Reviews of Will Humburg’s recent production of Walter Braunfels dramatic fairy tale Der Traum ein Leben at the Theater Bonn are out. You can find a collection of excerpts from German reviews here.

Guido Johannes Rumstadt, who is credited with conducting the first stage performance of the work, once wrote: “If you hear Der Traum ein Leben for the first time, you may be surprised by the many reminiscences as well as by the great ‘beauty’ of this music. If one addresses oneself to a proper study of the score, any accusation of eclecticism vanishes. What may have put one in mind of Wagner turns out to be an unmistakable personal style. The instrumentation is as masterful as any of the best operas of the time as are the dramatic cuts in the plot which have the sharpness of film cuts. The irony of the music reminds one of Shostakovich.”