Mitch Friedfeld responds to me: >> Poor old Pfitzner, he just never knew when to shut up. I look on him >>as more opportunistic than national socialist. The success of Strauss >>and even Mahler in comparison, these two contemporaries of Pfitzner - >>it just drove him mad. > > The above caused me to review the pages in La Grange's volume 3 of >Mahler's biography. Mahler, after being disappointed with Pfitzner's >Der Rose vom Liebesgarten, especially the libretto, changed his mind >and promoted the work. ... And I personally think Mahler was right Re: Liebesgarten - a ridiculous libretto and only marginally better music (IMHO). But when I think of Pfitzner I immediately think of "Palestrina" - not only is the libretto solid (and dramatically solid as well) but the music is brilliant. I come to music and opera from a performance perspective (not music but theatre) so I cannot tell anything about the composition and style -I leave that to others much more learned than I, but as a performance piece, "Palestrina" is one of the greats of the 20th century - along with Hindemith's "Mathis der Maler" and Busoni's "Doktor Faust." When I think that Furtwaengler was scheduled and had cast "Palestrina" for the 1955 Salzburg Festival then died in November 1954 - for me one of the great missed opportunities. Kempe was hired in WF's place. The only tape I have been able to find is just not a good source but what I can hear sounds appealing. I only wish Salzburg had a copy in their archives. Alan Carrier Austin *********************************************** The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html