Editing Franz Schmidt (composer) (section)

===''Fredigundis''===
No really adequate recording has been made of Schmidt's second and last opera ''Fredigundis'', of which there has been but one "unauthorized" release in the early 1980s on the Voce label of an Austrian Radio broadcast of a 1979 Vienna performance under the direction of [[Ernst Märzendorfer]]. Aside from numerous "royal fanfares" (Fredigundis held the French throne in the sixth century) the score contains some fine examples of Schmidt's transitional style between his earlier and later manner. In many respects, Schmidt seldom ventured so far from traditional tonality again, and his third and final period (in the last decade-and-a-half of his life) was generally one of (at least partial) retrenchment, consolidation and the integration of the style of his opulently scored and melodious early compositions (the First Symphony, "Notre Dame") with elements of the overt experimentation seen in "Fredigundis", combined with an economy of utterance born of artistic maturity. ''New Grove'' encyclopaedia states that ''Fredigundis'' was a critical and popular failure, which may be partly attributable to the fact that Fredigundis ([[Fredegund]], the widow of [[Chilperic I]]), is presented as a murderous and sadistic feminine monster. Add to this some structural problems with the libretto, and the opera's failure to make headway – despite an admirable and impressive score – becomes comprehensible.