Work of the Week - Aribert Reimann: Medea
On Sonntag, Februar 28, the Vienna State Opera is presenting the world première of Aribert Reimann's Medea. 10 years after the creation of The House of Bernarda Alba it is the long-awaited new stage work of Reimann who is considered one of the most distinguished opera composer of our time. Directed by Marco Arturo Marelli, the production will see Marlis Petersen as Medea - Michael Boder is conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.
Aribert Reimann’s opera gives a new and essentially modern slant to the Medea myth. The action in the opera is propelled by two factors: on the one hand by Medea’s extreme feeling of foreignness, her sense of being different and her rejection by society which ultimately drives her irrevocably into catastrophe and infanticide. Before Medea appears before her unwilling hosts Creon and Creusa, Jason demands that she removes her headscarf. “Accept the costume of our country” he demands, but additionally insists that she relinquishes her personality and - as this proves to be impossible - the custody of her children. Medea is however not prepared to give up her sons to another woman at any price.
Reimann selects the motif of unwarranted possession and the restitution of rights as the second primary theme of his libretto: Medea, whose ultimate pledge on her life is the Golden Fleece, returns the banner stolen by Jason to its rightful location in Delphi at the end of the opera. This twist to the plot can only otherwise be found in Grillparzer’s version of the drama written in 1819; Reimann considers this aspect to be highly topical in view of numerous as yet unsolved disputes concerning the illegal dispossession, the whereabouts and the return of looted art.
Reimann concentrates on a mere few hours of Medea’s life: her first encounter with Creon and Creusa following her arrival in Corinth, the accusation of murder, the dispute concerning her children and finally the perilous arson. The opera is divided into two sections each consisting of two scenes. An instrumental interlude is inserted between the two scenes in each act. The concentration on the psychological drama of the chief female figure is also expressed in the selection of the musical medium. In this opera, Reimann returns more frequently to an intense chamber music compositional style than in any of his previous operas; each detail evolves strictly out of what has gone before. The entire musical material is presented in the first scene, forming a musical nucleus from which all subsequent material is developed.
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