Nessler/ Prey/ Wdr Rundfunkorchester Koln - Trumpeter of Sackingen

The first performance of 'The Trumpeter of Sackingen' on May 4, 1884 at the Stadttheater in Leipzig was an unprecedented success. For the hundredth Leipzig performance there was a procession with flaming torches in honor of the composer. 'The Trumpeter' then began it's triumphant conquest of the entire German theatre scene; within a few years the opera had been performed several thousand times and, by the turn of the century, had established it's place in the repertoire of all the major opera houses. That great critical authority Eduard Hanslick showed most restraint, making an attempt to analyze the 'popular force, the winning something' in Nessler's 'musical mediocrity', and concluding: 'The most remarkable thing in this unprecedentedly successful opera is precisely it's success.' in 1884 - the year following Wagner's death, the year which saw the premieres of Massenet's 'Manon' and Puccini's first work, 'Le Villi', the year in which Bruckner's seventh symphony and Mahler's 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' were composed, - the tastes of the Biedermeier period and quaint romanticism had made their second conquest of the German opera world.