Boston Symphony Brings Lush, Rarely Heard Korngold Opera to the Concert Stage

While disdained by the classical music establishment (which included his own father), Korngold believed his film work was equal to his more serious work. He once said that the day would come when "composers will accept the motion picture as a musical form equal to the opera or the symphony," but that largely didn't happen during his lifetime. He died at the age of 60 in 1957 after retiring from composing film scores to concentrate on serious music. During that time he wrote two significant works, his Violin Concerto and his Symphony in F-sharp Major, whose searing Adagio – another musical expression of grief – borrowed copiously from his own film scores. It would be some twenty years before his music would be appreciated again – first his film scores, then his more serious music.

Not that there has been a huge groundswell to hear his music in concert halls and opera houses. "Die Tote Stadt" is his most popular work, but its American productions have numbered less than 10 in the 100+ years since its premiere. But his influence on film scores remains significant. While big orchestral scores fell out of favor in the 1960s and 1970s, John Williams helped restore Korngold's style with his score to "Star Wars," which ushered in a return to the big orchestral film score that continues through today.

A personal note: In the mid-1980s a Swiss boyfriend of mine introduced me to the opera in a recording conducted by Erich Leinsdorf (a BSO conductor in the 1960s). Its rich sound – it is like Puccini crossed with Richard Strauss – and emotional sweep were exhilarating. And while its narrative was a bit hard to follow in the recording's liner notes (especially its long dream sequence), its subject matter hit home to those of us for whom memorial services had become a regular occurrence. They included one for my Swiss boyfriend, who passed while listening to "Turandot" (his favorite opera) on his Walkman. I was told by his nurse he was smiling when he passed.

Performances of "Die Tote Stadt" with The Boston Symphony Orchestra take place on Thursday, January 30 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, February 1 at 8:00 pm at Boston's Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA. For more information, visit the Boston Symphony Orchestra website at this link.