The price (opera)
| Opera dates | |
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| Title: | The price |
| Shape: | Opera in one act |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Karl Ottomar Treibmann |
| Libretto : | Harald Gerlach |
| Premiere: | March 1, 1980 |
| Place of premiere: | Erfurt, municipal theaters |
| Playing time: | approx. 1 ¼ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | GDR, 1970s |
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The prize is an opera in one act and six scenes by Karl Ottomar Treibmann based on the libretto by Harald Gerlach . It was created between 1975 and 1979 on behalf of the Erfurt District Council and the Erfurt Municipal Theaters and was premiered on March 1, 1980 as a "workshop production" in Erfurt.
action
The opera takes place in the GDR in the 1970s. The main character is the terminally ill scientist Jos, who is to receive a prize for his life's work, the invention of a machine. The evening before the celebration, he is haunted by visions and memories that make him understand his failure: he ruined his wife's life, and his invention is flawed and highly risky for the environment.
First Scene
The opera begins in silence on the dark stage. A woman is waiting in a spacious room. An electric bell rings. The woman, Maja, is talking to the doctor who is treating her husband, who has been seriously ill for a long time. He has to be admitted to the clinic. But on this evening the award ceremony for his invention takes place. Although the two whisper to keep the severity of his illness a secret from Jos, he has long known about it.
Second scene
The scene is now bathed in ghostly light. The archangels Gabriel and Michael appear to Jos, who want to pick him up "on the highest advice and resolution". Michael makes a faux pas when he adds that the “selection” only takes place “on the ramp”. Jos replies that he is not ready because they want to award him a prize. The angels say goodbye with the words “Do not be afraid! Soon we will celebrate together. "
Third scene
First vision. The voice of Jo's childhood friend Adi scoffs: "Have you heard the angels sing, are you down?" Jos only now recognizes the value of time.
First memory. In their youth, Jos and Adi meet an angler who points out the social "necessity" to them. This word breaks down into its two components "need" and "agility". Jos wants to go to the desert rather than singing, starving and thinking like the crowd.
Second vision. The fisherman withdraws with a sneer. Jos did not go “into the desert”, but instead gave up his utopias on the basis of Adi's advice. The two drink together. Jos tells Adi about his invention, a hypothetical machine that is supposed to convert carbohydrates into energy. He realizes that it doesn't work. Adi asks Jos why he evaded his responsibility back then.
Second reminder. Adi is a foreman on the youth front. Its workers complain about poor working conditions and empty promises. When Jos takes her side, Adi is outraged by his betrayal. Adi is slain by the workers. Jos flees.
Third vision. Jos rejects Adi's allegations. After all, he has found his place in life. Adi withdraws.
Fourth scene
Maja notices that Jos has been drinking. Jos doesn't go into that. In his mind he is still justifying himself against Adi's allegations.
First vision. Meeting with Mephir. The devil Mephir appears to Jos in a new vision. Although he recognizes him immediately, he believes that he can start all over again. The now physically visible "stumbling block" is a boomerang due to its hole. Jos throws it, but the stone does not return. Mephir explains that the stone was a chicken god who only brings luck if you carry it with you. But Jos threw him away. Happiness is now irretrievably lost.
Second vision. Maja's complaint. In this vision Jos realizes that he is also to blame for Maja's misfortune.
Third vision. Adis billing. Adi explains to Jos that he stuck to his mistake for life because he was afraid of starting over. The plaster is crumbling and the building of his life lie collapses.
Fifth scene
Price vision. Jos also sees the award ceremony in a vision. One sees a mime appearing speaker and clapping solemnly dressed gentlemen. Jos explains that his model is just an unproven hypothesis and can cause unpredictable damage. He doesn't want to accept the price anymore because he doesn't want to take this guilt on himself. But the frozen society does not want to admit the problems. His objections are ignored.
Sixth scene
After the bell rings again, the vision evaporates. Gabriel, Michael and also the devil Mephir appear to finally pick up Jos. Jos is disappointed that he doesn't have time to revoke his mistake - but the angels only carry out orders. However, they get into an argument with Mephir about whether Jos should go to heaven or hell. Mephir has "chartered rights", Gabriel and Michael on the other hand "letter and seal". In order for the matter to be resolved at a higher level, they must adjourn the matter. The bell rings for the third time, and Jos wakes up from his nightmare. It only lasted a second.
layout
The model of the opera has some similarities with Paul Dessau's opera Einstein . Both cases are about a scientist who is shocked by the effects of his invention but can no longer withdraw it. The figure of the doctor is the type of a "soulless, mechanically functioning scientist". He stands in the tradition of similar roles in Berg's Wozzeck , Prokofiev's Der fierige Engel or Shostakovich's The Nose . The doctor as well as the fisherman and the speaker are variations of the Mephisto- like devil Mephir.
