Opera novel
Opera novel is a novel by Petra Morsbach . It was published in 1998 by Eichborn Verlag in the series Die Andere Bibliothek .
To the work
Petra Morsbach herself worked as a dramaturge at German city theaters for ten years, she now processes her experiences in the opera novel “about life and love behind the scenes, about scheming directors, faithless tenors and disaffected dramaturges.” Work, love and everyday life are the complex themes that run through the novel and are taken up again in ever new variations - like in a musical composition.
The plot progresses along five successive productions : Tristan and Isolde ( moments ), Figaro's wedding ( work ), Fidelio ( love ), the bat ( everyday life ), German Requiem ( farewells ). These, each divided by numerous scenes, dialogues, anecdotes and reflections, represent the acts of a great drama, so to speak.
"Formally and stylistically, the novel also has the dazzling quality of opera, a good part of it is colportage, cliché, kitsch. Sentimentality that is banished and increased by a concise, almost laconic formal structure: small episodes, individual pieces, are staggered through good timing, set in tension to each other (like numbers in the opera), so that increases, delays, discharges, ingenious upsurges and sobering downswings arise, "said Benedikt Gondolf, describing the book in the aspekte reading list
action
In the canteen, in the orchestra pit or in the lighting room of the opera, the real tragedies come to a head here and discharge into love scenes in the cloakrooms. Musicians, technicians, directors and singers fall in love with one another, intrigue one another and always manage to bring an opera work to the stage together.
Reviews
The novel came in December 1998 on the best list of the Südwestfunk , in January 1999 on the best list of the time . On December 14, 1998, it was discussed in The Literary Quartet .
The reviews were controversial:
“A book of magical lightness ... an artist novel that is second to none; he's knowledgeable, entertaining and cosmopolitan at the same time. Nothing, no label and no paraphrase can precisely capture the refined weightlessness of this text ... The opera novel shows its own format in that it is neither committed to nostalgia nor to progress, but steadfastly illuminates the entire, puzzling spectrum of the present. "
“One wonders what this sort of thing, aiming at unmasking successes like 'The Campus' and yet only referring to 'Lindenstrasse', is actually doing in Hans Magnus Enzensberger's 'Other Library'. As a booklet in the station kiosk, it would be in the right compartment. "
"Incidentally, the question of literary quality is left aside, an amusing and instructive non-fiction book on certain aspects of the opera business."
“This is a personable book with a lot of humor and a lot of intelligent comments. [...] Everyone longs for success and some long for a little love - and this is shown in between and proves that Mrs. Morsbach is a good author after all. [...] Well, I can only say: I recommend this book! "
expenditure
- Petra Morsbach: Opera novel . Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1998. ISBN 3821844760
- Petra Morsbach: Opera novel . BTB, Munich 2000. ISBN 3442724848
- Petra Morsbach: opera novel , at albrecht digitalbuch, 2012. kindle e-book.
Web links
- Michael Schweizer: Not fully composed, but enchanting (1999) in Berliner Zeitung
- Eleonore Büning: The glory of the ballet rat - fate on a fee basis, power plant on credit: Petra Morsbach's "opera novel" in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (1998)
Individual evidence
- ^ Eleonore Büning: The glory of the ballet rat - fate on a fee basis, power plant on credit: Petra Morsbach's "Opernroman" in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (1998)
- ^ Review of the novel at Cologne Piano
- ↑ Brief review by Buchgazelle
- ↑ Benedikt Gondolf, The Aspekte reading list. October 7, 1998, ZDF
- ↑ Südwestfunk's best list (review) (pdf; 92 kB)
- ↑ Best list of fiction January 1999