| What Price Confidence | |
|---|---|
| Chamber opera by Ernst Krenek | |
| Description | "little drawing room comedy" |
| Librettist | Krenek |
| Language | English |
| Premiere | 23 May 1962 |
What Price Confidence? (translated as Vertrauenssache, or A Matter of Trust) is a chamber opera in nine scenes with music and libretto by Ernst Krenek, his Op. 111. This "little drawing room comedy"[1] is set in London at the turn of the 20th century, and features a protagonist not unlike Max in Jonny spielt auf, as the author points out in a preface; it owes something to Melville as well (specifically "The Confidence-Man"), as do his next two operas.
Composed during the winter of 1944–45 in St. Paul,[2] it was Krenek's second attempt at an American opera and employed only four singers and piano. It shared the fate of Tarquin in only reaching a belated premiere in Germany (Saarbrücken, 23 May 1962), but this time Krenek was sufficiently satisfied with his work to publish it with Bärenreiter (BA 4301), remarking that the Met singers who requested a touring piece simply couldn't find time for a hoped-for performance.[2] It is now given fairly often.[3]