Orestes (opera)

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Opera dates
Title: Orestes
Shape: Music theater in six scenes
Original language: German
Music: Manfred Trojahn
Libretto : Manfred Trojahn
Literary source: Euripides : Orestes
Premiere: December 8, 2011
Place of premiere: De Nederlandse Opera , Amsterdam
Playing time: about 80 minutes
Place and time of the action: Argos , mythical time, after the Trojan War
people

Orestes is an opera (original name: "Musiktheater") in six scenes by Manfred Trojahn based on the tragedy Orestes des Euripides . The world premiere took place on December 8, 2011 at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam.

action

prehistory

The content of the opera is a continuation of Richard Strauss ' opera Elektra . Six years ago, Orestes and Electra's father Agamemnon was murdered by their mother Clytaimnestra and her lover Aigisthus . Two weeks before the start of the plot, Orestes avenges the act at the urging of the god Apollo and kills the two.

Clytaimnestra's sister Helena , the wife of Menelaus , was kidnapped by the latter to his homeland Troy after the judgment of Paris . This sparked the Trojan War , which claimed countless lives over the course of ten years. After the destruction of Troy, Helena returns home with Menelaus.

First Scene

Orestes cannot sleep because he is troubled by thoughts of his mother, who he killed. He hears women's voices calling his name, whispering and screaming in fear. In a vision Apollo appears to him and accuses him of weakness. He reminds Orestes that he has to answer before the judges of the city of Argos. But soon his uncle Menelaus will return home with his wife Helena and stand by him, because Menelaus needs his support to assert himself as the new king. Shortly afterwards, Apollo transforms into the god Dionysus , and Orestes, fascinated, watches as he disappears in a mysterious light. He ponders the fate of Helena, because of which so many people perished, and believes that he loves her. He remains lying delirious on the floor.

Second scene

In front of the house, Helena hesitantly tries to get in. She meets her niece Elektra, Orest's sister, who treats her with the greatest contempt. Helena explains that according to tradition, she wants to sacrifice at her sister's grave. However, she fears that she will not be able to walk unmolested through the streets and asks Elektra to bring the gifts to the grave in her place. Elektra refuses, but suggests commissioning Helena's daughter Hermione to do this, because no one here holds a grudge against her.

trio

Hermione is happy to do that. Elektra is amazed at the purity of her soul.

Third scene

The court sentenced Orestes to death by stoning. Menelaus informs Orestes about this and urges him to flee. Since the enemies are everywhere in the city, Orestes needs Menelaus' help - but he feels unable to do so. In the meantime Elektra has also arrived. She and her brother accuse Menelaus of cowardice. Elektra exclaims that there is still a lot of blood to flow so that the world can become better. Menelaus flees in horror.

Fourth scene

Orestes, lying restless on the floor since the end of the first scene, finally has the opportunity to talk to his sister Elektra alone. He explains his guilty feelings about her mother's death. Elektra replies that someone who has the right on his side cannot be guilty. For Orestes, however, love is above law. Elektra sees it differently. She speaks reassuringly to her brother so that he can finally sleep for a moment. Meanwhile, she reflects on her own unfulfilled life, which she has to live full of hatred and without a family of her own. Shortly thereafter, Orestes startled out of a nightmare. He thinks he has no choice but to keep killing. That is exactly the intention of Electra, who wants to eradicate all evil in the world. Helena and Hermione are supposed to die next. Orestes, however, no longer wants to kill.

intermezzo

Fifth scene

Hermione suffers from her violent environment, where everything revolves around revenge. She realizes that even her mother Helena only loves herself and was guilty of the deaths of so many people. Helena arrives unnoticed by her. Hermione is only gradually realizing their presence. Helena wants everything to be the same as it was before the war. Hermione wants to get her out of town to safety because she fears more murders. Orestes and Elektra rush in. Orestes immediately pounces on Helena "like a machine" and kills her, while Elektra overpowers Hermione. Helena dies with a terrible cry. Hermione turns to Orestes and asks him about his own dream. He looks at her.