The librettist Gerlach uses provocative word games and sharp contrasts. The angel Michael likes to refer to quotes from the Bible, but he also uses the phrase "selection". Treibmann achieved similarly surprising effects with his surprising quotations from classical works by Mozart or Bach. The opening choir “Jauchzet, rejlocket” from the Christmas Oratorio will sound at the award ceremony . Fragments of the symphony in G minor end the opera - counterpointed by the ticking of a metronome . The doctor's diagnosis was already in G minor at the beginning of the opera. The musicologist Ulrike Liedtke described the composition as follows: “A psychologically complex, subtle music characterizes people and situations between attempts at movement and paralyzing stagnation: motifs or chords create dramaturgical references. Maja sings in melisms and is accompanied by a clarinet motif, Adi prefers linguistic, recitative phrases, Jo's passionate arioso outbursts. ”There are also collages, montages, parodies, aleatoric and a variety of other musical means. The third scene in the center of the opera is characterized by a special twelve-tone sound from a layered quarters. This interval traditionally stands for the area of death.
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : two flutes (1st also piccolo ), two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons
- Brass : two horns , two trumpets , two trombones
- Electronic organ
- Drums 1: vibraphone , snare drum , timpani , High Hat, pool , rivets pool, Gong , fanfare , three temple blocks , maracas , triangle
- Percussion 2: xylophone , glockenspiel , tubular bells , timpani, three bongos, cymbals, gong, tam-tam, three wooden drums, maracas, triangle, metal foil
- Strings : six violas , six cellos , four double basses
- prepared tape
- Individual instrumentalists sometimes play maracas, castanets , wooden drums, bell tambourines , sistrums , ratchets and cucumbers
The reduced wind version for chamber stages requires two flutes, an oboe, two clarinets as well as bassoon, horn, trumpet and trombone.
Work history
The prize is Karl Ottomar Treibmann's first opera and the first of his three joint works with the librettist Harald Gerlach . This was followed by jokes, satire, irony and deeper meaning (based on Christian Dietrich Grabbe ) in 1983-85 and Der Idiot (based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky ) in 1986-87 . Another project based on Arthur Schnitzler's round dance was not completed due to a change of artistic director.
The opera was created between 1975 and 1979 on behalf of the Erfurt District Council and the Erfurt Municipal Theaters. Due to differences between the composer and the librettist about the choice of subject, the work dragged on. While Gerlach wanted to refer to the conclusion of Goethe's Faust and comment on it (his already existing first draft from 1974 was titled Kleesucher. Faust still believes in the free people on free ground while dying), Treibmann preferred one of his teacher Paul Dessau and his librettist Karl Mickel in their opera Einstein (1974) used the model. It turned out to be difficult to combine these two approaches. Only after the client intervened could the work be completed.
In a letter to his parents dated May 29, 1978, Treibmann himself reported on further problems with the theater management, who initially refused the work after the first instrumental prelude to the opera - for which he mainly held the conductor Ude Nissen responsible. After input from the authors and further discussions, initially only a concert performance was allowed before an agreement was reached on a staged performance in a music theater workshop. During rehearsals there were disagreements with the orchestra, which struggled to adjust to the unfamiliar music, and on February 22, 1980, they really revolted.
On March 1, 1980 the opera was first staged as a workshop production in Erfurt. Ulrich Faust was the musical director. Günther Imbiel directed. The performance was sold out, was enthusiastically celebrated by both the audience and experts, and was described by critics as the “ultima ratio, a possible turning point” in the history of the GDR's music theater. It animated political discussions about social responsibility in an ideologically controlled system. This political explosiveness of the opera with its themes of environmental protection (Erfurt was near the Bitterfeld industrial area) and the preservation of peace meant that the review of the Leipziger Volkszeitung fell to an aspirant, since no other critic could be found, and the New Germany only more than four months later reported on the performance.
Nevertheless, the opera remained successful. It was broadcast on the radio and invited as a guest performance to the Music Biennale in Berlin and the Dresden Music Festival. Further productions followed in Plauen (1981), Halle (1984, with a reduced cast) and Rudolstadt (1990).
literature
- Ulrike Liedtke : Karl Ottomar Treibmann - sound hikes. Kamprad, Altenburg 2004, ISBN 3-930550-32-6 (also contains the libretto).
- The price. In: Sigrid Neef : German Opera in the 20th Century - GDR 1949–1989. Lang, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-86032-011-4 , pp. 469-474.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Sigrid Neef : German Opera in the 20th Century - GDR 1949–1989. Lang, Berlin 1992, ISBN 3-86032-011-4 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Ulrike Liedtke : Karl Ottomar Treibmann - Klangwanderungen. Kamprad, Altenburg 2004, ISBN 3-930550-32-6 .
- ↑ Information on the performance material from Breitkopf , accessed on August 22, 2016.