Neues vom Tage
# Neues vom Tage

Neues vom Tage (English: News of the Day) is a comic opera (Lustige Oper) in three parts by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Marcellus Schiffer.

The opera is a satire of modern life, celebrity and marriage, involving parodies of both Puccini's music and Berlin Kabarett. The opera became notorious for a scene with a naked soprano (Laura) singing in the bath about the wonders of modern plumbing, though Hindemith replaced her with the tenor (Hermann) in the revised version.

The on-stage nudity particularly aroused the ire of Ernst "Putzi" Hanfstängel, Hitler’s musical advisor, and was later indirectly cited by Joseph Goebbels as evidence that the "degenerate art" of "cultural bolshevist" composers should be excluded from Germany.

## Performance history

Neues vom Tage was first performed on 8 June 1929, at the Kroll Opera House, Berlin, under the musical direction of Otto Klemperer. Hindemith revised the opera, changing the text and adding a little new music, for the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, on 7 April 1954. The premiere of the work in the United States was at the Santa Fe Opera in 1961.

## Roles

Roles, voice types, premiere casts of original and revised versions :

| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 8 June 1929 (Conductor: Otto Klemperer) | Revised version, 7 April 1954 (Conductor: Paul Hindemith) |
| - | - | - | - |
| Laura | soprano | Grete Stückgold | Mercedes Fortunati |
| Eduard, Laura's husband | baritone | | Giuseppe Valdengo |
| Hermann, a professional co-respondent | tenor | Erik Wirkl | Gino Sinimberghi |
| Herr M | tenor | Arthur Cavara | Alessandro Pellegrini |
| Frau M | mezzo-soprano | Sabine Kalter | Adamo |
| Baron d'Houdoux, an entrepreneur | bass | Dezső Ernster | Giuseppe Modesti |
| Frau Pick, a newspaper reporter | contralto | | Myriam Pirazzini |
| Uli | bass | Fritz Krenn | Coriolano Jorio |
| Hotel director | bass | | Gerardo Gaudiosi |
| Room maid | soprano | | |
| Guide | bass | | Plinio Clabassi |
| Head waiter | tenor | | |
| Registrar | bass | | Giovanni Amodeo |
| First manager | tenor | | Nino Adami |
| Second manager | tenor | | Silvio Santarelli |
| Third manager | tenor | | Gianni Avolanti |
| Fourth manager | tenor | | Piero De Palma |
| Fifth manager | bass | | Aldo Terrosi |

## Recordings

Hindemith: Neues vom Tage – WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln

* Conductor: Jan Latham-Koenig
* Principal singers: Elisabeth Werres (Laura), Claudio Nicolai, (Eduard), Ronald Pries (Hermann) / Horst Hiestermann (Herr M), Martina Borst (Frau M), Oscar Garcia de Gracia (Hotel director), Arwed Sandner (registrar) / Celso Antunes (1st manager; head waiter), Wolf Geuer (2nd manager), Thomas Donecker (3rd manager), Christoph Scheeben (4th manager; guide), Dieter Gillessen (5th manager), Heribert Feckler: bass (6th manager), Sabine Bitter (room maid)
* Recording date: 1987
* Label: WERGO – 28 61922 (CD)
