Schoeck's friend and librettist Rüeger
Armin Rüeger wrote three opera libretti for Othmar Schoeck. Despite this, the pharmacist, poet and graphic artist has remained largely unknown.
The revival of Othmar Schoeck's last opera Dürande Castle at the Stadttheater Bern by conductor Mario Venzago and musicologist Thomas Gartmann has once again reminded us that the Swiss music scene could - or should - pay more attention to its most important opera composer of the first half of the 20th century. Unfortunately, however, it was not Armin Rüeger who turned the Eichendorff text into a libretto, but, after his refusal, the Nazi German Hermann Burte. Rüeger's three libretti for Schoeck, Don Ranudo, Venus and Massimilla Doniprovided a reliable basis for the setting, even if the composer already had some passages from the concept "in the pot" and had to ask for the text to be supplied as quickly as possible.
Excerpts from letters written by Rüeger and Schoeck, as well as contributions from authors of the following generation, provide a clearer picture of the contours of the pharmacist from Bischofszell, who was also active as a graphic artist, and his friendship with the composer, which lasted over fifty years, and complement Chris Walton's major biography of Schoeck (Atlantis 1994) in a sympathetic way. Attractively illustrated with sketches, paintings and photos, this, together with the book accompanying the 2021 festival, could be the start of a meaningful series of publications on the subject of Othmar Schoeck.
Drama and Opera. Armin Rüeger - Librettist and Friend of Othmar Schoeck, book accompanying the Othmar Schoeck Festival 2022, edited by Alvaro Schoeck and Chris Walton, 156 p., Fr. 15.00, Müsigricht, Steinen 2022, ISBN 978-3-9525658-0-3
