Colourful neo-classicism: The orchestral suite “Le bourgeois gentilhomme” (in German: “Der Bürger als Edelmann”), Op. 60 by Richard Strauss performed by the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra under direction of Marek Janowski. This piece was part of a concert to mark the 150th anniversary of the famous German orchestra in 2020. It took place without a live audience in the Kulturpalast Dresden – and was broadcast live on TV.

00:00 Coming on stage
00:18 1. Ouverture (Overture)
04:01 2. Minuet (Menuett)
05:40 3. The Fencing Master (Der Fechtmeister)
07:29 4. Entry and Dance of the Tailors (Auftritt und Tanz der Schneider)
12:50 5. Lully’s Minuet (Menuett des Lully)
15:10 6. Courante
17:46 7. Entry of Cléonte; after Lully (Auftritt des Cléonte)
22:47 8. Intermezzo (Vorspiel)
26:00 9. The Dinner (Das Diner)

The orchestral suite “Le bourgeois gentilhomme” (Op. 60 / TrV 228c) by Richard Strauss goes back to two congenial cooperations between poets and composers: On the one hand, the cooperation between Richard Strauss (1864-1949) and the Austrian author Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929). Both Strauss and von Hofmannsthal referenced a work from the baroque era: The comedy ballet “Le bourgeois gentilhomme” with text written by French playwright Molière (1622-1673) and music by Italian-French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), first performed in 1670.

The story of how Strauss’ orchestral suite came to be is closely entangled with and was completed in four stages. The project was initiated by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. He was so impressed by Molière’s comedy ballet “Le bourgeois gentilhomme” that he re-wrote it as an opera libretto, which Richard Strauss was supposed to set to music. But this libretto was special as it was basically an opera within an opera. Von Hofmannsthal had shortened Molière’s comedy and combined it with material from “Ariadne auf Naxos”. Using this double opera, Strauss had composed an opulent opera called “Ariadne auf Naxos” (TrV 228). It was performed in Stuttgart in 1912 but turned out to be a huge flop with the audience. But von Hofmannsthal and Strauss did not drop the hapless project. Instead, they changed it by separating both works. A new Intermezzo was added to “Ariadne auf Naxos”, and it was performed as an opera in its own right (TrV 228a) in Vienna in 1916. To this day, it’s part of any opera’s standard repertoire.

“The bourgeois gentilhomme” was transformed into a musical comedy with dance in three acts. It was completed in 1917 and premiered in Berlin in 1918 (TrV 228b). Hofmannsthal tried to convince Strauss to compose another opera based on the Molière piece, but Strauss turned down this idea and in 1920, he wrote the orchestral suite “The bourgeois gentilhomme” (TrV 228c) instead. The orchestral suite is a compilation of the versions from 1912 and 1917 and is representative of Strauss’ neo-classicism. Sections 5-7 are based on Jean-Baptiste Lully’s original music. The orchestral suite is not only popular as a concert piece, but is also performed as a ballet occasionally.

German conductor Marek Janowski (*1939) is one of the best-known and most successful orchestra conductors of our time. He is known to be unusually precise and efficient. His international opera and concert activities have taken him to all the world’s great concert halls. He conducted the Dresden Philharmonic from 2001-2003 and has done so again since 2019.

The Dresden Philharmonic was founded as the “Gewerbehaus-Kapelle” by the city of Dresden on November 29, 1871. The name refers to the hall where the orchestra performed at that time. Since 1923, the orchestra has been called the “Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra”. In its long history, it has been led by numerous famous composers and conductors, including Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Antonín Dvořák. Shortly after the orchestra’s founding, its musicians started to travel abroad for concerts, even performing in the United States in 1909. The sound of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra was particularly shaped by Kurt Masur, who was its musical director from 1955 to 1972. On November 29, 2020, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra celebrated its 150th anniversary. The festive concert, a part of which can be seen here, unfortunately took place without an audience due to the Covid pandemic.

A production of EuroArts Music International and Dresdner Philharmonie in coproduction with Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk & ARTE CONCERT

© 2020 EuroArts

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