Julie (opera)
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Julie |
| Shape: | Opera in one act |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Philippe Boesmans |
| Libretto : | Luc Bondy and Marie-Louise Bischofberger |
| Literary source: |
August Strindberg : Fröken Julie |
| Premiere: | March 8, 2005 |
| Place of premiere: | Théâtre de la Monnaie , Brussels |
| Playing time: | approx. 1 ¼ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Sweden in the middle of the century before last, kitchen of the Count's house, midsummer night |
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Julie is a chamber opera by Philippe Boesmans . The basis for the libretto by Luc Bondy and Marie-Louise Bischofberger is the tragedy Fräulein Julie (Swedish: Fröken Julie ) by August Strindberg . The opera premiered on March 8, 2005 at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels . The German premiere was in January 2006 at the Braunschweig State Theater .
content
Kristin, the cook in the Count's house, prepares the meal while Midsummer Eve is celebrated outside . To Kristin's displeasure, Julie, the count's daughter, danced with servants. The servant Jean, to whom Kristin is engaged, comes to dinner. He fends off Kristin's tenderness, but promises her a dance. At this moment Julie wants to “borrow” Jean to dance. Kristin and Jean obey.
While Julie and Jean dance, Kristin does her housework. Then Jean comes back upset: “The lady is crazy! How she dances! ”A conversation develops between Kristin and Julie, then one with Jean and Julie.
In the conversation between Julie and Jean, both speak of their dreams: she dreams of falling, he of (ambitious) rising. This part of the opera is the only one in which neither person takes a dominant position and where one can speak of an equal moment that shows an emotional relationship between Jean and Julie.
Then Julie lures Jean. She flirts and provokes: sometimes as a landlady, sometimes as a spoiled child of the upper class. The erotic tension between the two grows. They retire to Jeans room.
A musical interlude follows: A thunderstorm comes up (Boesmans has transformed the scene in which Strindberg had people celebrating Midsummer Eve in the kitchen into a thunderstorm).
After Julie and Jean slept together, the balance of power reversed. The relationship that now exists turns the prevailing social relationships on its head.
Jean forges plans and wants to open a hotel abroad with Julie: his lifelong dream of becoming a hotelier.
Both ultimately talk past each other. Julie wants to know if Jean loves her. This confirms this, but does not bring a "you" over the lips. He points to the past, the Count and his respect for this.
When it becomes apparent that Julie has no money to spend, Jeans dreams of owning a hotel burst. Julie becomes aware of the consequence of her actions to have become involved with a servant. She feels herself falling. However, if she can get some money, Jean would eventually condescend to flee together. Socially, this means for Julie that if she can't get the money to flee together, he can still remain a servant; but she is no longer mistress.
Kristin, the cook who has been sleeping up to this point, senses what has happened and decides to quit. She doesn't want to have anything to do with or come into contact with such things.
Ready to go and with money stolen from the father, the count, and a bird in the cage, Julie appears. Jean kills the bird, and Julie wants to die too.
Immediately afterwards, Julie asks Kristin for help and suggests the three of them escape: They could open a hotel together. Kristin soberingly points to the impossibility of this project and behaves with contempt towards Julie.
More or less openly, Jean passes his razor to Julie, driving her to suicide.
layout
The opera consists of twelve scenes of different lengths, which are set up symmetrically around an axis. The sixth scene, the musical interlude (the thunderstorm) forms the axis. In scenes 1 to 5 Julie lets her seductive skills play and takes possession of Jean; scenes 7 through 12 deal with their downfall and rude awakening. This sixth scene gives this relationship duel (with a consistently fatal outcome) its structure: an intoxicating vortex downwards, consisting of erotic compromising (Julie) and cynical arithmetic (Jean).
Instrumentation
The chamber music cast of the opera requires the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : flute , oboe , clarinet , bassoon
- Brass : two horns , trumpet , trombone
- Percussion (two players)
- harp
- Piano (also celesta , electric piano / MIDI / synthesizer )
- Strings (solo): two violins , two violas , cello , double bass
interpretation
Like the text by August Strindberg, the opera Julie is a class drama that deals with the stages of a fatal conflict and deals with social and moral taboos. It is a criticism of a society that measures the behavior of men and women with double standards. A drama that is heavily caught up in its social, sociopolitical and historical conventions.
If Julie had been a man at that time in the world shown, nothing would have happened: An affair with the service staff was the order of the day and had no consequence for the male sex. In Julie's case, however, she was now considered a whore and still takes her place in the social hierarchy behind the cook. The direct route into the gutter is mapped out.
Work history
The opera was created in 2004 for a joint production by the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie Brussels, the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and the Wiener Festwochen . It is dedicated to the jazz saxophonist and composer Fabrizio Cassol . Luc Bondy and Marie-Louise Bischofberger wrote the libretto based on August Strindberg's tragedy Fröken Julie . It was premiered on March 8, 2005 in Brussels as part of the Ars musica festival. Directed by Luc Bondy, set designer was Richard Peduzzi , the costumes were by Rudy Sbounghi and the lighting design by Dominique Bruguière. The Orchester de chambre de la Monnaie played under the direction of Kazushi Ōno . Malena Ernman (Julie), Kerstin Avemo (Kristin) and Garry Magee (Jean) sang .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Strindberg als Oper , report of March 9, 2005 about the premiere of the opera on Deutschlandfunk , accessed on September 8, 2014.
- ↑ Philippe Boesman's opera "Julie" will be performed in Braunschweig , advance notice of December 30, 2005 ( memento of September 9, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ) on musikmarkt , accessed on September 9, 2014.
- ↑ a b work information at IRCAM , accessed on March 2, 2018.
- ↑ Production information of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , accessed on March 2, 2018.