Tagged with 'Salzburger Festspiele'

Is there justice and retribution? This question is at the heart of Krzysztof Penderecki’s opera The Black Mask (original German title: 'Die schwarze Maske'). On November 22, 2024, David Pountney’s production premieres at Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, performed by the Polish National Opera’s choir and orchestra under the direction of Bassem Akiki.

On 14 July, Penderecki’s seminal work St Luke-Passion will be performed as part of the Festival de Lauaudière in Quebec, Canada. Kent Nagano will conduct The Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the Chor Filharmonii Krakowskiej, joined by soprano Sarah Wegener, baritone Lucas Meachem and bass Matthew Rose.

Commissioned by the Westdeutschen Rundfunk Orchestra, St Luke-Passion was premiered on 30 March 1966 at Münster Cathedral, Germany, under its full title Passio Et Mors Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Lucam.The text of St Luke-Passion is in Latin and primarily drawn from the Gospel of Luke, with additions from the Gospel of John, Lamentations of Jeremiah and Psalms of David. In depicting the suffering and death of Christ, the work is also intended as an expression of the tragedy of World War II. Several of Penderecki’s compositions are similarly dedicated to victims of suffering, such as Threnody (1960) for the victims of Hiroshima and his piano concerto Resurrection (2002) for those lost in the 9/11 attacks.

Krzysztof Penderecki –St. Luke Passion:  An homage to Bach

Penderecki was strongly influenced by the music of J.S. Bach’s Passions, and pays homage to the great composer by using the B-A-C-H motif throughout his composition. Additionally, the two falling second intervals of this motif become a representation of pain. However, unlike the emotionally driven language of Bach, Penderecki’s musical expression could be described as more intellectual.  For example, in the dramatic section “Jesus before Pilate”, tone clusters are used beside extracts of his own Stabat Mater composed in 1962, seamlessly combining twelve-tone serialism with Gregorian chant.

Such an effortless combination of old and new, and Penderecki’s uncompromising affirmation of tradition and faith, immediately made his St Luke Passion one of the 20th century’s enduring masterpieces. Following the premiere in 1966, one critic stated:

“Penderecki’s Passion will be one of the most important compositions for new music. The striking clarity of this revolutionary score, the logic behind the structure of the work and the haunting effect of the music go far beyond what prominent composers have offered to choral music in recent years.” – Heinz Joseph Herbort, Die Zeit, following the premiere in 1966 

Further performances include 18 July at the Sala audytoryjna, Krakow, and on 20 July St Luke-Passion will feature in the opening concert of the Salzburg Festival. In addition Penderecki’s Intermezzo for 24 solo strings can be heard performed by the Camerata Salzburg on 4 August, and as part of the final of the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award that same weekend.

• Penderecki - profile


• St. Luke Passion - work details


• Festival de Lauaudière

 

 

“Aribert Reimann’s opera Lear, which is enjoying being our fifth new production in 2017, is about the corruptive force of power, about loneliness, about losing human connections - even to one’s own children”, theatre manager Markus Hinterhäuser remarks.



On 20 August, Reimann’s masterpiece will be given a new production at the Salzburger Festspiele with theatre and film director Simon Stone and Franz Welser‑Möst conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.

Reimann undertook to write an operatic version of Shakespeare’s tragedy at the repeated suggestion (since 1968) of baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Although fascinated by the story, it would take Reimann four years to begin work on the opera. He approached Claus H. Henneberg to write the libretto, having successfully worked with him in the past, most notably on the opera Melusine.
Reimann recognises three musical inspirations for Lear: Anton von Webern, who taught him precision, Alban Berg, whose expressivity he took as an example, and the rhythmic music of India. In order to create these complex sounds, the composer requested an 83 piece orchestra, 48 of which were to be strings.

Aribert Reimann’s Lear: A parable mirroring our time

In this piece I discovered more and more what seemed to me as a parable of our time. All those things that happened then could happen any time.– Aribert Reimann

King Lear wishes to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters by giving the one who loves him most the biggest share. The youngest daughter, Cordelia, who doesn’t express her love for her father in words, is banished from the kingdom and leaves to marry the king of France. The loyal Earl of Kent, who disapproves of Lear’s decision, is also exiled. The two older daughters share the inheritance with their husbands but it is soon revealed that their proclamations of love were an exercise in greed. A series of tragic events gradually reveals their true character to Lear, who in the final scene, insane and abandoned, crouches over Cordelia’s body and follows her into the afterworld.

„The audience is magnetized by the orchestra for two hours: with clusters of varying intensities and quarter note dissonances, whirling soundscapes punctuated by explosions of brass, constantly changing rhythms, and lyrical solo voices. All of these techniques are employed in the development of protagonists, expressions, situations – never as just an exercise in composition.“ (Wolfgang Schreiber)

Performances of Lear continue at Salzburger Festspiele until 29 August.

• Aribert Reimann - Profile


• Lear - work details


• Salzburger Festspiele - Lear