The emperor of Atlantis

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Opera dates
Original title: The Emperor of Atlantis or The Denial of Death
Performance in the Risiera di San Sabba memorial in Trieste 2012

Performance in the Risiera di San Sabba memorial in Trieste 2012

Shape: Chamber opera in one act
Original language: German
Music: Viktor Ullmann
Libretto : Viktor Ullmann and Peter Kien
Premiere: December 16, 1975
Place of premiere: Amsterdam
Playing time: Around 1 hour
people

The Emperor of Atlantis, or Die Tod-Verwe refusal, is a chamber opera (original name: “Spiel in einer Akt”) by Viktor Ullmann , the libretto was written by Ullmann with the help of Peter Kien , both were then prisoners in the Theresienstadt ghetto . The work was created in Theresienstadt in 1943 and 1944. The opera was not premiered in Amsterdam until December 16, 1975. Under the musical direction of Dennis Russell Davies and staged by Ernst Poettgen, the German premiere took place on February 4, 1985 in the Kammertheater of the State Theater Stuttgart under the title Der Kaiser von Atlantis or Der Todanks ab . Ten years later, on May 23, 1995, the work was played for the first time in Theresienstadt, 51 years after the first rehearsals.

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prolog

The loudspeaker introduces the opera and its characters.

Scene 1

Death as a resigned soldier in a uniform of the kuk Wehrmacht and harlequin, who depicts life, reflect on death and life. The drummer appears and, in the name of His Majesty the Emperor Overall, proclaims the war of all against all. Death breaks his sword and refuses to serve.

Scene 2

From his palace the emperor tries to win the war with the help of the loudspeaker as an observer of the battles. But a strange disease has broken out, the soldiers cannot die. Since the causative agent of this disease cannot be found, the emperor promises all eternal life.

Scene 3

In hand-to-hand combat, two soldiers face the fight, and in the course of this duel, one, known as a bob, turns out to be a girl. They fall in love, the drummer tries in vain to persuade them to continue the fight, the love of the two wins and both refuse to follow the emperor's drummer.

Scene 4

The emperor tries to continue the war. A revolt breaks out against Kaiser. Finally, death meets the emperor in a mirror image. Death would be ready to resume its activity if the emperor were the first to follow suit. The emperor bids farewell and goes into a new death. In the final chorale of the opera, the last line is a moral message to everyone: “You should not vainly conjure up the great name of death”.

Instrumentation

The instrumental line-up of the opera includes the following instruments:

Work history

Emergence

Both Ullmann and Kien were prisoners in Theresienstadt. In the summer of 1944, the work was rehearsed as part of leisure activities, but canceled after the dress rehearsal.This process can no longer be reconstructed today, as Herbert Thomas Mandl reported, who at the time was working as the secretary of the Jewish self-government in Theresienstadt and who himself followed the rehearsal process.

Ullmann and Kien died in the Auschwitz concentration camp . Ullmann entrusted his manuscripts to two of his fellow prisoners who survived: Emil Utitz , a former professor of philosophy at the German University in Prague , who worked as the camp's librarian, and to Hans Günther Adler , some of whose poems Ullmann had set to music. The opera was first played by De Nederlandse Opera in the Bellevue Center in Amsterdam in 1975 , based on an edition by Kerry Woodward, who was also the musical director of the performance.

Frames

First performance in Theresienstadt May 23, 1995

The production of the world premiere was repeated in Brussels and Spoleto in 1976 ; this facility was also used for the first American performance in April 1977 by the San Francisco Opera (Theater Spring). On May 18, 1977, the New Opera Theater New York premiered in the Lepercq Room with the Brooklyn Academy of Music . All of this was done by Woodward.

In 1981 Michael Graubart and Nicholas Till worked out an edition that followed the score saved by Hans Günther Adler much more closely. She did not reject all of Woodward's decisions. The edition by Graubart and Till formed the basis for the UK premiere from May 15, 1981 through to the Studio Theater of Morley College in London and the performances at the Imperial War Museum in May 1985.

A reconstruction of the original score was made by Ingo Schultz from 1992 to 1998 on the basis of documents and reports from surviving artists from Theresienstadt: Karel Berman (the singer of the part of the death of the Theresienstadt rehearsals and his role book of the opera), Herbert Thomas Mandl (violinist in productions by Ullmann in Theresienstadt) and Paul Kling (violinist and concertmaster of the Theresienstadt rehearsals of the opera). For the first time, surviving musicians from the camp were involved in a production. The director Herbert Gantschacher attached great importance to this, because the edition developed by Schultz with Berman, Kling and Mandl was the basis of the production of ARBOS - Society for Music and Theater , which was carried out in Austria ( Klagenfurt , Hallein , Vienna 1993-2001), in in the Czech Republic in 1993 in Prague in Národní Památník (music theater production of 1993 in the Czech Republic), and 51 years after the dress rehearsal in 1995 in Theresienstadt , further in 1998 in the Prague Trade Fair Palace , also in Germany ( Hellerau , Dresden 1994), Sweden ( Stockholm , Kulturhuset 1995), Canada (National Arts Center Ottawa Montreal 1994–1996) and in the United States of America in 1998, including an appearance at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC and the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust in the American Legion building in Hollywood under the patronage of E. Randol Schoenberg , the grandson of the composer Arnold Schönberg .

