Feuersnot

Just in time to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss's birth comes a cpo-released concert performance of his rarely performed 'sung poem' "Feuersnot" (1901) under Ulf Schirmer. The satirist Ernst von Wolzogen, who wrote the libretto for this 'Bavarian burlesque', founded the first literary cabaret in Berlin, the Ueberbrettl, a satiric allusion to Nietzsche's Uebermensch. And in a certain way, Strauss's music is also satirical: it may very much be termed a Wagner parody, a farewell to every sort of pomp and pathos. The comic plot is about the handsome Kunrad, who has a few magical powers but comes on too fast to the mayor's daughter, Diemut, kissing her in public. To avenge the insult, she plays a humiliating trick on him. He strikes back, using his limited magic to prevent the town from making fire for light and heat. Townspeople stop gossiping about the girl's reputation and beg her to accept his advances. When she does, the couple and everyone else are ecstatic.