Flammen

(Plameny)

Eine musikalische Tragikomödie in zwei (drei) Aufzügen von Karel Josef Beneš

As early as the 1920s, Erwin Schulhoff studied Karel Josef Beneš’ poem about the Don Juan myth. In his version of the incorrigible womanizer, Beneš retained only the outward features of Tirso de Molina’s and Molière’s figure of Don Juan and parodied its traditional characterization. Schulhoff’s tragi-comedy Flammen was only performed once in his lifetime, in Brno in 1932 in a one-act version of the original with a reduced wind section. But with it he created a surreal and psychoanalytical interpretation of the Don Juan legend that sweeps Mozart, Expressionism and jazz into an allusive and shimmering score.

Edition: Performance material

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Description

Homage to Mozart of a special kind: in his approach to the Don Juan myth, Schulhoff does not portray the libertine as a sexual predator, but as a figure eternally driven by desire. In contrast to Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the hero is not sent to hell but, like Wagner’s Flying Dutchman, is condemned to an eternal search for love and redemption. Two archaic principles, the "flames" of life (symbolised by the male figure of Don Juan) and the "flames" of death (represented by the female figure La Morte), yearn to be unified, but mutually repel each other. Man and woman, life and death, yearning and fulfilment and hope and resignation are set in Erwin Schulhoff’s only work for the stage as bold dualisms in a fascinating interplay.

Orchestral Cast

Picc. · 1 · 1 · Engl. Hr. · 1 (auch Es-Klar.) · Bassklar. · 1 · Kfg. - 4 · 1 · 0 · 0 - P. S. (Klaviaturglsp. · Xyl. · Vibr. · Trgl. · Gl. · Schellen · Beckenpaar · Tamt. · Schellentr. · Tomt. · Mil. Tr. · kl. Tr. · gr. Tr. m. Beck. · Kast. · Ratsche · Guiro · Sir. [Torpedo]) (5 Spieler) - Hfe. · Cel. · Org. (hinter der Szene) - Str. (12 · 10 · 8 · 6 · 6) -
Bühnenmusik: 3 Trp. - Jazzband I (Sopransax. · Tenorsax - Korn. - S. [Beck. · 2 Holztr. · 2 Tomt. · Mil. Tr. · gr. Tr.] - Tenorbanjo · Klav.) od. Jazzband II (Altsax. · Tenorsax. - Traps - Tenorbanjo · Klav. - Vl. [obligat])

Cast

Don Juan · Tenor (heldisch) - Eine Frau / Eine Nonne / Donna Anna · Mezzosopran - La Morte · Mezzosopran (auch Alt) - Sechs Frauenschatten · 3 Sopran-, 3 Altstimmen (kann auch doppelt bis dreifach besetzt werden) - Frauenchor hinter der Szene - Gemischter Chor (8. Bild) - stumme Rollen: Masken, Frauen (Harlekin, Pantalon, Pierrot, Pierrette, Colombine, während des Vorspiels zum zweiten Aufzug)
weitere Rollen ad lib.: Margarethe · Sopran - Der Komtur · Bariton (heldisch) - Pulcinella · Tenor (Buffo) - Pantalon · Bass (Buffo) - Harlekin · Bass (Buffo)

More Information

Title:

Flammen

(Plameny)

Eine musikalische Tragikomödie in zwei (drei) Aufzügen von Karel Josef Beneš

Deutsche Übersetzung von Max Brod

Herausgegeben von Andreas Krause

Language:

Czech, German

Edition:

Performance material

Publisher/Label:

Schott Music

Year of composition:

1923 - 1929 (1932)

Duration:

140 ′

World Premiere:

April 16, 1994 · Berlin (D)
Großer Sendesaal des SFB
Jane Eaglen, Sopran; Gabriele Schreckenbach, Mezzosopran; Kurt Westi, Tenor; Johann Werner Prein, Bariton; Kelly Anderson, Bass · Conductor: John Mauceri · Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

(concert) (world première as concert of the complete version)

March 17, 1995 · Leipzig (D)
Oper
Conductor: Jörg Krüger
Original staging: Uwe Wand · Costumes: Johannes Conen · Set desing: Johannes Conen
Organizer: Oper Leipzig
(scenic)