Lazarus (Schubert) Explained

Lazarus or German: Die Feier der Auferstehung, 689, is an unfinished 1820 oratorio by Franz Schubert on a libretto by August Hermann Niemeyer. Intended to be in three acts, only act 1 with twenty-one numbers, and eight numbers from act 2 are extant.^[1]

Structure

The work is for three sopranos, two tenors, bass, mixed choir and orchestra.

Act 1Act 2

Roles

• Maria (soprano)
• Martha (soprano)
• Jemina (soprano)
• Lazarus (tenor)
• Nathanael (tenor)
• Ein Jüngling (tenor)
• Simon Peter (bass)

Recordings

• 1978 – Carola Nossek, Ursula Reinhardt-Kiss, Ingeborg Springer, Eberhard Büchner, Horit Gebhardt. Staatskapelle Berlin Dietrich Knothe recorded in the Christuskirche, Berlin Berlin Classics 94452BC; reissued 1 CD Brilliant Classics
• 1981 – (also Mass No. 2 in G, D 167), Theodor Guschlbauer^[2] Warner Apex 2008
• 1983 – Edith Mathis, Wulkopf, Schwarz, Hollweg, Laubenthal, Hermann Prey conducted, Orfeo 2LP
• 1983 - Lucia Popp, Robert Tear, Helen Donath, Maria Venuti, Josef Protschka, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Chor Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Symphonie-Orchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Wolfgang Sawallisch, EMI Classics
• 1996 – completed by Edison Denisov. Rubens, Nylund, Nold, Weir. Bach Collegium Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling Hanssler 1996,^[3] also reissued 2 CD Brilliant Classics 99969^[4]
• 1997 – Concentus Musicus Wien, Dorothea Röschmann, soprano; Ľuba Orgonášová, soprano; Elisabeth von Magnus, mezzo-soprano; Herbert Lippert, tenor; Reinaldo Macias, tenor; Raimund Nolte, baritone. Arnold Schoenberg Choir, conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt Classics
• 2013 – Sarah Wegener, Johanna Winkel, Sophie Harmsen, Andreas Weller, Kammerchor Stuttgart, Hofkapelle Stuttgart, Frieder Bernius 1CD Carus

Sources

• New Schubert Edition, Series II: Stage Works, Vol.10 – Lazarus oder die Feier der Auferstehung D 689: Fragment eines religiösen Dramas in 3 Akten. Edited by Reinhold Kubik. 1987.

Notes and References

1. [Maurice J. E. Brown]
2. The Gramophone – Volume 59, Issue 1, 1981: "Lazarus is an incomplete work by Schubert and Theodor Guschlbauer has recorded the work precisely as Schubert left it, ending at the very point where the master laid down his pen. A work of immense importance and content"
3. Classic CD. 1996 – Issues 75–80 p. 165: "It was Rilling who instigated the completion of Schubert's Lazarus. And in doing so, Denisov has erected a new edifice without destroying the foundation. He develops Schubert's ideas leading to a contemporary, satisfying completion."
4. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Dec02/Schubert_Lazarus.htm Lazarus