Raff: Dame Kobold

Joachim Raff moved in circles that included Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann, and he ultimately became one of the best-known German composers of his day. Of Raff's six stage works Dame Kobold ('The Phantom Lady') was the first of a series of comic operas that anticipated later trends, moving away from Wagnerian pathos and looking back to the levity of Rossini. Admired for its utterly gorgeous musical setting, the opera is notable for a disarmingly simple yet fast paced plot, bewitching solos and elegantly flowing melodies, and a deftly responsive marriage of language and music.

This world premiere recording of Joachim Raff's comic opera Dame Kobold is a significant coup and a highlight of our operaticrecordings in 2026. Raff was a prolific composer and a leading figure in German music during the 19th century, but his operas were overshadowed by those of Wagner and his works are still being rediscovered today.