EMIL von REZNICEK (1860-1945) Overture: Donna Diana (1894)


Reznicek was born in Austria of Czech parentage and began conducting and composing during his Music Degree in Graz before moving to Berlin and then Prague, where he was Musical Director for the Prague Infantry. Here his operawas premiered in 1894, and it became his greatest success. Eventually settling in Berlin he toured all over Europe, including several visits to Russia and to Britain.

Unlike many musicians who were ensnared against their better judgment or left Germany to go into exile, he managed to remain aloof from the rise of the Nazis, remaining a working composer and conductor through the war until his death in August 1945 right at the end of the War.

He moved in exalted circles, counting himself a friend and colleague of Richard Strauss in the 1910s, although he did make fun musically of what he saw as Strauss’s overblown ego; apparently his symphonic poem Schlemihl (1912) can be seen as a direct parody of Strauss’s autobiographical Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life).

Donna Diana overture. The opera as a whole is an adaptation of a comic play by the 17th century Spanish dramatist Agustin Moreto y Cavana, El Desden con el Desden, (Distain with Disdain), and the plot centres round Donna Diana, proud and haughty daughter of the Count Sovereign of Barcelona. She has several sincere suitors, including Don Cesar, but she rejects him with disdain time and time again; eventually he plays her at her own game and stands on his own dignity, whereupon she realises her mistake and succumbs.

The opera has fallen out of use, but the gloriously effervescent overture remains popular. It begins with a witty false start both rhythmically and in terms of key, but the first violins take charge and set off the bubbly first theme, which is quickly taken up by the full orchestra. Shortly the bubbly theme in the wind becomes a counterpoint to the serenely lyrical second theme in the upper strings. Both themes are also involved in the development, which features the woodwind while the violas draw the short straw and chatter away underneath. Soon the main themes return and the piece works itself towards a humorous conclusion.

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