Sixth scene

Eight men from Argos come to take Orestes to the place of execution. Menelaus throws himself mournfully on his murdered wife. Elektra tells Orestes to kill Hermione too. Since he does not react, she tries to strangle her with her own hands, but is prevented from doing so by Menelaus. Then the god Dionysus appears and begins a dance around the dead Helena. Elektra freezes so Orestes can free Hermione from her grip. Dionysus leads Helena with him into the light as “who has become a star”. This shines quickly "like from a thousand suns" and then gradually decreases again. Now Apollo stands in front of Orestes and absolves him of guilt. He calls on Orestes to enforce his law in this city.

Madrigal of stupor

Elektra, Menelaus and the eight men conjure up the old laws. Orestes, however, renounces Apollo. He wants to find his own way. In the figure of Dionysus, Apollo calls on Orestes to take his reward after the vengeance has been accomplished. But Orestes rejects him. He wants to look for a new future with Hermione. Apollo no longer has any power over him.

layout

In his opera Trojahn examined the background to Orestes actions. The title character is weak in character and determined by others. There is an unknown political concept behind Apollo's murder assignment. Orestes hopes at some point to be able to forget the guilt associated with his act. When he finally decides to spare Hermione, he has realized that this is not possible and that he has to accept his guilt. It remains to be seen whether he can find a solution to his problem. His sister Elektra is completely obsessed with the idea of ​​revenge. According to Trojahn, she seems “missed out on very feminine needs” and can only show her real character when she is on her own. The other two female characters, Helena and Hermione “hide” as well. Helena is solely related to herself. Even the world is nothing more than a mirror to them. Only Hermione, who is able to perceive the misfortunes of others, has a perspective for the future. The divine client shows himself to the others in two different identities in order to achieve his goals - as Apollo he is a “political cynic”, as Dionysus a “sensual seducer”. In terms of language and quotations, Dionysus is based on Friedrich Nietzsche's Dionysus dithyrambs . According to Trojahn, the six female voices, occasionally connected with solo violins, should "fill the entire auditorium". They represent the mental state of Orestes, but also the voice of his murdered mother, and are especially heard when Orestes is suffering from his conscience - even when he sets out into the unknown at the end of the opera.

For the instrumentation, Trojahn was inspired by the cast of Richard Strauss' opera Elektra , in which the prehistory is also told. So it would be conceivable to juxtapose the two relatively short works in one evening.

orchestra

The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:

Work history

Manfred Trojahn composed his opera Orestes on behalf of the Nederlandse Opera . He wrote the libretto himself based on the tragedy Orestes des Euripides .

The production of the world premiere on December 8, 2011 at the Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam was directed by Katie Mitchell . Giles Cadle was responsible for the stage, Vicki Mortimer for the costumes and Jon Clark for the lighting design. The soloists were Dietrich Henschel (Orest), Johannes Chum (Menelaos), Finnur Bjarnason (Apollo / Dionysus), Romy Petrick (Hermione), Rosemary Joshua (Helena) and Sarah Castle (Elektra). Marc Albrecht was the musical director .

The production was named "World Premiere of the Year" in the Opernwelt magazine's critics' survey . The reviewer from Deutschlandradio Kultur found the sound language rich and varied. The echoes of the tonal tradition made the opera “a sensual, multi-layered listening experience”. However, the story itself turned out to be "a bit overly complex". He unreservedly praised the quality of the production and the executives. The reviewer of the time called the opera “brilliant”. Trojahn is "not an extremist", he writes musically. However, there was also rejection. Frieder Reininghaus thought the libretto was out of date. It scrapes "hard at the involuntary comic border". The "basic gesture of the [...] tone set acts as if it were still 1911 or again." In contrast to Strauss' music, however, "the sophistication of the motivic work and sometimes also the delicacy" is missing. He rejected the production with the summary words “Nothing new in the West”.

