Klose: Ilsebill

The subtitle of Friedrich Klose’s opera Ilsebill, »The Tale of the Fisherman and His Wife,« refers to its source, the well-known fairy tale transmitted by the Brothers Grimm. The opera itself, however, differs from the fairy tale in a number of elements. The essential aspect in the dramatic development, the intrinsic motivation of the events, is the independent work of the librettist Hugo Hoffmann, Klose’s brother-in-law. The fisherman’s wife Ilsebill constantly aspires to higher things and wishes to be a prosperous farmer’s wife, a princess, a prince of the church, and finally God – with fateful consequences: after a catastrophe wrought by the forces of nature and rendered as a musically purifying thunderstorm, she and her husband end up having to return to their tree trunk by the lake. In Ilsebill music predominates, as Klose’s designation of the work as a »dramatic symphony« indicates, and the overall design is comparable to that of a symphony. The neoromanticist Klose was admired above all for his original orchestration and instrumentation. After its premiere in 1903 Ilsebill received much recognition and praise, with Klose even being welcomed as »the new man« of the German music theater. Wagner’s influence is in evidence here and there, but the music has a dreamy character corresponding to the action, is never violent even during the most powerful demonstrations of the forces of nature, and offers independent and grippingly succinct developments and methods of intensification.

Price: $48.98