Hanns Eisler: Hollywood Songbook Valerie Eickhoff & Eric Schneider

• Hanns Eisler (1898 - 1962): Hollywood Songbook: Der Sohn:
• 1 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Der Sohn: Wenn sie nachts lag und dachte 01:38
• 2 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Der Sohn: Mein junger Sohn fragt mich 01:43
• Hollywood Songbook:
• 3 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: An den kleinen Radioapparat 01:03
• 4 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: In den Weiden 00:51
• 5 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Frühling 01:18
• 6 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Speisekammer 1942 01:20
• 7 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Auf der Flucht 01:11
• 8 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Über den Selbstmord 02:11
• 9 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Die Flucht 00:58
• 10 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Gedenktafel für 4000 Soldaten, die im Krieg gegen Norwegen versenkt wurden 00:36
• 11 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Epitaph auf einen in der Flandernschlacht Gefallenen 00:52
• 12 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Spruch 00:49
• 13 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Ostersonntag 01:31
• 14 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Der Kirschdieb 01:18
• 15 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Hotelzimmer 1942 01:57
• 16 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Die Maske des Bösen 01:04
• 17 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Zwei Lieder nach Worten von Pascal: Despite these miseries 01:40
• 18 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Zwei Lieder nach Worten von Pascal: This only thing 01:47
• 19 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Die letzte Elegie 01:09
• 20 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Winterspruch 00:33
• 21 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Fünf Elegien („Hollywood-Elegien“): Unter den grünen Pfefferbäumen 00:52
• 22 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Fünf Elegien („Hollywood-Elegien“): Die Stadt ist nach den Engeln genannt 01:43
• 23 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Fünf Elegien („Hollywood-Elegien“): Jeden Morgen, mein Brot zu verdienen 00:53
• 24 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Fünf Elegien („Hollywood-Elegien“): Diese Stadt hat mich belehrt 01:21
• 25 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Fünf Elegien („Hollywood-Elegien“): In den Hügeln wird Gold gefunden 00:49
• 26 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Nightmare 00:58
• 27 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Hollywood-Elegie Nr. 7 01:26
• 28 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Der Schatzgräber 03:39
• 29 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Panzerschlacht 00:55
• 30 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: L’automne californien (Kalifornischer Herbst) 02:04
• 31 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Anakreontische Fragmente: Geselligkeit betreffend 01:05
• 32 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Anakreontische Fragmente: („Dir auch wurde Sehnsucht nach der Heimat tödlich“) 01:04
• 33 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Anakreontische Fragmente: Die Unwürde des Alterns 01:35
• 34 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Anakreontische Fragmente: Später Triumph 01:43
• 35 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Anakreontische Fragmente: In der Frühe 01:45
• 36 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Erinnerung an Eichendorff und Schumann 00:39
• 37 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Hölderlin-Fragmente: An die Hoffnung 01:13
• 38 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Hölderlin-Fragmente: Andenken 02:07
• 39 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Hölderlin-Fragmente: Elegie 1943 02:26
• 40 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Hölderlin-Fragmente: Die Heimat 01:15
• 41 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Hölderlin-Fragmente: An eine Stadt 03:35
• 42 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Hölderlin-Fragmente: Erinnerung 02:33
• 43 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Der Mensch 00:56
• 44 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Vom Sprengen des Gartens 01:03
• 45 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Die Heimkehr 01:32
• 46 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Die Landschaft des Exils 01:29
• 47 Eisler: Hollywood Songbook: Rimbaud-Gedicht 01:39
• In Sturmesnacht:
• 48 Eisler: In Sturmesnacht 01:38
• Total Runtime 01:09:26

Info for Hanns Eisler: Hollywood Songbook

The composer Hanns Eisler can with some justification be described as a tragic figure in the history of music.

Ostracized and persecuted because of his origins and his political convictions, limited in his actual significance ultimately by the political circumstances of divided Germany, he is initially remembered primarily as the composer of the music for the national anthem of the former German Democratic Republic. The true significance of his multifaceted oeuvre has only been recognized and duly appreciated in more recent times.

