Grete Minde by Engel, E., From (2022/2022), Directed by Olivia Fuchs,, Conductor Anna Skryleva, Opernhaus, Magdeburg, Germany

Theodor Fontane's novella "Grete Minde" tells the prehistory of the Tangermünd city fire of 1617. The focus is on the young outsider Grete Minde, who - deprived of her rightful inheritance by her half-brother and the city council - takes revenge on her hometown: she puts one devastating fire and dies together with her little child in front of everyone in the burning church tower. Fontane's unprejudiced treatment of his characters was possibly the starting point for the German-Jewish composer Eugen Engel to dedicate himself to a subject by the writer in his only opera around 1930. Although he made his living as a businessman, Engels' personal passion was music. »Grete Minde« is undoubtedly the climax of his oeuvre, but it could not be premiered during the times of the increasing National Socialism. The handwritten score saved Engels daughter in 1941 when she emigrated to the USA. The composer himself was murdered in the Sobibor extermination camp in 1943, and none of his eight siblings survived the Shoah. As a GMD Anna Skryleva became aware of the composer and work in 2019, she was immediately enthusiastic. Composed on a libretto by the Magdeburg author and radio pioneer Hans Bodenstedt, "Grete Minde" has everything an opera needs as a musical successor to Wagner and Humperdinck: expressive arias, large choral scenes and consistent dramaturgy. “A direct hit!” Says Skryleva, looking forward to the Magdeburg premiere of this extraordinary discovery.