Hartmann: Des Simplicius Simplicissimus Jugend (2CDs, Br-Klassik)

The original version of the opera Des Simplicius Simplicissimus Jugend by Karl Amadeus Hartmann was written in 1934 36 at the suggestion of his mentor Hermann Scherchen, who had lived in exile in Switzerland since 1933. The anti-fascist Hartmann stayed in Germany and resolutely countered National Socialism with the language of art. The plot of the opera, which is characterized by nameless grief and biting satire, accordingly follows the fate of the main character in the turmoil of the Thirty Years’ War. On the present CD you can hear an editorially and musically exemplary production of the reconstructed original version, which was commissioned by Bayerischer Rundfunk in collaboration between the composer Wilfried Hiller and Robert Klimesch.