Undine (Hoffmann)

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title: "Undine (Hoffmann)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["romantische-opern", "german-language-operas", "1816-operas", "operas", "opera-world-premieres-at-the-berlin-state-opera", "works-by-e.-t.-a.-hoffmann", "operas-based-on-undine-(novella)", "operas-based-on-novels"] description: "1816 opera by E. T. A. Hoffmann" topic_path: "geography/germany" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undine_(Hoffmann)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 1816 opera by E. T. A. Hoffmann ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox opera"]

Field	Value
name	Undine
composer	E. T. A. Hoffmann
image	E. T. A. Hoffmann, autorretrato.jpg
caption	E. T. A. Hoffmann, self portrait
librettist	Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué
language	German
based_on	Undine by Fouqué
premiere_date
premiere_location	Königliches Schauspielhaus, Berlin
::

| name = Undine | composer = E. T. A. Hoffmann | image = E. T. A. Hoffmann, autorretrato.jpg | image_upright = | caption = E. T. A. Hoffmann, self portrait | librettist = Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué | language = German | based_on = Undine by Fouqué | premiere_date = | premiere_location = Königliches Schauspielhaus, Berlin

Undine is an opera, with spoken dialogue, in three acts by the German composer and author E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776-1822). The libretto, by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, is based on his own story Undine (1811). It received its premiere at the Königliches Schauspielhaus in Berlin on 3 August 1816. Undine was Hoffmann's greatest operatic success and a major influence on the development of German Romantic opera.

Carl Maria von Weber's enthusiastic review of the opera admired it as "an art work complete in itself, in which partial contributions of the related and collaborating arts blend together, disappear, and, in disappearing, somehow form a new world".

It was revived by the Wuppertal Opera in 1970.

There is a 1960 recording (including the spoken dialogue) by the Choir and Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, conductor: Jan Koetsier, Undine: Rita Streich, Hulbrand von Ringstetten: Raimund Grumbach, Berthalda: Melitta Muszely, Kuhleborn: Karl-Christian Kohn, Ein alter Fischer: Max Proebstl, Seine Frau: Sunhild Rauschkolb, Heilmann: Kieth Engen, Herzog: Anton Rosner, Herzogin: Marjorie Heistermann; and a 3 CDs 1993 recording (leaving out the spoken dialogue) by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Choir of St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin, conductor: Roland Bader; Roland Hermann, , Elisabeth Glauser, Krisztina Laki, Heikki Orama, Karl Ridderbusch, Ulrich Ress, Dora Koschak, Mani Mekler.

Roles

::data[format=table title="{{sronly|Roles, voice types, premiere cast}}"] | Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 3 August 1816 Conductor: Bernhard Romberg | |---|---|---| | Undine | soprano | | | Huldbrand | baritone | | | Berthalda | soprano | Emilie Willmann | | Heilmann | bass | | | Kühleborn | bass | | | Fisherman | bass | Johann Georg Gern | | Fisherman's wife | mezzo-soprano | Wilhelmine Leist | | Archduke | tenor | | | Archduchess | mezzo-soprano | Johanna Eunicke | ::

Notes

References

1. Strunk, Oliver. (1965). "Source Readings in Music History: The Romantic Era".
2. [[Schwann (record label). Koch Schwann]], No. 3-1092-3, {{Discogs release
3. {{Almanacco

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