He is now considered one of the most influential German composers of the 20th century. In contrast to his teacher Arnold Schoenberg, he understood music above all as a tool for the political and public development of influence.

On this new recording, Valerie Eickhoff (soprano) and Eric Schneider (piano) present the Hollywood Songbook by Hanns Eisler.

After the traumatic experience of World War I, Eisler became a private pupil of Arnold Schonberg in Vienna from 1919-1923, and it was during this period that Eisler's extremely fruitful friendship with Bert Brecht began, a friendship that would last a lifetime and produce several fruitful collaborations. Hanns Eisler had to flee Germany from the Nazis in 1933 but eventually found permanent refuge in the United States from 1938 onwards, where he worked closely with Bertolt Brecht again - although not until 1942, after the latter's arrival in the USA.

Winner of the 2022 Sudwestrundfunk Junge Opernstars competition, mezzo soprano Valerie Eickhoff is quickly establishing herself as an artist of intense musicality and brilliant vocalism.

Valerie Eickhoff, mezzo-soprano
Eric Schneider, piano

Valerie Eickhoff
Winner of the 2022 Südwestrundfunk Junge Opernstars competition, mezzo soprano Valerie Eickhoff is quickly establishing herself as an artist of intense musicality and brilliant vocalism. The 2023 – 2024 season sees several important house and role debuts for Ms. Eickhoff including as Ramiro in La finta giardiniera with Theater an der Wien and as Driade in Ariadne auf Naxos with the Bayerische Staatsoper on tour in Hong Kong. She will also return to Deutsche Oper am Rhein as a guest artist to debut the roles of Angelina in Cenerentola and Marylou in Märchen im Grand Hotel. Concert work includes Poem de l’amour et de mer with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Des Knaben Wunderhorn with the Orchestra della Toscana Italy, and a concert of Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder and Respighi’s Il Tramonto with the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchestra in Mannheim, Germany. Ms. Eickhoff also records the complete Hans Eisler Hollywood Songbook with pianist Eric Schneider this season, which is released on the Ars Production label.

The 2022 – 2023 season saw Ms. Eickhoff’s house debut with Royal Danish Opera as Mercédès in Barrie Kosky’s production of Carmen. She also returned to Deutsche Oper am Rhein to sing Cherubino in Le nozze Figaro, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Uli in the world premiere of Das fliegende Klassenszimmer, and Lucienne in Die tote Stadt. Ms. Eickhoff also appeared with the Adelphi Quartet for an evening of chamber music as part of the Klassicher Herbst series at Insel Mainau.

Operatic highlights include her house debut at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl as Die Stallmagd in Humperdinck’s Königskinder, her role debuts as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana, Ronja in Ronja Räubertochter, and Diane in Barrie Kosky’s production of Offenbach’s Orphee aux Enfers at Deutsche Oper am Rhein, as well as appearanes as Annina in La Traviata, Sandman in Hansel und Gretel, a shepherd in L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. As a member of the Niederrhein Opera Studio her roles included Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Fjodor in Boris Godunov, and Cupido Orpheus in der Unterwelt. Additional operatic highlights include Prince Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus, Lisetta in Haydn's Il mondo della luna, Angelina in Rossini's La Cenerentola. On the conert and recital stages Ms. Eickhoff has been presented in recital by Schumannfest Düsseldorf, and in a benefit concert with the Sinfonieorchester der Camerata Louis Spohr.

Honors and awards include appearing as a semifinalist at the 2020 Glyndebourne Opera Cup and in the 2019 Neue Stimmen Competition, as well as receiving scholarships from the Wagner Association Düsseldorf, Yehudi Menuhin Foundation “Live Music Now”, Horst and Gretl Will Foundation, and the Werner Richard Dr Carl Dörken Foundation.

Ms. Eickhoff holds degrees from Robert Schumann University where she graduated with honors and participated in masterclasses with Brigitte Fassbaender, Bernarda Fink, Eric Schneider, Hans Eijsackers and Luca Quintavalle. She currently resides in Düsseldorf, Germany.

This album contains no booklet.