Korngold / Januševičius - Tanzlied des Pierrot from "Die tote Stadt" (Januševičius)

My craving, my raving, my dream of old days
My joy, I had won it and lost in the dance.
I danced by the Rhine, the moon did shine,
The blue eye, she threw me an intimate glance
And this pleading word she did say:
O stay, never journey away,
Let the joy of our homeland still blossom and blaze.
My craving, my raving, my dream of old days.
Faraway Magic lit up my soul till I burned,
Dance-away magic beckoned, till clown I turned.
Follow the fay who endears,
Learn how to kiss through tears.
Noise and need, raving, joy,
Such is the skill of the clown.
My craving, my raving, my dream of old days …

When "Die tote Stadt" had its premiere on 4 December 1920, Korngold was just 23 years old with two short one-act operas, Der Ring des Polykrates and Violanta, already to his name. The success of these earlier works was so great that "Die tote Stadt" was subject to a fierce competition among German theatres for the right to the world premiere. In the end, an unusual double premiere was arranged and the opera opened simultaneously at the Stadttheater Hamburg and in Cologne.

"Die tote Stadt" includes a number of themes, including grief, dreams, love, fidelity and suppressed sexuality but underlying all of these is denial and a message that trauma is best dealt with in the short term. The longer a character, such as Paul, runs away from, rather than confronting death, the more damaging the trauma is and the more incapable that character is of forming normal relationships.

FREYLEKH!
November 8, 2025
Kaunas State Philharmonic Hall