Grete Minde (1941)

Cast
   GERDT MINDE: Baritone
   TRUD MINDE: Soprano
   GRETE MINDE: Soprano
   EMERENTZ ZERNITZ: Contralto or Mezzo-soprano
   VALTIN: Tenor
   THE OLD GIGAS: Bass
   PETER GUNTZ: Bass
   THE PUPPETEER: Baritone
   THE BUFFOON: Tenor
   ZENOBIA: Soprano
   THE DOMINA: Contralto
   A HOST: Bass

About the work
Grete Minde’s story has received numerous treatments since the historical figure of Margarethe Minde (1593-1616) was accused of setting fire to the entire town of Tangermünde in revenge for the injustice of having her rightful inheritance denied. She was subsequently burned at the stake, although today historians believe she was innocent of the crime. Yet the idea of an apocalyptic event resulting from injustice was something that attracted writers, playwrights, and film directors throughout the ages. No narrative was more significant than Theodor Fontane’s novella, which served as the basis of Eugen Engel’s opera, Grete Minde.

That Engel himself would become a victim of the Holocaust carries its own painful symbolism. The subject of injustice through wanton exclusion by those whose claims to legitimacy were undeniable would have resonated strongly in 1933, as Germany’s Jews suddenly found themselves victims of a similar injustice. As a result, the opera only premiered 80 years after Engel’s granddaughter in San Francisco discovered the manuscript. The musical language is as immediate as its morality tale.

Read about the opera and its premiere in The Guardian: 'Holocaust victim’s opera stored for years in trunk gets premiere at last'

About the Exilarte Edition
G. Schirmer/Wise Music’s Exilarte Edition exclusively publishes works by composers who were persecuted, forced into exile, or murdered by the Nazi regime. All original manuscripts of these works are archived in the Exilarte Center at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in Austria.