Work of the Week - Viktor Ullmann: Der Kaiser von Atlantis
From the 1st February 2011, Viktor Ullmann’s one-act opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis oder die Todverweigerung (The Emperor of Atlantis or Death's Refusal) will be presented by the Boston Lyric Opera in a production directed by David Schweitzer.
The plot focuses on Überall, the tyrannical emperor of Atlantis who persecutes his people and orders mass executions. In protest, Death decides to go on strike and this in turn leads to war in Atlantis, everyone fights but without Death, nobody dies. The emperor becomes insane as he begins to doubt that he is actually human, so Death makes him an offer; if Überall is the first to die, Death will continue his work.
The opera was written in 1943 whilst Ullmann and the librettist Petr Kien were imprisoned at the Theresienstadt concentration camp and the similarities between the story and the real life horrors of Nazi rule in Europe are obvious. Both men went on to die at the Auschwitz concentration camp before the work was ever performed despite a planned staging within Theresienstadt in 1944 which was suppressed once the parallels became apparent.
Six performances will take place between the 1st and 6th February at the Boston Lyric Opera, USA conducted by Steven Lipsitt.
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