Restoring Gänseliesel: A Piece of Music History Reborn

Authors

Michelle Clements Flowers, Brigham Young University
Dr. E. Harrison Powley, Brigham Young University

Keywords

Gänseliesel, music history, Luise Greger, Emilie Riedel, folklore, World War II

College

Fine Arts and Communications

Department

Music

Abstract

The history of the melodrama Gänseliesel by Luise Greger and Emilie Riedel combines two of the most prevalent images of Germany: folklore and the shadow of World War II. Premiered at the Baden Baden Stadttheater on December 10, 1933 it features a host of fairy tale characters including dwarves, a frog prince, and – like the Grimm’s fairy tales – a little goose girl in an enchanted forest. Unfortunately Germany during the 1930s was not at all like Gänseliesel’s idyllic world and within a few short years of Gänseliesel’s premiere World War II had erupted in full force. During the course of this war much of the history of Gänseliesel and its composer Luise Greger was destroyed during bombing raids of Greger’s hometown Kassel, Germany. What little information was left was scattered and hidden. Part of this research project involved searching and compiling the surviving information.

Recommended Citation

Flowers, Michelle Clements and Powley, Dr. E. Harrison (2013) "Restoring Gänseliesel: A Piece of Music History Reborn," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 2280.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/2280