Der Schatzgräber

Schreker wrote the libretto for the opera in the summer of 1915. He then broke off to attend to a revision of Das Spielwerk und die Prinzessin and compose the Chamber Symphony, returning to Der Schatzgräber in the summer of 1917.[1] He dated the manuscript full score 12 November 1918.[2] The score is published by Universal Edition Vienna.[3]

The opera house in Frankfurt 1880–1945

The opera was first performed on 21 January 1920 by the Oper Frankfurt, conducted by Ludwig Rottenberg.[1] It was Schreker's most (but also his last) successful opera.[2] It received 354 performances in over fifty cities between 1920 and 1924/1925, but after the change in the cultural and political climate in Germany, only a further 31 performances took place until 1932.[2] The last production during the composer's lifetime was in Oldenburg in October 1931[1] whereafter, under the Nazis (who took power in 1933), Schreker's music was banned due to his Jewish ancestry.[4]

The Berlin premiere took place on 3 April 1922 at the Berlin State Opera, conducted by Leo Blech, with Vera Schwarz, Robert Hutt and Waldemar Henke in the leading roles.[1]

The Viennese premiere took place at the Vienna State Opera on 18 October 1922, conducted by Franz Schalk, with a cast including Nikolaus Zek, Fritz Krenn, Karl Norbert, Richard Schubert, Richard Tauber and Gertrud Kappel.[5]

In 1922, Schreker prepared a Symphonic Interlude for concert performance, mainly drawn from the orchestral interlude from act 3. This was premiered by the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Willem Mengelberg in October 1923.[1]

The opera was revived in a concert performance conducted by Robert Heger in 1968, followed by another concert performance in Vienna under Lothar Zagrosek in 1985. Fully staged productions followed at the Theater St. Gallen (1988) and the Hamburg State Opera (1989).[1]

The Netherlands Opera, Amsterdam staged a new production by Pierre Audi, conducted by Marc Albrecht and directed by Ivo van Hove, in September 2012.[6]

In May 2022, the Deutsche Oper Berlin staged a new production by Christof Loy, conducted by Marc Albrecht with Elisabet Strid and Daniel Johansson in the leading roles.[7] This production was also staged at the Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg in October 2022 conducted by Marko Letonja.[8]

The opera is set in legendary medieval times.

The orchestral score requires:

• 3 flutes (flute 3 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn (doubling oboe 3), 2 clarinets in A/B flat, bass clarinet in B flat, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon;
• 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, bass tuba;
• timpani, percussion (4 players), high bells, 2 harps, celesta;
• strings (violins I, violins II, violas, violoncellos, double basses).[3]

• In 1968, a studio performance (with many cuts) was broadcast on Austrian Radio (ORF), conducted by Robert Heger (who had also conducted the first performance of the work in Nuremberg in 1920). Elis was sung by Fritz Uhl, and Els by Doris Jung. Although the whole recording has not been released on CD, extracts were issued on the CD accompanying the book Franz Schreker: Grenzgänge, Grenzklänge (Hailey and Haas; Mandelbaum, 2004).
• In 1990 the German record label Capriccio released a live recording made in May/June 1989 at the Hamburg State Opera, with Gerd Albrecht conducting the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, with Josef Protschka in the title role and Gabriele Schnaut as Els. The score was heavily cut.
• In 2013, the Dutch label Challenge Classics released a live recording from performances at Netherlands Opera in September/October 2012 with Marc Albrecht conducting the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra featuring Manuela Uhl as Els and Raymond Very as Elis.[10] The score was uncut, apart from a short sequence in act 2.

• Batta, András, Opera – Komponisten, Werke, Interpreten. Könemann, 2000, (Dutch translation)

• Der Schatzgräber (Schreker): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project