Julietta is a 1959 opera by Heimo Erbse based on Heinrich von Kleist's novel Die Marquise von O. The opera was premiered at the Salzburg Festival and a recording was made. Although Rolf Liebermann's Die Schule der Frauen had been moderately well received at Salzburg in 1957, like Samuel Barber's Vanessa given its European premiere in Salzburg in 1958, and Frank Martin's Mysterium von der Geburt des Herrn (1960) after it, Erbse's Julietta met with critical disapproval and small audiences.
Recording
- Rita Streich, Rudolph Knoll, Sieglinde Wagner, Gerhard Stolze, Elisabeth Höngen, Walter Berry, Wiener Philharmoniker, Antal Dorati 1959
References
- Richard Chlupaty Antal Doráti: and the joy of making music 2006 - Page 203 Mr Doráti conducted the world premiere of Julietta, a modern opera by Heimo Erbse, West German composer. Mr Doráti was the highlight of the evening, said the critic for Neuer Kurier.
- Music and Musicians - Volume 8 - Page 19 Evan Senior - 1959 - this year Heimo Erbse's Julietta, an "Opera Semi-seria in Four Acts". It is based on Heinrich von Kleist's novel Die Marquise von O, which tells of a widowed noble lady who finds herself pregnant in circumstances unknown to her, advertises the fact in a local newspaper, and asks the father to come forward in order that she may marry him out of consideration for her family and social obligations. She is, in fact, pregnant as the result of a rape ...
- Opera 1959 - - Volume 10 - Page 652 The problem of modern music is on everyone's tongue this year at Salzburg: the reason for this preoccupation with a side of music about which Salzburg understands less than nothing is the production of Heimo Erbse's new opera, Julietta. Last year's fiasco with Barber's Vanessa was still very fresh in the minds of audience and critics when the curtain went up on Erbse's lamentable effort. We are grateful to the directors of the Salzburg Festival for their firm decision — in the face of ...
- A history of the Salzburg Festival Stephen Gallup - 1988 - Page 164 - Save for Liebermann's fairly successful Die S chide der Frauen in 1957, the operas presented — Samuel Barber's Vanessa (the New York Metropolitan Opera production, presented in 1958), Frank Martin's Mysterium von der Geburt des Herrn (1960) and Heimo Erbse's Julietta (1959) — were savaged by the critics and drew small audiences.79 The monumental failure of Vanessa forced critics to rethink their attitude towards modern opera in Salzburg, and many eventually came to von ...