Blacher, Boris

Abstrakte Oper Nr.1 (1953/57)

Duration: 30 minutes
Seven scenes

Idea and text by Werner Egk (G)

Scoring
1953 version: 0.0.4.bcl.tsax.0-0.4.3.0-timp.perc-pft-db; 1957 version: 0.0.2.bcl.tsax.0-0.2.2.0-timp.perc-pft-db.
Abbreviations (PDF).

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

World Premiere
6/28/1953
Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt am Main
Company: unknown



World stage premiere
10/17/1953
Nationaltheater, Mannheim
Company: Nationaltheater Mannheim

Roles

Three solo voices

Soprano, Tenor, Baritone

Synopsis

"In his Abstract Opera, Egk abandons representational art even further. It is an attempt to replace coherent dialogues with the freely combined syllables and sounds of a fantasy language. In an extreme case of 'poésie pure', the word is treated only according to melodic and rhythmic guidelines. Symbolism replaces logic. Every scene expresses a typical situation: love, fear, pain, panic, despair... Intensified by Blacher’s fluctuating music which sublimates the style of jazz by tonal and metrical means, Egk’s libretto successfully creates an X-ray view into the psychic mechanism of opera itself."

H. H. Stuckenschmidt

Moods
Dramatic, Poetic

Subjects
Contemporary, Relationships, Society

Items on Sale

Abstrakte Oper No. 1 (1953)	(Vocal Score)	> Details
Abstrakte Oper No.1 (1953)	(Full score)	> Details