In 1989 and 2000 the Neukölln Opera in Berlin played a version by Winfried Radeke . In 1992 there was a production of Ullmann's work at the Saarbrücken State Theater , which was overseen by Schott-Verlag . The original version was also used by the director Tibor Egervari in 1998 for his production in Halifax (Nova Scotia / Canada). Other successful performances have been from City Opera Vancouver (2009), Long Beach Opera (2009), Boston Lyric Opera (2011), Dioneo Opera (London, 2011), English Touring Opera in London and other cities in the UK ( 2012) and the Berlin State Opera (2013). In Italy the work was staged at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo in 2002 (director Giuseppe Bruno, translation of the libretto into Italian by Valerio Valoriani), in 2004 at the Festival dei due mondi in Spoleto (conductor James Conlon ) and on March 11, 2010 in Barletta (Conductor: Paolo Candido), on September 27, 2012 in the Teatro Verdi in Muggia and on October 2, 2012 in Risiera di San Sabba near Trieste , the only concentration camp on Italian territory (musical direction: Davide Casali, director: Lino Marrazzo, set design : Endree Kosturi). The group “Opera Moderne, NYC” and the “Schlueterwerke” produced a version in 2012 directed by Markus Kupferblum, which was also shown in 2013 in Vienna in the Maria Theresienkaserne (built in 1941 as a base for the Waffen-SS). In 2014, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Viktor Ullmann's death , ARBOS - Society for Music and Theater produced the first production for puppet and puppet theater designed by Burgis Paier , in the dramaturgy of the Bosnian poet Dževad Karahasan and staged by Herbert Gantschacher for the Musica Suprimata festival in Sibiu . Further performances followed in, among others, Cluj-Napoca , Prague and Saint Petersburg . This production was also dedicated to the traces of Ullmann in the First World War, as the opera is based on Ullmann's own war experiences.

Casting important performances

role Voice compartment Theresienstadt
rehearsals 		First performance
December 16, 1975 		German premiere
on February 4, 1985 		Premiere in Theresienstadt
May 23, 1995
Kaiser jumpsuit baritone Walter Windholz Meinard Kraak Klaus Shepherd Steven Swanson
The speaker Bass baritone Bedrich Borges Lodewijk Meeuwsen Cornelius Hauptmann Rupert Bergmann
A soldier tenor David Grunfeld Rudolf Ruivenkamp Jerrold van der Schaaf Johannes Strasser
Harlequin (pierrot) tenor David Grunfeld Adriaan van Limpt Oly Pfaff Johannes Strasser
Bob hair (a girl) soprano Marion Podolier Roberta Alexander Yasko Kozaki Stefanie Kahl
The death Bass baritone Karel Berman Tom Haenen Rayond Wolansky Krassimir Tassev
The drummer Mezzo-soprano Hilde Aronson-Lindt Inge Frölich Elke Estlinbaum Ingrid Niedermair

output

  • Henning Brauel, Andreas Krause (ed.): The Emperor of Atlantis or the denial of death (score) by Schott 1992.

Discography

  • The Emperor of Atlantis (opera) + Hölderlin songs (1943/44); Execution: Kraus, Berry, Vermillion, Mazura, Lippert, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Dir: Zagrosek ; Decca 1994.
  • The Emperor of Atlantis First recording of the original version for chamber orchestra by ARBOS - Society for Music and Theater, produced by Studio Matouš Prague 1995.

