About the work
Der Schmied von Gent is Franz Schreker's last completed opera, to his own libretto after the tale Smetse Smee from Charles de Coster's collection Flemish Legends. It premiered on 29 October 1932 at the Städtische Oper Berlin under Paul Breisach.
Plot
In Spanish-occupied 16th-century Flanders, the cunning blacksmith Smee strikes a pact with the devil to escape poverty, and is caught between the occupiers and his own countrymen. In the end it is his cunning and unbending defiance that let Smee outwit the powers trying to claim him.
Cultural significance
With this work Schreker turned away from the introspective psychology of his earlier operas to create a "folk opera in the manner of Breughel," moving stylistically towards New Objectivity and baroque sound-pictures. The premiere was marred by right-wing hecklers targeting the Jewish composer; it was the last major opera premiere of the Weimar Republic before Schreker's works were banned from 1933.