Dvořák – Alfred: Heroic Opera in Three Acts
Froese; Bothmer; Rumpf; Sabrowski; Mikuláš; Unger; Baxová; Prague RSO; Heiko Mathias Förster
ArcoDiva UP 0140-2 612 (arcodiva.cz)
Alfred is the earliest of Dvořák’s eleven operas. It is the only one with a German libretto. It remained unperformed until 1938, when (a few months before the German invasion) it was premiered, in a Czech translation, at Olomous. The performance on these CDs was recorded live in September 2014. It is the first performance to use the original German libretto.
Of Dvořák’s operas only Rusalka has held the stage and that largely because of the soprano aria, the Song to the Moon. I have, however, good memories of a production of The Jacobin by the Welsh National opera. Alfred was new to me as it will be to most. It presents a semi-historical account of the Anglo-Saxon resistance to the Danes under King Alfred in the ninth century. The musical idiom recalls French grand opera and early Wagner (the Wagner of Rienzi rather than the composer of Lohengrin). The CD booklet comes with a short essay by David R. Beveridge, who claims modestly, “Alfred is an uneven work, and nobody will claim that we have here a neglected masterpiece.” He then compensates for that comment by adding, “Yet it contains many passages of breath-taking beauty.” I am afraid these moments passed me by. Nevertheless this recording should be of interest to anyone who wishes to explore Dvořák’s earlier work. It is given a fine performance by singers and orchestra alike. The tenor, Ferdinand von Bothmer, is especially good in the role of the (fictional) Danish commander Harald.
