Der Sohn des Zimmermanns

Following the World Première of Augustinus – Ein klingendes Mosaik in sieben Bildern in March 2005, the concept developed in extensive discussion with the librettist Winfried Böhm of an opera to be composed on the son of a carpenter who founded a world religion together with twelve simple fishermen.
It soon became clear that I would have to find a musical solution for the character of Jesus; initial thoughts in the direction of a bass, countertenor or soprano soloist were swiftly abandoned. The real figure of Jesus would not appear on stage; instead the effect he left behind him would be brought alive through the music. Maria and Joseph would correspondingly also not appear on stage as tangible active figures.
For the musical reflection of the figure of Jesus, I developed a tonal texture consisting of a viola d’amore and 33 violas combined with a descant zither with 34 free-swinging accompaniment strings, a hammered dulcimer and four harps – harps were particularly appropriate as the Hebrew name of the sea of Galilee (Kinneret or Gennasaret) means “harp lake”. During the period of composition, I came across Dürer’s copperplate engraving entitled “Melancholia” depicting an angel with a magic square on the wall behind his head in which the rows of figures all add up to 34 – a number associated in Christian numerical mysicism with the years of Jesus’ life.
Winfried Böhm and I both consider Maria Magdalena to be the most significant figure in Der Sohn des Zimmermanns: for her character, I envisaged a dark-toned mezzo-soprano voice which would blend ideally with the violas.
I have dedicated the score to Olivier Messiaen who had intensively considered the concept of an opera about Jesus before subsequently following a different path with his large-scale opera Saint François d’Assise. Wilfried Hiller