Phaedra (Henze)
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| Title: | Phaedra |
| Shape: | Concert opera in two acts |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Hans Werner Henze |
| Libretto : | Christian Lehnert |
| Literary source: | Euripides : Hippolytus with a wreath |
| Premiere: | September 6, 2007 |
| Place of premiere: | State Opera Unter den Linden , Berlin |
| Playing time: | about 80 minutes |
| Place and time of the action: | In the classic and in the underworld |
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Phaedra is a concert opera in two acts by Hans Werner Henze . The text is based on the libretto by Christian Lehnert , which is based on the tragedy The Wreathed Hippolytus by the Greek poet Euripides . In 2007 the world premiere took place at the Berlin Lindenoper .
His musical goal was a series of music in the style of the Viennese classic . The line-up with a small orchestra allows the individual voices to emerge very clearly. Two percussionists with 28 different heads, wood and metal are particularly challenged.
Instruments
Shorthand: 2 (pic: afl; pic). 2 (approx). 2 (ssx, asx, bcl: asx, bcl, cbcl). 2 (cbn) / 2 (2Wtba). 2.2 (atbn, btbn) /2perc/ce.hp.pf/str (1.0.1.1.1) / tp
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Woodwinds
- two flutes ( piccolo , alto / piccolo)
- two oboes ( oboe da caccia )
- two clarinets ( soprano saxophone , alto saxophone , bass clarinet / alto saxophone, bass clarinet, double bass clarinet)
- two bassoons ( contrabassoon )
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Brass
- two horns (two Wagner tubas )
- two trumpets
- two trombones (alto trombone, bass trombone)
- Percussion (two players)
- Celesta , harpsichord , piano
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Strings (solo)
- a violin
- a viola
- a violoncello
- a double bass
- Tape (fixed, electro-acoustic playback actions via loudspeaker)
action
foreplay
Theseus defeats Minotaur, Ariadne's half-brother . Phaedra, Ariadne's sister, becomes Theseus' wife. His son Hippolytus comes from his marriage to Antiope .
first act
The Cretan Queen Phaedra, confused by Aphrodite, loves her stepson Hippolytus. This love must be unrequited. Out of disappointed love, she denounces him to his father Theseus and accuses him of rape. Theseus delivers his son to death. Phaedra kills herself out of remorse.
Second act
The second act is played in the dark beyond , in a sacred grove by Lake Nemi . Artemis, goddess of the hunt and thus the patron goddess of the hunter Hippolytus, tries to bring him back to life, calls him Virbius (god of the forest) and locks him in a cage (for his own safety?). The youth fights for his freedom against the renewed approach of Phaedra and moves into the woods. There he dances to the music of the Minotaur, the bull man, towards a future in a new mortality.
Productions
The world premiere took place on September 6, 2007 in the ( Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin; directed by Peter Mussbach ; room: Ólafur Elíasson ; costumes: Bernd Skodzig ; lighting: Olaf Freese; dramaturgy: Jens Schroth; Ensemble Modern , conductor: Michael Boder )
Further productions took place in 2008 at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (director: Michael Kerstan; conductor: Roberto Abbado) and in the Stadttheater Heidelberg (director: Daniel Cremer; stage: Ben Baur; costumes: Amélie Sator; conductor: Dietger Holm), in 2010 at the Theater Luzern ( Director: Stephan Müller; Conductor: Mark Foster) and at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Duisburg (Director: Sabine Hartmannshenn; Stage: Dieter Richter; Costumes: Susana Mendoza; Conductor: Wen-Pin Chien).
literature
- Hans Werner Henze: Phaedra. A diary. In collaboration with Christian Lehnert. Verlag Klaus Wagenbach, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-8031-1247-7 (workshop report)
- Sheet music: Chester Music , London
- Libretto: Program (PDF) for a performance by the Cologne Philharmonic on January 14, 2009.
- Volker Hagedorn: His 14th opera “Phaedra” almost cost Hans Werner Henze his life. It is finally being premiered in Berlin. A home visit to the 81-year-old composer . In: Die Zeit , No. 37/2007
Other settings of the material
As an opera, the subject was u. a. previously set to music by Johann Simon Mayr and Ildebrando Pizzetti (based on a play by Gabriele D'Annunzio ).
By Benjamin Britten one comes cantata he mezzo-soprano Janet Baker appropriated. She sang it in the world premiere of the work at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1976.