The Opera House Hannover showed on 8 February 2013, the German premiere of the work in a production by Enrico Luebbe with a stage of Etienne Pluss . Bjørn Waag (Orest), Tomasz Sagorski (Apoll / Dionysos), Khatuna Mikaberidze (Elektra), Dorothea Maria Marx (Helena) and Romy Petrick (Hermione) sang .

The Austrian premiere took place on October 28, 2013 in the MuseumsQuartier Wien in a production by Philipp M. Krenn with equipment by Nikolaus Webern . Walter Kobéra directed the Amadeus Ensemble Vienna and the Vienna Chamber Choir . Klemens Sander sang the title role .

The fourth production of the work took place on February 26, 2017 at the Zurich Opera House in a staging by Hans Neuenfels with a stage by Katrin Connan and costumes by Andrea Schmidt-Futterer . Erik Nielsen directed the Philharmonia Orchestra Zurich. Georg Nigl sang the title role, Ruxandra Donose the Elektra, Airam Hernández the Apollo / Dionysus, Raymond Very the Menelaos, Claudia Boyle the Helena and Claire de Sévigné the Hermione. The production was enthusiastically received. The FAZ reviewer wrote: “Performed in this way, this complex composition almost goes without saying”. The reviewer of the Online Merker summed up his impressions with the words "A fascinating evening of contemporary music theater". The reviewer of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung described Orestes as a "masterful new opera that Strauss'" Elektra "continues" and called the performance "a really great evening".

On March 31, 2019, a new production of Orestes premiered at the Vienna State Opera , which was broadcast live on Radio Austria 1 .

Recordings

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Joachim Wagner: "Working on History" - Annotations on Manfred Trojahn. In: Supplement to the CD Challenge Classica CC72605, pp. 51–59.
  2. ↑ Entangled in debt. In: Supplement to the CD Challenge Classica CC72605, pp. 46–50.
  3. ↑ a b Review of the performance in Vienna 2014 on operinwien.at, accessed on February 17, 2019.
  4. ↑ Information on the work from Bärenreiter-Verlag , accessed on February 15, 2019.
  5. ↑ a b Frieder Reininghaus : Get rid of the old Greek problems! Manfred Trojahn's opera "Orest" in Amsterdam. Review of the 2011 premiere. In: Neue Musikzeitung , December 15, 2011, accessed on February 17, 2019.
  6. ↑ a b Supplement to the CD Challenge Classica CC72605.
  7. ↑ Regine Müller: World premiere of the year - "I am first and foremost a composer". In: Opernwelt Jahrbuch 2012, p. 20.
  8. ↑ Stefan Keim: Release from the bloodlust. Review of the world premiere in Amsterdam 2011. Report by Deutschlandradio Kultur , December 8, 2011, accessed on February 17, 2019.
  9. ↑ Wolfram Goertz : “Orest” premiere: Christmas Eve at the Atriden. Review of the premiere in Amsterdam 2011. In: Die Zeit , No. 51/2011, December 15, 2011, accessed on February 17, 2019.
  10. ↑ Volker Hagedorn: Opera "Orest": Blood from the tap. Review of the performance in Hanover 2013. In: Die Zeit , No. 8/2013, February 14, 2013, accessed on February 17, 2019.
  11. ↑ Kaspar Sannemann: Review of the performance in Zurich 2017. In: Oper Aktuell, February 26, 2017, accessed on February 17, 2019.
  12. ^ Eleonore Büning : Opera "Orest" in Zurich: The boy next door calls for a revolt. Review of the performance in Zurich 2017. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , February 28, 2017, accessed on February 17, 2019.
  13. ^ John H. Mueller: Zurich: Orest by Manfred Trojahn. What is happening to Orestes? Review of the performance in Zurich 2017. In: Online Merker, March 3, 2017, accessed on February 17, 2019.
  14. ↑ Christian Wildhagen: Now the mother killer is finally talking. Review of the performance in Zurich 2017. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , February 27, 2017, accessed on February 17, 2019.
  15. ↑ a b Live from the Vienna State Opera - Manfred Trojahn: "Orest" in the program of Austria 1 , March 31, 2019, accessed on February 17, 2019.