The Snow Queen (Abrahamsen)
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| Title: | The Snow Queen |
The Snow Queen 2019 at the Bavarian State Opera (Snow Queen: Peter Rose) in a production by Andreas Kriegenburg (Photo: Wilfried Hoesl) |
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| Shape: | Opera in three acts |
| Original language: | Danish, English |
| Music: | Hans Abrahamsen |
| Libretto : | Hans Abrahamsen , Henrik Engelbrecht |
| Literary source: | Hans Christian Andersen |
| Premiere: | October 13, 2019 |
| Place of premiere: | Copenhagen Royal Opera House |
| Playing time: | approx. 1 ¾ hours (pure playing time) |
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The Snow Queen is an opera by Hans Abrahamsen and was commissioned by the Royal Copenhagen Opera . The premiere in Danish took place on October 13, 2019 in Copenhagen. The first performance of the English version at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich followed on December 21, 2019 . The work is based on the fairy tale Die Schneekönigin (Danish title: Snedronningen ) by Hans Christian Andersen and is based on the libretto by Hans Abrahamsen and Henrik Engelbrecht.
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The plot of The Snow Queen is based on the fairy tale The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen , which consists of seven episodes. Based on this, Hans Abrahamsen and Henrik Engelbrecht developed the opera libretto for The Snow Queen , which largely preserves the style of the fairy tale.
first act
The children Gerda and Kay listen to the grandmother, who talks about the Snow Queen, whereupon Kay imagines taking the Snow Queen into a warm room and letting her melt. Gerda tells him about the devil's distorting mirror, which makes everything beautiful look ugly and that it has broken into many small pieces. People who get such a splinter in the eye or heart, from then on only see the bad and feel nothing because of the cold. That night, Kay can't sleep for fear. When he sees the Snow Queen at the window, he is frightened.
While Gerda and Kay look at the blooming roses, Kay suddenly stabs something in the heart and then in the eye. Now he too only sees what is wrong with the flowers, whereupon he mocks Gerda and plucks the roses.
Kay and Gerda's friendship is weakened: Instead of with her, Kay would rather play with the other boys, who, however, do not accept him into their group. At the same time, Kay admires the symmetry and perfection of the ice crystals. The Snow Queen appears on her sledge and takes the boy with her.
The Snow Queen flies with Kay to her ice palace and kisses him on the forehead so that he becomes insensitive to the cold and forgets where he actually comes from.
Second act
Gerda goes in search of Kay and meets the old woman, in whose garden the flowers are singing to her the song of the three dead sisters. But Kay is not dead, they announce, which is why Gerda is continuing her search.
Gerda learns from the forest crow that the princess has been looking for a man who is equal to her in cleverness. Since Gerda suspects that Kay could be hiding behind it, the forest crow takes her to the castle of the prince and princess. There she gets in with the help of the castle crow and is followed by eerie apparitions. When she finally finds the princess and her prince, she realizes her mistake. However, they promise Gerda their help. That night Gerda dreams of Kay on his sledge.
Third act
Gerda continues her search: The prince and princess have given her their golden carriage for this. In the forest the carriage is attacked by robbers and all travelers except Gerda are killed. With the help of the reindeer, who is taking Gerda further north, she meets the Finnish woman. After the reindeer tells him about Gerda's captivity with the robbers and the assumption that Kay is with the Snow Queen, the Finnish woman explains the background to Kay's disappearance. She encourages Gerda in her search because she has all the skills to find Kay. She orders the reindeer to bring Gerda to the Snow Queen's kingdom and then to return.
Arrived in the realm of the Snow Queen, the reindeer says goodbye to Gerda in tears with a kiss. The cold is bothering her and the Snow Queen's outposts urge her to turn back. Yet the angels that arise from their breath protect them from the threat.
Meanwhile, in the palace of the Snow Queen, Kay is confronted with the task of finding the perfect word, but he is frozen with cold and despair. The Snow Queen has left the palace. When Gerda finally finds him, they both begin to cry. The tears free Kay from the splinters in her eyes and heart. Together Gerda and Kay found the term eternity.
When Gerda and Kay return home, grandmother is still reading the picture book. But Kay and Gerda have now grown up.
Musical implementation
Composition technique
Hans Abrahamsen's works are characterized by complex structures. The composer himself describes his way of composing as technically and rhythmically difficult. In addition, the feeling to be expressed depends on the shape. This can also be seen in his creative process, which is based, for example, on the elaboration of a time structure within which the music should develop. In an interview with Max Joseph magazine , Abrahamsen said: "Music is very special because it exists in time, and as a composer I have to shape time."
