Der Kreidekreis

Haitang is sold as a geisha to a teahouse and subsequently sold on to a Mandarin as a concubine. The Mandarin is murdered one day by his first wife who accuses Haitang of committing the murder and claims that Haitang’s child is actually her own. A bribed judge sentences Haitang to death just at the time when the news is disseminated that the Kaiser wishes to review all death sentences. He puts the child inside a chalk circle and orders both women to try and pull the child out of the circle. Haitang fails in her attempt as she does not want to hurt the child, The Kaiser recognises her as the genuine mother and unmasks the murderess. At the same time, it is revealed that Haitang is the woman who was formerly hopelessly in love with the Imperial prince.
In 1925, Klabund adapted this ancient Chinese fairy tale which was also utilised by Bertolt Brecht for his drama ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’ into a five-act play entitled ‘The Chalk Circle’. Back in 1951, Rudolf Mors had composed incidental music for a performance of this play in Ingolstadt. His four-act opera is characterised by intense symmetrically constructed music with a strong emphasis on melodic and arioso elements.