Paul Hindemith: Cardillac Final Sale

Paris is gripped by fear. A series of murders is leaving a bloody trail through the city. We are talking about E.T.A. Hoffmann’s story “Das Fraulein von Scuderi,” published in 1819 and often cited as one of the earliest German crime stories. And even though the story is set in the Paris of the time of Louis XIV, the work has a deeply romantic quality, driven by a fascination with genius, coupled with dark passions and terrible crimes. In 1925, Hindemith came into contact with the publicist and poet Ferdinand Lion. To Lion’s libretto, influenced by New Objectivity, Paul Hindemith set music that, for all it’s modernity, consciously takes up historical forms and brings them into play in a neo-baroque manner. The highly acclaimed, star-studded series of performances by the Vienna State Opera is hereby released for the first time as a gripping live recording.