Clemens Erwein Heinrich Karl Bonaventura
Freiherr von und zu Franckenstein

Born: 14 July 1875, Wiesentheid , (Kitzingen) Germany
Died: 19 August 1942, Hechendorf (Munich)

Operas

  • Griseldis, Opera in 3 acts; libretto by Oskar Mayer. (2 Feb. 1898, Troppau)
  • Fortunatus, (op. 10) Grand Opera in 3 acts; libretto after J. Wasserman. (First version unperformed, 1901); Full score, Berlin, 1905.
  • Rahab (Op. 32) Opera in one act; libretto by Oskar Mayer. (4 Dec.1909, Budapest)
  • Die Beine, Pantomime after Hugo von Hofmannsthal, (1916, Darmstadt)
  • Li-Tai-Pe, Der Kaisers Dichter Opera in 3 acts; libretto by Rudolf Lothar.(2 Nov. 1920, Berlin)

About Clemens von Franckenstein:

Although scarcely known outside of Germany today, Clemens von Franckenstein was an influential conductor and composer who was key in bringing forth first performances of operas by Korngold, Pfitzner, Braunfels and Courvoisier at the turn of the 20th century. His relationship with Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal was contemporaneous with the development of their operas, and Strauss' recommendation led to Franckenstein's appointment to the Royal Prussian Opera in Berlin in 1907. His one-act opera Rahab is redolent of the exoticism found in such Straussian scores as Salome, but his more widely performed work was the three-act Li-Tai-Pe, produced on German stages from 1920 to 1933, when von Franckenstein withdrew from the musical scene with the advent of the Nazi regime.