The earliest seeds of Wachsfigurenkabinett‚ variously translatable as ‘Waxwork Museum’‚ or ‘Wax­dolls’ Cabinet’‚ date from Hartmann’s mid­teens. However‚ the scores of this ambitious quintuple­bill only took serious shape following a commission by the librettist Erich Bormann‚ of the Bavarian State Opera’s studio for young composers. All five are brimful of political and social satire‚ popular at the time but soon to be abruptly uprooted by the Nazi accession in 1933. Bormann and Hartmann’s targets range from the aristocracy to common drunks‚ from a gullible American businessman to Charlie Chaplin and Henry Ford‚ all of them represented as caricatures. Hartmann’s music continued the 1920s vein of Hindemith‚ Stravinsky and Weill‚ using a small winds‚ keyboards and percussion ensemble. Almost never sounding like the mature Hartmann (except perhaps of the Fifth Symphony)‚ the irreverent idiom and use of popular dances and jazz should come as no surprise. Several other Hartmann scores of the period did likewise‚ not least the Jazz Toccata and Fugue for piano. Only two of the operas survived in the composer’s own fair copies‚ the first‚ Das Leben und Sterben des heiligen Teufels (‘The Life and Death of the Holy Devil’) – Rasputin‚ that is – and last‚ Die Witwe von Ephesus (‘The Widow of Ephesus’‚ after Petronius). Not until the first Munich Biennale in 1988‚ on the initiative of Henze (to whom Hartmann was friend and mentor) would they be staged together‚ in specially prepared performing editions: by Henze himself‚ working alone (Fürwahr…?! ‘Indeed…?!’) or in collaboration with Günther Bialas (Der Mann‚ der vom Tode auferstand‚ ‘The Man who Rose from the Dead’)‚ and by Wilfried Hiller (Chaplin­Ford­Trott). This première recording bears all the virtues and drawbacks of studio operatic sets: absolute clarity though little theatrical atmosphere. The cast all give a good account of themselves‚ though‚ and Epple directs most sympathetically. The recorded sound is crystal clear with a comfortably natural balance‚ and Wergo’s recently upgraded production values are a good deal better than for their issue of Hartmann’s great Simplicius Simplicissimus (11/95). Strongly recommended.