The Star Child (Opera)
| Work data | |
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| Title: | The star child |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Hans-André Stamm |
| Libretto : | Alexander Nitzberg |
| Literary source: | The child star of Oscar Wilde |
| Premiere: | December 16, 2005 |
| Place of premiere: | Remscheid |
| Playing time: | about 80 minutes |
| Place and time of the action: | a wonderland at an indefinite time |
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The Star Child is a fairy tale opera by Hans-André Stamm based on the art fairy tale of the same name by Oscar Wilde .
action
first act
Two lumberjacks got lost in a snow storm. You follow a shooting star and find a child. One of the lumberjacks takes it into his family. He grows up to be an exceptionally handsome boy who, however, is arrogant and cruel and forces other children to be cruel. When a beggar woman comes into the village and declares that she is the mother of the star child, she is chased away. As a result, it loses its beauty. His face now resembles that of a toad. The star child realizes that it actually chased away its mother and was punished for it. It decides to find its mother and ask for forgiveness.
Second act
The star child arrives in a city, but is turned away by the gatekeepers. A wizard buys it as a slave and makes it work hard. One day he gives the star child an assignment: It should find the white gold in the forest. If he doesn't succeed, he faces a severe penalty. On its search, it encounters a hare who helps it to find the gold. On the way back, the star child meets a beggar who asks him urgently to give him the gold. The star child gives him the gold and accepts the wizard's punishment. It receives another order: it should go into the forest again and bring the magician the yellow gold. Again the rabbit helps him, and again the star child leaves the gold to the beggar on the way home and is punished for it by the magician. The magician then gives him a third and final assignment and threatens if the star child cannot bring him the red gold, he will kill it. When the star child gave the gold to the beggar this time as well, thereby sacrificing his life, his good deeds freed him from the spell of the magician and regained its beauty. The beggar turns out to be the king and father of the star child, the alleged beggar who is his mother as the queen. The star child is named the new king.
occupation
singing
The musical fairy tale Das Sternenkind is designed for eight soloists who, with the exception of the Sternenkind, each sing several roles. The composition provides for a four-part adult choir and a one- to two-part children's choir .
Instrumental line-up
The opera can be played in two scoring variants.
The full instrumental version provides:
- Flute , piccolo , clarinet , bass clarinet or saxophone
- Timpani , tam-tam , chimes , triangles , güiro , drums , drums , cymbals
- Celesta or keyboard , piano
- String quartet or string orchestra
There is also a reduced instrumentation for flute, violin , violoncello , piano and percussion or flute, keyboard, piano and percussion.
Relationship to the literature
In terms of content, the opera adheres closely to Oscar Wilde's original. However, it ends with a hopeful final picture in which the star child is celebrated as the new king. Oscar Wilde's fairy tale, on the other hand, ends less positively: in it, the star child dies three years later, and a cruel ruler takes over power after him.
Linguistically, the libretto differs from the original, as the fairy tale consists to a large extent of narrative text, which in the opera falls to the choir or individual roles. The English back translation is written in today's English and thus differs from Oscar Wilde's original version, who deliberately used an ancient language for the fairy tale.
According to the composer, it is the first setting of this fairy tale.
Performance history
The fairy tale opera Das Sternenkind was premiered on December 16, 2005 in Remscheid . Between 2005 and 2007 she experienced three productions in Remscheid, Siegen and Bonn and received good reviews. The opera was translated into English and performed for the first time in the USA on August 10, 2007 at the Claire Trevor Theater of the University of California at Irvine .
The star child is designed so that it can be performed by amateur ensembles . For the US premiere, children and young people between the ages of five and 18 developed the performance in a three and a half week opera workshop.
The overture processed Hans-André Stamm an orchestral piece entitled L'Enfant d'étoiles .
Web links
- The star child on Hans-André Stamm's personal website
- Trailer / summary on YouTube