Kurt Pahlen

Fidelio ist Beethovens einzige Oper. Die Handlung entspringt einer historischen Begebenheit, die sich - wie der französische Dichter J. N. Bouilly sagt - in Tours ereignet hat. Was Beethoven faszinier...

The first publication of a volume of Engelbert Humperdinck's fairy-tale opera 'Hänsel and Gretel' is a valuable addition to the successful series 'Operas of the World' for this work is the second most...

After the success of his third completed opera 'Rienzi', Wagner turned to putting a topic to music which he had come across in Heinrich Heine's 'Schnabelewopski' fragment a few years before. 'The Flyi...

'Twilight of the Gods', the Third Day, brings Wagner's Ring cycle with an evening and three days, all full-length performances lasting for hours, to an end. Everything that has happened in the parts b...

Wagner's 'Lohengrin' is described as a 'great romantic opera' in which Wagner opens up two completely different worlds for the listener. On the one hand, there is the mystical world of the Knight of t...

This comprehensive introduction to Wagner's opera 'The Mastersingers of Nuremberg' contains the complete libretto with numerous music examples. Kurt Pahlen comments on the work with music-related refe...

Although 'Rhinegold', like any of the following three parts, is a drama on its own, it reveals its entire meaning only as introduction to the complete work. In 'The Nibelung's Ring', Wagner used his o...

'Siegfried' is the Second Day in Wagner's tetralogy 'The Nibelung's Ring'; the world premiere took place in Bayreuth in 1876 as part of the opening ceremony of the festival theatre. In contrast to the...

Completed in 1845, Richard Wagner's romantic opera 'Tannhäuser and the Singing Contest at the Wartburg' pursues the path taken by 'The Flying Dutchman' a few years before: from number opera to through...

Tristan und Isolde ist in der inneren Dimension schwer zu messen. Kein anderes der Musikdramen Wagners ist so völlig auf ein einziges Thema konzentriert, verzichtet so weitgehend auf theatralische Han...

This book, a comprehensive introduction to Richard Wagner's opera 'The Valkyrie', the first evening of the tetralogy 'The Nibelung's Ring', contains the complete libretto with numerous music examples....

'All Women do the Same, or The School for Lovers', this is how Lorenzo da Ponte, the librettist of Mozart's 'Dramma giocoso', entitled his libretto. Ever since the world premiere of 'Così fan tutte' i...

Mozart's 'Don Giovanni', one of the most frequently played and most popular operas since its world premiere in Prague in 1787, is based on the old familiar figure of the 'womanizer'. The character of...

This comprehensive introduction to Mozart's 'Abduction from the Seraglio' contains the complete libretto with numerous music examples. Kurt Pahlen comments on the work with music-related references as...

'La folle journée ou La mariage de Figaro' is the title of a stage play by Pierre Augustin Caron, called Beaumarchais, which caused a sensation in Paris at the beginning of the 1780s. In this 'sequel'...

This comprehensive introduction to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' contains the complete libretto with numerous music examples. Kurt Pahlen comments on the work with music-related referenc...

Mit dem durchschlagenden Erfolg der 'Entführung' begann Mozarts Opernproduktion für die Bühnen Wiens: Die Oper wurde das beliebteste Bühnenstück zu seinen Lebzeiten. 'Figaros Hochzeit' markierte den B...

Viele Werke Manuel de Fallas sind fester Bestandteil des Konzert- und Theaterrepertoires, eine Darstellung seines Lebens und seiner Musik in deutscher Sprache sucht man jedoch vergebens. Der Autor ler...