Neues vom Tage

CONTENT
The newly wedded Eduard and Laura become involved in a ferocious argument culminating in the decision to get divorced. On the hunt for new sensations, the photo reporter Pick comes past and discovers the hopelessly estranged couple which will become her next ‘victims’.
The indispensable grounds for divorce are provided by the professional charmer Hermann in a contrived lovers’ tryst in a museum. The jealous husband immediately discovers the two and lands in prison after smashing an antique statue.
The reporter Pick and Hermann, who has fallen in love with Laura, attempt to set up and document a further scene providing grounds for divorce in a hotel room booked by Laura. This is successful when the unsuspecting Laura appears and finds Hermann in the bath. At her wit’s end, Laura regrets that the argument with Eduard has escalated into a subject for the gossip columns. In a simultaneous scene, Laura and Eduard read about their scenes in the newspaper and regret having decided to get divorced. In order to become reunited, they take up the offer of the media mogul Baron d‘Houdoux of playing out scenes depicting their marriage disputes on stage at his cosmopolitan theatre.
Following numerous successful appearances as a quarrelling married couple, Eduard and Laura decide to leave this world of glamour and begin a private life. A new pair is soon found to take over the roles of the quarrelling couple.

COMMENTARY
In August 1953, the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples asked the Schott publishing house for permission to perform the first version of the opera Neues vom Tage [News of the Day]. Hindemith reserved the right to undertake an adaptation of the old text by Schiffer to bring it up to date and free it of its over-close associations with the social conditions of the 1920s. Initially, the text was to be revised by the Viennese writer Hans Weigel who was famed for his Nestroy adaptations, but having read this new adaptation, Hindemith resolved to create his own version of the text. The libretto was translated from German into Italian by Rinaldo Kufferle for the première of the revised version personally conducted by Hindemith in the Teatro di San Carlo on 7 April 1954.
Hindemith considered that the original subject of the opera, the de-privatisation of life and public display of the most intimate details, to have remained topical. In place of the original emphasis on unconditional topicality and the helplessness of the protagonists, the revised version placed a greater focus on the ultimately autonomous action of Laura and Eduard as the quintessence of an ethical commitment. Individual characters (Hermann) are given human features in the revised version, making them perfectly able of expressing genuine emotions. Hindemith retained the orchestral score of the first version, but revised the vocal parts. As appropriate to the topical subject matter, he largely refrained from utilising a melismatic style and avoided wider vocal registers and volatile leaps. The music appears autonomous and without any intention of the depiction of extra-musical elements. The musical forms counteract the scenic contents in numerous passages in which intensive sections of the plot are accompanied by emotionless music. The syllabic style of the revised version thereby corresponds to the succinct poetry of the revised text. (H.-J. W.)