Help, help, the globolinks
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Help, help, the globolinks |
| Original title: | Help, Help, the Globolinks! |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Gian Carlo Menotti |
| Libretto : | Gian Carlo Menotti,
German by Kurt Honolka |
| Premiere: | December 21, 1968 |
| Place of premiere: | Hamburg State Opera |
| Playing time: | approx. 71 minutes |
| Place and time of the action: | USA, then present |
| people | |
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Help, Help, the Globolinks ( Help, Help the Globolinks! ) By Gian Carlo Menotti is a one-act science fiction opera for children about an alien invasion . The first performance in German took place on December 21, 1968 in the Hamburg State Opera .
Emergence
Help, help, the Globolinks was commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera, which was then directed by Rolf Liebermann . Menotti said he was inspired by the US lunar program . He described the work as an opera “ for children and all those still young at heart ”, which was reproduced in the program booklet of the premiere as “ An opera for children and those who love children ”. At the same time Menotti pursued a pedagogical intention with the opera, to introduce young people to music.
Because of the brevity of the work, the Globolinks based on Menotti's famous Christmas opera Amahl and the nocturnal visitors were performed in Hamburg and premiered in a production by Gian Carlo Menotti. The light sculptures hurling lightning bolts were created by Nicolas Schöffer , the choreography and the costumes came from Alwin Nikolais , a pioneer of experimental dance. Not least because of the futuristic decor and the parody interludes, the opera was an immediate success.
action
First picture
During the introductory fugue , a radio announcement sounds that dangerous aliens, the Globolinks, have come to earth. Anyone who would be touched by a Globolink would lose their language and become a Globolink themselves. An outcry follows that the Globolinks are already there. Light towers hurl lightning, electronic sounds drown out the music from the orchestra pit, everything tries to save itself.
A school class returning from vacation on the bus hears the radio announcement when there is a breakdown in the forest that there has been an invasion of the Globolinks and that they are in the area. It is now known that the Globolinks can be distributed through music. When the Globolinks approach the bus threateningly, you first try to keep them in check with the horn, but this only works for a short time. The student Emily was the only one to take her violin with her. She sets off with the violin to get help.
Second picture
In the staff room, Madame Euterpova complains to the rector Dr. Stone that the students are too uninterested in music and have left their instruments at school during the holidays. Because of this disregard for music lessons, she wants to quit. Stone does not respond to this, but worries about the absence of the children, sees the music lessons as irrelevant anyway and sends the music teacher out. As he falls into a brief exhausted sleep, some globolinks appear. Stone rings the school bell to drive the Globolinks away. In the meantime, a globolink has touched him, and he only brings out original electronic sounds (a tape played backwards). Madame Euterpova appears as a savior in need, equips the teachers with musical instruments they have gathered, including drums and a sousaphone , and she conducts with the teaching staff to look for the children.
Third picture
For the students in the unfit bus, the risk increases. The globolinks can no longer be chased away by the car horn and attack again. At that moment the teachers approach with their thrown together musical instruments and the globolinks disappear. Only Emily, who has made her way into the forest, is missing. Dr. Stone, who has already become half the Globolink, is supposed to save her.
Fourth picture
Emily got lost in the forest after the threat of light towers hurling her lightning. She always plays the violin, but soon sinks down exhausted. The Globolinks then grab the violin and break it. Emily turns to Dr. Stone, whom she recognizes among the globolinks. He has lost his voice and can only stammer "La, la". At that moment the music teachers arrive with the students and Emily is saved. The Globolinks break off their invasion and take the anti-music Dr. Stone, who will finally become the Globolink.
style
Menotti was under the influence of musical verism in his works . In this opera he worked with neoclassical and veristic elements. He also used electronic sounds to characterize the Globolinks . This contrast between electronic and tonal music was a deliberate stylistic device. Menotti proved his sense of humor in various parodic interludes, such as the echoed coloratura by the music teacher, musical quotes, the radio voice in the middle of the entrance fugue , the backwards unwound tape for Stone's “ Pidgin-electronese ” after being touched by the Globolink, but also by the “ rattling Marching music of the teachers ”, which“ might not necessarily sound just for aliens to run away from ”.
Furnishing
The Globolinks' costumes were reminiscent of the tube lamp conceived by the designer Bruno Munari in 1964 , which was popularly known as the " eel trap ".
literature
- Johannes Jacobi: Driven out by music . In: Die Zeit , No. 52/1968 of December 27, 1968 (review of the premiere)
- Program booklet of the Hamburg State Opera from December 21, 1968.
- Heinz Wagner: The great manual of the opera , 2nd expanded edition, Vienna 1991, pp. 471–472, ISBN 3-930656-14-0 .
- Maria Walburga Stürzer, in the booklet to the DVD (Arthaus)
Recordings
- DVD with the premiere cast, including Edith Mathis , Arlene Saunders , Raymond Wolansky and Franz Grundheber , children's choir of the NDR and the Eppendorf grammar school, Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg under the direction of Matthias Kuntzsch , studio production Polyphon 1969 (Naxos, Arthausmusik)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Program of the Hamburg State Opera from December 21, 1968.
- ↑ Maria Walburga Stürzer, in the booklet to the DVD
- ↑ Figure e.g. B. in: M odern classics, furniture that makes history . Publication of the magazine Schöner Wohnen , no year of publication, p. 56