In 1914, Franz Schmidt staged his opera Notre Dame at the Vienna State Opera to great acclaim. Immediately afterwards, he was looking for material for a new opera when he came across the novel Fredigundis by Felix Dahn, which is loosely based on historical events from the 6th century. Schmidt worked on the project from 1916 to 1921, with the premiere taking place in Berlin in December 1922. Schmidt’s music for Fredigundis marks the end of a development that runs through the so-called ‘Classic-Romantic’ period. The work is characterised by extensive chromaticism and a boundary-pushing expansion of the majorminor tonal system paired with dense counterpoint and perfect compositional artistry in the vocal parts.

The dramatic mezzo-soprano Dunja Vejzovic, who became famous for her Wagner roles in Bayreuth and Salzburg, performed on all the major opera and concert stages of the world. The excellent cast of singers in this performance is supported by Austrian conductor Ernst Märzendorfer, who also mastered several instruments and composed piano concertos, incidental music and a ballet. On this recording, he conducts the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, which has established itself as an opera orchestra through a long and successful collaboration with the MusikTheater an der Wien.

- First release of Franz Schmidt’s rarely performed opera Fredigundis.

- The role of Fredigundis is ideally cast with the Croatian mezzo-soprano Dunja Vejzovic.

- Ernst Märzendorfer conducted many premieres of works by great composers such as Paul Hindemith, Carl Orff, Béla Bartók and Benjamin Britten.

Cast:
- Fredigundis: Dunja Vejzovic
- Chilperich, King of the Franks: Martin Egel
- Landerich, the Duke's son, later Praetextatus, Bishop of Rouen: Werner Hollweg
- Duke Drakolen: Reid Bunger
- Rulla: Olga Sandu
- Three Armed Men: Wolfgang Witte, Robert Riener, Neven Melamaric

Live recording, 27 September 1979, Grosser Musikvereinsaal, Vienna