• Joy of Music – Over 250 years of quality, innovation, and tradition
Lieferzeit
2-3 Tage
Hire/performance material

Die Tragödie des Teufels

Komisch-utopische Oper in zwölf Bildern
Libretto von Albert Ostermaier
Edition: Performance material

Product Details

Description

SYNOPSIS


Lucifer and his assistants bring Adam and Eve into impossible situations in order to demonstrate to them the invalidity of human values. Among these assistants is ‘Lucy’ who is in fact ‘Lilith’, Adam’s fi rst wife, who was created out of the same lump of clay as Adam but was banished from paradise by God as she insisted on living on equal terms with Adam and refused to subordinate herself to her husband or to God. The episodes are simulations controlled by Lucifer and his team. A desert mutates into a hostile border scenario similar to that running between the USA and Mexico. The scene in Egypt gives the appearance of a hotel city such as Las Vegas where terror lurks behind the golden façade. The episode in Greece could be taking place in a commando bunker in a war of the future. In the Byzantine/Baghdad scene, the medieval ideology of the Crusaders is blended with torture scenes as if in a nightmare of human depredation and self-contempt. The shop scene transports the audience into a vision of the future of a society made up of an infinitely creatable army of clones; at this point Lucifer loses control over the game. Ultimately, Adam lands back in the desert episode where everything began and where all will come to an end: Lucy/Lilith triumphs. Adam recognises her true identity. Eve attempts to persuade him to embark on a life together by disclosing her pregnancy. Adam is however under Lilith’s control: he kills Eve and unites with Lilith, as ‘No man shall henceforth be created – let us begin a new lineage without delay’. Lucifer remains; his tragedy is the loss of power and the end of the principle of evil.


COMMENTARY


The starting point of this opera was provided by the stage play ‘The Tragedy of Man’ by the Hungarian author Imre Madách (1823-1864) in which Lucifer challenges God to a battle for Adam’s soul. He shows Adam and Eve after their fall into a state of sin dream sequences depicting phases of the downfall of the world and the human race, but ultimately experiences the saving of Adam through Eve: she bears his child and they both carry on living – with God and Lucifer as antagonists on an equal footing. Eötvös and his librettist Albert Ostermaier have taken Madách’s play a step further. In Die Tragödie des Teufels, there is no redemptive ending, but instead a deeply pessimistic view of the future without solid foundations: it is no longer possible to determine between reality and virtuality, the familiar and dependable balance between good and evil has been abandoned and Lucifer no longer has a justification for living. The unorthodox division of the orchestra into an ensemble in the orchestra pit dominated by percussion and a second orchestra behind the scenes in which the strings play a significant role exponentiates the ambiguity of the text: a constantly changing polyphonic tonal space is created between the two orchestral groups and the singers onstage.

Orchestral Cast

Ensemble (im Orchestergraben):
S. (I: Vibr. · Gong · 2. Gliss.-Gongs [S, A] · chin. Beck. [m.] · 2 Metallröhren [h., sehr h.] · Trgl. [h.] · hg. Kettenrassel · Kette · Metal Chimes · Schellentamb. · Guiro [S] · Mar. [h.] · 6 Woodbl. · Peitsche [gr.] · Tomt. [A] · Bong. [h.]; II: Crot. · Nietenbeck. · 4 Kuhgl. [h.] · Gong · Trgl. [m.-h.] · Schellentamb. · gedämpftes Hi-Hat · Cencerros · 3 Ratschen [h., m., t.] · Mar. [h.] · Guiro [A] · Marimba · Peitsche [kl.] · 2 Tomt. [T, B]) (2 Spieler) - Hfe. · Akk. · Klav. (D-Flügel, vierhändig, oberer Spieler auch Cel.) - 2 Vl. · Va. · Vc. · Kb.

Orchester (hinter der Bühne mit eigenem Dirigenten):
3 (1. u. 2. auch Picc., 3. auch Altfl. u. Picc.) · 3 (3. auch Engl. Hr.) · 3 (2. auch Es-Klar., 3. auch Bassklar.) · 3 (3. auch Kfg.) - 4 · 3 · 2 · Kb.-Pos. · 1 - S. (I: 2 hg. Beck. · Trgl. [m.-t.] · Beckenpaar · Röhrengl. · Gong · Tamt. · 2 Mar. · Styroporklötze · kl. Tr. · gr. Tr. · 2 P.; II: 2 hg. Beck. · Beck. mit Bogen [h.] · Gong · Trgl. [t.] · Schellenbündel · Tamt. · 2 Mar. · Clav. · Styroporklötze · kl. Tr. · gr. Tr. · 2 P.) (2 Spieler) - Str. (12 · 12 · 10 · 8 · 6)

Cast

Eva · Sopran - Lucy · Mezzosopran - Adam · Tenor - Lucifer · hoher Bariton - Die Jeriko · Sopran - Die drei Rumata · 1. Sopran, 2. Mezzosopran, 3. Alt - Der Skelton · Tenor - Der Strugatzi · Bariton - Der L · Bariton - Der Arkanar · Bariton - Der Boris · Bass

More Information

Title:
Die Tragödie des Teufels
Komisch-utopische Oper in zwölf Bildern
Libretto von Albert Ostermaier
Language:
German
Edition:
Performance material
Publisher/Label:
Schott Music
Year of composition:
2009
Duration:
100 ′
World Premiere:
February 22, 2010 · München (D)
Nationaltheater
Cora Burggraaf, Eva; Ursula Hesse von den Steinen, Lucy; Topi Lehtipuu, Adam; Georg Nigl, Lucifer; u.a. · Conductor: Peter Eötvös; Leitung Bühnenorchester: Christopher Ward
Original staging: Balázs Kovalik · Costumes: Amélie Haas · Set design: Emilia Kabakov; Ilya Kabakov
(scenic)
Commissioned work :
Auftragswerk der Bayerischen Staatsoper München

Technical Details

Product number:
LS 5209-01
Delivery rights:
Worldwide

Performances

Set Ascending Direction
  • Die Tragödie des Teufels
    Conductor: Peter Eötvös; Christian Schumann; Christopher Ward
    January 19, 2011 | München (Germany) , Nationaltheater
  • Die Tragödie des Teufels
    Conductor: Peter Eötvös; Christian Schumann; Christopher Ward
    January 15, 2011 | München (Germany) , Nationaltheater
  • Die Tragödie des Teufels
    Conductor: Peter Eötvös; Christian Schumann; Christopher Ward
    January 13, 2011 | München (Germany) , Nationaltheater
  • Die Tragödie des Teufels
    Conductor: Peter Eötvös; Christian Schumann; Christopher Ward
    January 7, 2011 | München (Germany) , Nationaltheater — Revival
  • Die Tragödie des Teufels
    Conductor: Peter Eötvös; Christian Schumann; Christopher Ward
    July 12, 2010 | München (Germany) , Nationaltheater
    19.00 Uhr - Münchner Opernfestspiele 2010
  • Set Ascending Direction

    Reviews

    Be the first to review this product.