Franz Schmidt: Fredigundis – Orf Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra & Ernst Märzendorfer

in 1914, Franz Schmidt staged his opera Notre Dame at the Vienna State Opera to great acclaim. Immediately afterwards, he was looking for new material for another project and came across the novel Fredigundis by Felix Dahn, which is loosely based on historical events from the 6th century. From 1916 to 1921, Schmidt worked on his project, which was premiered in Berlin in December 1922. Franz Schmidt’s music for Fredigundis stands, as it were, at the end point of the development that runs through the so-called “classical-romantic” period. The work is characterized by numerous chromaticisms and an expansion of the major-minor system in the music in general that pushes the boundaries of tonality, as well as dense counterpoint and perfect compositional artistry in the vocal parts.

The dramatic singer Dunja Vejzovic, who has shone in several Wagner roles at the Bayreuth and Salzburg Festivals, has appeared on all the world’s major concert and opera stages. The excellent set of singers in this performance is supported by the Austrian conductor Ernst Märzendorfer, who mastered several instruments and also composed piano concertos, incidental music and a ballet. On this recording, he conducts the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, which has established itself as an opera orchestra through its continuously successful collaboration with the MusikTheater an der Wien.