Die Gespenstersonate

The student Arkenholz has the gift of being able to sense apparitions, such as those of a milk- maid and the consul, both of whom he sees in front of the colonel‘s house. The old man, director Hummel, who played a dubious role in the death of Arkenholz‘s father, persuades him to take a job with him; he will also introduce him to the colonel‘s daughter. Arkenholz accepts although the dark allusions of the inhabitants of the colonel‘s house and of Johansson, Hummel‘s servant, gradually start to annoy him. In the colonel‘s house. All meet for the ‚ghosts‘ supper‘: the colonel (who actually is a fraud), his wife who has lived in a built-in cupboard for twenty years as a ‚mummy‘, the young lady (their daughter), whose father was in fact Hummel and whose former bride for her part was seduced by the colonel and now lives in his house as the old spinster Holsteinkrona. Before Hummel gets to expose the others‘ crimes, the mummy accuses him of having murdered the milkmaid whom Arkenholz saw in the street at the beginning because she knew of his deeds and that he was responsible for the consul‘s death. Hummel is brought into the builtin cupboard where the mummy usually lives and hangs himself. In the Hyacinth Room: Arkenholz is alone with the young lady. His attempts to rescue her from the house which destroys her fail. The young lady dies because she cannot bear the truth which Arkenholz confronts her with. He stays behind alone, incapable of escaping the circle of crime and punishment.

"It is no longer the toughness and brutality of Lear that determine the character of the music. While there still have been massed surfaces in Lear, Gespenstersonate has fine psychological lines: dramatic music with tremendous rhythmic difficulties, with refi ned quarter-tone intervals beyond major and minor keys. […] The vocal passages are kept very concise and mostly declamatory, powerful and important text passages are spoken. Intervals of seconds predominate in the vocal lines. Only seldom does Reimann allow arioso phrases. This tonal language is dense and concise, full of moods and atmosphere. It corresponds perfectly to the layers of consciousness of Strindberg‘s original and even surrounds it with an additional aura of mystery and eeriness." (W. Bronnenmeyer, Nürnberger Zeitung 27 September 1984)