The Snow Queen has a very large orchestral line-up, which enables the variety of sounds with which Abrahamsen plays in his composition.
Hans Abrahamsen's work is often described using the term New Simplicity . However, due to the consistent further development of his compositional style, this is only partially true.
Musical links
The Snow Queen has musical links to previous works by the composer. Mainly these relate to snow , fairy tale pictures , forest and left, alone . These can be seen in both musical and abstract references.
One example is the key of C major , which is repeatedly associated with the color white, the color of snow, in the course of the opera. This can be seen both as a reference to Abrahamsen's chamber ensemble cycle Schnee and to the poet and Nobel Prize laureate in literature Tomas Tranströmer , who describes the key of C major with the word bliss in his poem The Couple . This in turn describes the perfection that Kay sees in the snowflakes. Abrahamsen also uses musical quotes from snow in The Snow Queen .
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : four flutes (all also piccolo , alto flute third, fourth and alto flute and bass flute), two oboes , English horn , four clarinets (2nd and 4th and bass clarinet , 3rd and 4th and clarinet ), three Bassoons (2nd and 3rd also contrabassoon )
- Brass : six horns (5th and 6th also Wagner tuba , also stage music ), two trumpets (also stage music), two bass trumpets (1st also stage music, 2nd only stage music), three trombones , tuba
- Percussion : timpani , drums ( xylophone , marimba , glockenspiel , vibraphone , tubular bells , small tubular drum , large drums , snare drum , congas , tambourines , cymbals , tam-tam , wind machine , sleigh bells, sandpaper, eggshakers , claves , güiro , triangle , whip )
- Two harps
- accordion
- Keyboard instruments : synthesizer ( harmonium sound), celesta
- Strings : violin 1, violin 2, violas , cellos , double basses
Work history
Origin and historical classification
Abrahamsen had made his first compositional attempts to write a vocal work in the 1970s. He originally conceived his piece Winter Night , based on the poem of the same name by Georg Trakl , as a piece for soprano and instrumental ensemble : “I [...] first designed the instrumental part, painting the background like a painter, so to speak. Then I wanted to add the text with the singing voice, as a painter inserts his figures into the background landscape. But I couldn't find the music for this character, i.e. the soprano, and so my winter night turned into a 'song without words' in a certain sense. ”Nevertheless, Abrahamsen endeavored to compose a work in the field of music theater . This project was supported, among others, by Hans Werner Henze , who suggested that the composer compose an opera in the 1980s with a view to the early Munich biennials .
It was only when he was working on his composition Snow that Abrahamsen took up the idea of a music theater piece again. At that time he dealt extensively with the topic of snow and read Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen in this context . Abrahamsen associated its episodic arrangement with his work Märchenbilder , which, based on Robert Schumann's chamber music piece for viola and piano , deals with the idea of composing stories from images. Based on the design of the fairy tale, Abrahamsen developed an opera libretto in collaboration with the dramaturge Henrik Engelbrecht, which takes selected scenes from the fairy tale into account and largely preserves the original language . Inspired by the collaboration with soprano Barbara Hannigan for the composition let me tell you , the desire to create an opera role for her voice also grew .
A composition commission from the Royal Opera in Copenhagen enabled Hans Abrahamsen to find time for the creative process of the composition. The English version of The Snow Queen was made for a production with Barbara Hannigan at the Bavarian State Opera in collaboration with the British writer Amanda Holden .
Performance history
The Snow Queen was commissioned by the Royal Copenhagen Opera House . There the opera was premiered in Danish on October 13, 2019.
The first performance of the version in English took place on December 21, 2019 at the Bavarian State Opera under the musical direction of Cornelius Meister . The production is designed by Andreas Kriegenburg .
First impressions of the resulting opera were performed on the basis of the Three Fairy Tale Pictures , which are based on the orchestral part of the first act of The Snow Queen , as part of the 1st Academy Concert of the Bavarian State Orchestra under the musical direction of Constantinos Carydis in October 2018.
Web links
- The premiere of The Snow Queen at the Bavarian State Opera
- Frank Hilberg: The Snow King. In: Max Joseph , Edition 1, year: 2019/20 at Issuu.
- Franziska Stürz: When the Snow Queen kisses. In: engelsloge, issue 43 at Issuu.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Franziska Stürz: When the Snow Queen kisses. In: engelsloge , issue 43 at Issuu.
- ↑ Frank Hilberg: The Snow King. In: Max Joseph , Edition 1, year: 2019/20 at Issuu.
- ^ Bavarian State Opera: The Snow Queen (program book)
- ↑ Hans Abrahamsen: The Snow Queen (libretto)
- ^ Bavarian State Opera: The Snow Queen (program book)