Quiz #17: The Moment You’ve All Been Waiting For
Roger Miller was the first name to emerge from the OM Seed Corn Hat this week, which means he has won his choice of a $20 credit at Arkiv or the chance to choose the rep for an upcoming quiz.
Elaine Fine and William Hughes also wrote in with the correct answer: Erich Korngold’s Narrenleider (Songs of the Clown) Op 29 composed in 1937 and given its first premiere in 1941.
Further information about these songs is a little thin on the ground. This recording was an iTunes gift, so Miss Mussel is without liner notes from which to crib elegant and witty prose. Also, for the first time in a while, the intertubes have come up dry. Groves, Naxos and even Wikipedia (gasp!) were no help at all. Instead, we’ll just go through the clues.
1) Korngold’s champion, Jessica Duchen wrote a biography of this most fascinating composer for Phaidon.
2) Robin Hood saved his life — In 1938, Korngold was conducting opera in Austria when he was asked by Warner Bros. to come back to Hollywood and compose a score for their new (and very expensive) film The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn. He agreed and returned by ship. Shortly after he arrived in California, the Anschluss took place and the condition of Jews in Austria became very perilous. Korngold later would say the film score of The Adventures of Robin Hood saved his life. (See the Robin Hood Collectors Edition on DVD for details.)
3) The songs, as far as this bivalve can tell, are settings of text from Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night. The characters in the clues were Malvolio, Sir Toby Belch and Viola.
The singer was Anne Sofie von Otter with Bengt Forsberg on keys. Buy the album here.
On this day..
- Foster the People - 2012
- What Just Happened? - 2012
- Have Musicians' Wages Gotten Better Or Worse? - 2009
Peter on 
Pierre Random on 
I Googled and found this review of the Clown Songs recording at http://www.musicweb-international.com/film/july99/korngold2.htm. I imagine some of it was derived from the CD notes. It explains why the songs were written in 1937 but not performed until 1941.
‘Songs of the Clown’ were composed for Max Reinhardt’s 1941 production, Shakespeare’s Women, Clowns and Songs. For this production, Korngold reconstructed his Shakespearean songs that had been confiscated and destroyed by the Nazis when they entered Austria and raided his property.