Glanert, Detlev

Leviathan (1986)

Duration: 18 minutes
Chamber opera based on a text by Thornton Wilder

Libretto by Thornton Wilder; German version by Herbert Herlitschka (E,G)

Scoring
S,T,Bar; fl.cl-hn-perc(1):susp.cym/tam-t/BD/3tgl(sm,med,lg)/glsp/crot/3wdbl(sm,med,lg)-gtr-pft(=cel)-vla.vlc.db.
Abbreviations (PDF).

Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes for the world.

World Premiere
5/13/1986
Casino, Evian
Conductor: Detlev Müller-Siemens
Company: Ensemble L'art pour l'art



World stage premiere
10/2/1991
Opera stabile, Hamburg
Ulfert Becker, director
Conductor: Johannes Stert
Company: Ensemble der Musikhochschule Hamburg

Roles

BRIGOMÉIDE	Soprano
THE PRINCE	Tenor
LEVIATHAN	Baritone

Synopsis

After a stormy night, what is left of a Venetian frigate is drifting at sea with an unconscious prince on board. Brigoméide, a mermaid, wakens him and offers to save him for the price of his soul. The prince, who thinks he is seeing a vision, tries in vain to explain that one cannot simply give away a soul, and so he has to drown.

Leviathan is the first of the Three Water Plays (Drei Wasserspiele) by Detlev Glanert, three chamber operas based on the ‘Three-Minute Plays’ by Thornton Wilder, to be performed separately or as a trilogy.

Moods
Dramatic, Poetic

Subjects
Magic/Mystery, Literary