literature

  • Theodor Veidl : Viktor Ullmann, the linear. In: Der Auftakt 9, 1929, pp. 77–78
  • Traces of Viktor Ullmann. With contributions by Viktor Ullmann, Herbert Thomas Mandl, Paul Kling, Dževad Karahasan , Ingo Schultz, Jean-Jacques Van Vlasselaer and Herbert Gantschacher (ed. ARBOS - Society for Music and Theater / Vienna: edition selene 1998), ISBN 3-85266- 093-9
  • Herbert Thomas Mandl : Traces to Theresienstadt (DVD about Theresienstadt and Viktor Ullmann). ARBOS, Vienna / Salzburg / Klagenfurt 2007
  • Initiative Hans Krása, Association of Friends and Supporters of the Theresienstadt Initiative eV (Ed.): Composers in Theresienstadt . 2nd Edition. Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-00-005164-3
  • Witness and victim of the apocalypse. Exhibition catalog about Viktor Ullmann, World War I and the opera “The Emperor of Atlantis or The Todt Refusal” by Herbert Gantschacher, ARBOS Vienna-Salzburg-Klagenfurt-Arnoldstein-Prora 2007–2008
  • Erich Heyduck / Herbert Gantschacher: Viktor Ullmann - Weg to the Front 1917 (DVD). ARBOS, Vienna / Salzburg / Klagenfurt 2007
  • Hans-Günter Klein (Ed.): Viktor Ullmann - materials. Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-928770-40-3
  • Hans-Günter Klein (Ed.): "... death becomes a poet". The presentations of the colloquium on the opera “Der Kaiser von Atlantis” by Viktor Ullmann in Berlin on November 4th and 5th, 1995; 978-3-928770-66-8; 120 pp., Hamburg 1996
  • Ingo Schultz: Viktor Ullmann. Life and work. Kassel 2008, ISBN 978-3-476-02232-5
  • Ingo Schultz: Ullmann and others. musica reanimata Mitteilungen No. 73/74, Berlin 2010, ISSN  0943-5093
  • Viktor Ullmann: 26 reviews of musical events in Theresienstadt. Edited and commented by Ingo Schultz. Second edition. Neumünster 2011, ISBN 3-928770-08-X
  • Amanda Holden (Ed.): The New Penguin Opera Guide. Penguin Putnam, New York 2001, ISBN 0-14-029312-4
  • James Conway: The Emperor of Atlantis: Director's Notes. In: English Touring Opera's Autumn 2012 program book. Pp. 22-23
  • David Fligg (Ph.D.): Creativity in Adversity. In: English Touring Opera's Autumn 2012 program book. Pp. 24-29
  • Herbert Gantschacher: Viktor Ullmann - Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse / Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse . ARBOS edition, Arnoldstein et al. 2015, ISBN 978-3-9503173-3-6

Web links

Commons : The Emperor of Atlantis  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Herbert Gantschacher: Viktor Ullmann - Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse / Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse . ARBOS edition, Arnoldstein et al. 2015, ISBN 978-3-9503173-3-6 , p. 82 and p. 97
  2. ^ Herbert Gantschacher: Viktor Ullmann - Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse / Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse. ARBOS edition, Arnoldstein et al. 2015, ISBN 978-3-9503173-3-6 , p. 95
  3. ↑ Bernhard Heimich: The Emperor of Atlantis or The Denial of Death. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 6: Works. Spontini - Zumsteeg. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-492-02421-1 , pp. 362-364.
  4. ↑ youtube.com
  5. ^ Herbert Gantschacher: Viktor Ullmann - Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse / Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse . ARBOS edition, Arnoldstein et al. 2015, ISBN 978-3-9503173-3-6 , p. 1 and p. 124
  6. ^ Theater Bellevue ( Memento from February 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ).
  7. ^ Oe Culture No. 1/98 (PDF) at austrian-canadian-council.ca, accessed on August 29, 2018.
  8. ↑ muzikus.cz
  9. ↑ The Austrian-Canadian Council 1995–2005: A Historical Overview (PDF) at austrian-canadian-council.ca, accessed on August 29, 2018.
  10. ^ History of the ACC at austrian-canadian-council.ca, accessed August 29, 2018.
  11. ↑ ncos.ca
  12. ↑ thefreelibrary.com
  13. ↑ articles.latimes.com
  14. ↑ The Neukoellner Oper plays Ullmann's Kaiser von Atlantis again
  15. ↑ ecampus.com
  16. ^ Oe Culture No. 2/98 (PDF) at austrian-canadian-council.ca, accessed on August 29, 2018.
  17. ^ Herbert Gantschacher: Viktor Ullmann - Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse / Witness and Victim of the Apocalypse ARBOS Edition, Arnoldstein et al. 2015, ISBN 978-3-9503173-3-6 , pp. 83-97
  18. ↑ a b c d e f g Jacobo Kaufmann: The Emperor of Atlantis in Terezin on jewish-theatre.com (English) ( Memento from January 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  19. ↑ a b c d e f g December 16, 1975: "The Emperor of Atlantis". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
  20. ^ A b "The Emperor of Atlantis or The Disobedience of Death" - Terezín , May 1995
  21. ↑ a b c d e Theresienstadt Memorial Festival 21. – 23. May 1995 under the patronage of Karel Berman .
  22. ^ Joža Karas: Music in Terezín, 1941–1945. Pendragon Press, Hillsdale, NY 1990, p. 35.
  23. ↑ youtube.com