Despite his double anniversary this year, we seem to be missing out on the music of Albert Lortzing, so hurrah for Deutsche Grammophon’s historic reissues

Lortzing with his friend Philipp Reger, 1844. Daguerreotypie.

The year 2026 marks a double anniversary for the composer Albert Lortzing. The creator Spieloper, German comic opera, was born in Berlin 225 years ago and died there 175 years ago, although he spent much of his life travelling. Best known for Zar und Zimmermann (1837), Der Wildschütz (1842) and Undine (1845). Yet if you check Operabase, there are no performances of his works planned for the UK.

Fifteen years younger than Weber, Lortzing developed the Spieloper out of the Singspiel tradition, with spoken dialogue in the lineage of Dittersdorf and Mozart and became
the German counterpart to French opéra comique. As recently as the
1980s, Lortzing remained one of the most frequently performed composers
on German opera stages. Lortzing comes at a dividing point in the German operatic stage: in one direction Weber then Mozart, in the other either Wagner (who would base a comic opera on the same subject as Lortzing’s Hans Sachs) or Johann Strauss II.

Like Weber, Lortzing was brought up in a theatrical family. He made his first stage appearance aged 12, and would become an audience favourite. He and his wife (also an actress) would be members of the Hoftheater in Detmold and then Leipziger Stadttheater. It was here that he wrote Zar und Zimmerman (Tsar and Carpenter) based on a story about Peter the Great (in disguise of course). It had trouble with the Leipzig censors. Lortzing sang the carpenter role but the opera did not make an impact till it was performed in Berlin in 1839. 

He was kapellmeister in Leipzig and then at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, and finally in Berlin at the newly opened Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater. But there were gaps when he had to return to being a touring actor, and you get the impression he was not the easiest of people! Yet luminaries from the musical world, including Meyerbeer, attended his funeral in 1851.

Der Wildschütz oder Die Stimme der Natur (The Poacher, or The Voice of Nature) was another comic opera premiered in Leipzig (in 1842) and this is the other work that went on to give him currency in the operatic world. It is a comedy adapted from a play by August von Kotzebue. Undine, premiered in Magdeburg in 1845, is a more serious piece, described as a romantische Zauberoper (‘romantic magic opera’). Based on Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué’s novella, other composers would explore the subject including Tchaikovsky, ETA Hoffmann (in 1816) and Henze (in his ballet for Frederick Ashton). Lortzing drew on Fouqué’s original tale, adding the comic characters Veit and Hans and concluding the story with an ambivalent happy ending. Romantic orchestral writing is combined with folk-inspired songs, dramatic scenes, masterful ensembles and effective ballet music.

There was a surprisingly political side to him too. At the behest of the Freedom Movement he wrote his opera Regina in 1848. It is named for his wife and he wrote the libretto. Written in Berlin in 1848, the year of revolutions in the German states, the plot concerns a factory with workers who strike and chant freedom songs! Not surprisingly, it did not premiere till 1899 (in heavily edited form) and the original did not see the light of day until 1998 in Gelsenkirchen directed by  Peter Konwitschny. There is now a critical edition of the opera from Ricordi, and 2011 recording on CPO conducted by Ulf Schirmer (which received a rather temperate review on Musicweb International – ‘Not the unknown masterpiece we always hope for but pleasant enough‘). Goodness knows whether we might get to see it in the theatre!

To mark the double anniversary the good news is the Deutsche Grammophon is making four historic opera highlights recordings of major works by the composer – Der Wildschütz, Der Waffenschmied and Undine – available digitally for the first time, or for the first time in complete form. Featuring artists such as Rita Streich, Irmgard Seefried, Wolfgang Windgassen, Gundula Janowitz and Josef Greindl, these releases document a significant era of German-language operatic performance. The recordings were conceived and produced specifically as opera highlights recordings for LP release – a publication format that was widespread at the time and brought together key scenes and musical highlights from a work.

Undine has just been released, see the Deutsche Grammophon website, and Der Waffenschmidt came out last month [link] with Der Wildschütz to come [link]