Paul Hindemith - Cardillac, Op. 39 Act II (1926 Original Version)

Paul Hindemith (16 November 1895 – 28 December 1963) was a prolific German composer, violist, violinist, teacher and conductor. In the 1920s, he became a major advocate of the Neue Sachlichkeit (new objectivity) style of music. Notable compositions include his song cycle Das Marienleben (1923), Der Schwanendreher for viola and orchestra (1935), and opera Mathis der Maler (1938). Hindemith's most popular work, both on record and in the concert hall, is likely the Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber, written in 1943.

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Cardillac, Op. 39 Opera in 3 Acts (1925-26 Original Version)
Librettist: Ferdinand Lion (1883-1965), after Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822) Das Fräulein von Scuderi

Act II
No. 7: Arioso und Duett (0:00)
No. 8: Arie mit konzertierenden Instrumenten (5:47)
No. 9: Duett (10:06)
No.10: Duett (13:34)
No.11: Szene (20:09)
No.12: Duett (24:49)
No.13: Arie (31:33)

Der Goldschmied Cardillac: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Die Tochter: Leonore Kirschstein
Der Offizier: Donald Grobe
Der Goldhändler: Karl Christian Kohn
Der Kavalier: Eberhard Katz
Die Dame: Elisabeth Söderström
Der Führer der Prévôté: Willi Nett
Bass solo of the choir: Nikolaus Hillebrand

Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Joseph Keilberth

Hindemith's first full-length opera Cardillac, Op. 39 (based on a libretto by Ferdinand Lion) is considered both the epitome and the principal work of the «New Objectivity.»

The goldsmith Cardillac is, as an «autonomically» creative artist, a «negative hero», a pathological, abnormally obsessed loner who murders those who buy his jewelry in order to regain possession of it. As the creator of an art with a fatal lack of compromise, turning away from those who want to use it, he is the «victim of a holy madness» who slays the people in order to protect himself from his murderous actions.

For this, Hindemith writes a virtuosic concertante music as he had developed in his series of Kammermusiken. There is no direct relationship of word to sound, no sense of empathizing, but the music is directly related to the plot in its fundamental constructive principles; there is a series of variations, a concertino for two flutes, an aria with concertante instruments, a duet worked out as a prelude and fugue and a passacaglia. In such forms, the music becomes worked out in terms of absolute music; it is sober, objective and appears uninvolved, yet is precisely related to the meaning of the scene and the context of the plot.

The setting is Paris in the 17th century.

Act II
The Gold Merchant mentions to Cardillac the latest murder that involved the theft of a recent work of Cardillac. The Gold Merchant has his suspicions about the identity of the murderer. Cardillac orders his daughter to watch over his work. She does so and awaits her lover, the Officer. Cardillac returns, and it becomes clear that he values the articles he has crafted more than he does his daughter. He then meets the King and offers to create his greatest work of art for him. The Officer enters to ask Cardillac for his daughter's hand in marriage, and Cardillac consents. Though the Officer realizes how much Cardillac values his creations over his own daughter, he offers money for one of the goldsmith's chains. After the Officer leaves, Cardillac indicates that he himself is the murderer.