano. She appears internationally in lyric-dramatic roles such as Beethoven's Leonore, Verdi's Elisabetta, and Wagner's Elisabeth and Sieglinde. She is especially known for portrayin ...

(Esmeralda),

Robert Gambill Robert Gambill (born March 31, 1955 in Indianapolis) is an opera singer (Heldentenor). Biography Gambill studied mathematics at Purdue University (1973-1976) before becoming an exchange student at Hamburg University in Germany, where he ad ...

(Phoebus),

Oliver Ringelhahn Oliver Ringelhahn (born 1969 in Tulln an der Donau) is an Austrian opera, operetta, songs and oratorio singer (tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types ...

(Gringoire), Markus Butter (Archdeacon), Jan-Hendrik Rootering (Quasimodo),

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

Semperoper The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the ...

under

Gerd Albrecht Gerd Albrecht (19 July 1935 – 2 February 2014) was a German conductor. Biography Albrecht was born in Essen, the son of the musicologist Hans Albrecht (1902–1961). He studied music in Kiel and in Hamburg, where his teachers included Wilhel ...

Recordings

* 1949, Karl Ostertag (tenor), Wilhelm Schlichting (baritone), Hanne Munch (mezzo-soprano), Max Proebstl (bass),

Hans Hopf Hans Hopf (August 2, 1916, Nuremberg – June 25, 1993, Munich) was a German operatic tenor, one of the leading heldentenors of the immediate postwar period. He sang Walther von Stolzing in the Bayreuth Festival's ''Die Meistersinger'', in 1951 ...

(tenor),

Hilde Scheppan Hilde Scheppan (17 September 1907 – 24 September 1970) was a German operatic soprano and academic teacher. She was engaged for 20 years at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and made guest appearances at the Bayreuth Festival from 1937 ...

(soprano),

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (german: Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, BRSO) is a German radio orchestra. Based in Munich, Germany, it is one of the city's four orchestras. The BRSO is one of two full-size symphony orchestr ...

under Hans AltmannArkiv Music
/ref> * 1988, Dame Gwyneth Jones (Esmeralda), James King (Phoebus),

Kurt Moll Kurt Moll (11 April 19385 March 2017) was a German operatic bass singer who enjoyed an international career and was widely recorded. His voice was notable for its range, a true basso profondo, including full, resonant low and very-low notes wit ...

(Quasimodo), Horst Laubenthal (Gringoire),

Hartmut Welker Hartmut Welker (born 27 October 1941) is a German operatic bass-baritone. Career Welker was born in Velbert. Before he decided to study singing, he had learned and practiced the profession as a toolmaker. At the age of 28, he began studying sing ...

(Archdeacon); Andreas Juffinger, Hans Helm, Kaja Borris, with

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (''Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin'') is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. In Berlin, the orchestra gives concerts at the Konzerthaus Berlin and at the Berliner Philharmonie. The orchestra has also ...

under

Christof Perick Christof Prick (born 1946) is a German orchestra conductor. He uses the name Christof Perick in English-speaking countries. His father was the concertmaster of the Hamburg Philharmonic. Biography Born in Hamburg, Prick studied at the Univer ...

References

{{Authority control Compositions by Franz Schmidt Operas 1906 operas German-language operas Romantische Opern Operas set in France Works based on The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Operas based on novels Operas based on works by Victor Hugo