Search - Krenek, Lear, Blakenship :: Jonny Spielt Auf

A big hit in 1927 combining traditional opera, a touch of at

Craig Matteson | Ann Arbor, MI | 10/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Ernst K?enek had has biggest success with "Johnny Spielt Auf" ("Johnny Plays On", his first opera. It was 1927 and its combination of a salacious story (by their times), traditional opera, some atonal touches, and jazz elements caused a scandal. And of course, the bigger the scandal, the better the box office receipts. It was soon translated into many languages and performed on dozens of stages all over the world. The decade after the end of the First World War was a time of experiment in art music, including opera. It was the time of Wozzeck, Oedipus Rex, Erwartung, and so much else.



The opera opens with Max, a composer, and Anita, an opera singer, meeting on a glacier. Alone they each were drawn to the waste, but found it disturbing. Max offers to be her guide. Back at the hotel Johnny, a black jazz musician (not an American), is carrying on with Yvonne who is a chambermaid at the hotel. He has no intention for her than immediate gratification, however, she is smitten with him even though she is aware that he is a skirt-chaser.



A virtuoso of the violin appears, Daniello. People surround him and want his autograph. This attention makes Johnny jealous. Even Yvonne says, "He is more beautiful than Johnny". Johnny tries to press himself on Anita, but she is rescued by Daniello. Anita and Daniello fall into an ecstatic romance, meanwhile Johnny steals Daniello's priceless violin by putting it in Anita's banjo case and he takes the banjo.



The next morning Daniello discovers his violin is missing. Yvonne is fired since she cleaned the room. Anita hires Yvonne as her maid. Daniello enlists Yvonne to help him drive of Max because he doesn't want the competition for Anita. Johnny tells the hotel director that he is going to leave his job as their jazz musician. The director is distraught. Then there is a quartet where Anita sings about wanting to get home, Yvonne about missing Johnny, Johnny about getting his hands on the precious violin, and Daniello that his game with Anita is not yet finished.



After some more machinations, Johnny gets his hands on the violin, and when he plays it Daniello hears it, recognizes the tone and enlists help to go retrieve it. At the train station Johnny feels the heat and puts the violin on Max's bags. Max is arrested. Everyone is pressed for time because the train is about to leave and everything is quite unsettled. Anita wants Yvonne to go to the police and tell them what she knows about Johnny. Daniello forbids her to go to the police because he wants Max out of the way. He bars her way and when Yvonne pushes him Daniello falls under the moving train. Johnny aids everyone's escape and ends up with the violin. The last sounds of the opera are Johnny playing the stolen instrument.



The singers in this recording are first rate and it sounds great. Lucia Popp sings Yvonne, Evelyn Lear is Anita, William Blankenship sings Max, Gerd Feldhof is terrific as Johnny, and Thomas Stewart is Daniello.



This opera is much easier to enjoy than you might suspect. It is sung in German and the provided libretto is in German and English. There is also some background on the opera."