Without doubt the rarest opera on my list. An opera so rare few except the most devoted aficionados will have heard of it. It is a masterpiece none the less. Premiered in 1926, the work is a cornerstone of German expressionism. A murderer is on the loose in Paris and the rich and famous are dying.
What no one realises is that the jeweller, Cardillac, is obsessed with his own creations and he is killing off anyone who dares to buy his jewels so he can steal them back. Murder begets murder and the city is gripped by hysteria. A dark sardonic work, it is a jarring modernist score that features a tour-de-force role for the baritone who plays the murderous jeweller.
Here is the recent Wiener Staatsoper production of 2010. I look forward to this masterwork finding it's proper place in the operatic repertoire sometime in the future.
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