Season 2 – No.8 -The Art of Peter Damm – Weber ” Oberon Overture”
Season 2 - EN
I thought I was writing my blog in secret from my master, but he found out. What’s more, he wrote the No.7 post on my behalf. Now that I have his approval, I have nothing to fear. I’ll continue to howl, “I love Peter Damm!” to my heart’s content. My master wrote that ”My dog had been sad since the beginning of the year,” but that’s not really the case.
He himself was sunk in sadness after seeing the news of wars around the world, the Noto Peninsula earthquake that occurred on New Year’s Day, and the deaths of great horn player, Hermann Baumann and great conductor, Seiji Ozawa, who had a strong influence on him as a child. The saying that “pet dogs resemble their owners” probably comes from not only sharing facial expressions and behaviors, but also sharing feelings. I was also unable to do anything for a while.
But it’s hard for a dog to see his master feeling down. Let’s cheer him up with a great performance by Peter Damm! To please him, I searched the Internet for recordings that were not in my master’s library, and found an amazing recording that I thought was “this is it!” That is the overture to the opera “Oberon” by Weber, which I will introduce to you today.
Kuuta
I have no doubt that my master regain his power by this recording.
Blomstedt has already appeared twice on this blog, and he was the principal conductor of the Staatskapelle for ten years from 1975 to 1985. But have you ever wondered why a Swedish conductor from the West was appointed as the principal conductor of an East German orchestra during the Cold War?
The previous chief conductor, Sanderling, retired in 1967, and the position had been vacant ever since. Blomstedt’s first guest performance in 1969 led to the formation of a mutual trust and bond between the orchestra and the Kapelle, to the point that he was called the “unofficial chief conductor” even before he took up the post. It was only through persistent efforts by the orchestra’s members to persuade the government’s higher-ups that the “Western” chief conductor was finally appointed.
And one more thing. Although the usual recording location is Dresden, it is listed as “Siegen.” Siegen is a city in the former “West Germany.” Why? It has to do with the special year of recording, “1990.”
On November 9, 1989, the so-called “Berlin Wall” came down, and in October 1990 East and West Germany were reunited. This recording is very rare one from the period between the fall of the wall and the disappearance of DDR, East Germany.
Until then, there were various restrictions, but now Kapelle was able to travel freely to West Germany, and they held a concert in Siegen, the birthplace of Fritz Busch, their former chief conductor, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth. Busch hated the Nazis and left Germany to become the music director of the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. He was Swedish and had a close relationship with Blomstedt, who also became Kapelle’s chief conductor.
Furthermore, the ties between the two cities, Dresden – reduced to ruins during the Second World War, and Siegen – 80% of which was destroyed, are deep, as they share a tragic past.
And Germany’s the most authentic orchestra, conducted by Weber himself, was performing the real Weber. The expectations of the West German audience and the enthusiasm of the Kapelle members, whose actions had been restricted by walls during the Cold War, were both likely at their peak.
The stage for a virtuoso performance had already been set before the performance began. And then Peter Damm began to solemnly play the opening solo of the “Oberon” Overture with full of his emotion….
Kuuta
I am about to cry before I listen the music …
Damm-mi
So that’s the background to this historic performance!
My favorit
Magic Horn
The “Oberon” overture begins with a horn solo. I’ve never watched the opera, but I’ve heard that this is the “magic horn” played by Oberon, the king of the fairies. There are many ways to play this solo. I think it’s often played with a straight sound and with a modest tone. Peter Damm is different. He sings the melody as if it were a song, and sings it with plenty of emotion.
You can almost hear the gasp of the West German audience, who heard the real horn sound of the world’s greatest orchestra for the first time. After the introduction ends and the Allegro begins, you’re astonished at how passionate the Kapelle’s performance is.
The reunion of the people of East and West, the reunion of Blomstedt and Kapelle, and various other emotions overlap, and as soon as the performance ends, the audience gives a thunderous applause to Peter Damm and Kapelle, which is also recorded.
Politically, West Germany may have absorbed East Germany, but “musically”, am I the only one who thinks that Germany was re-united by Peter Damm and the Staatskapelle Dresden ?
