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Blacher, Boris
Abstrakte Oper Nr.1
(1953/57)Seven scenes
Duration: 30 minutes
English
Deutsch
Music Text
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)
Publisher
Boosey & Hawkes / Bote & Bock
Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes
for the world.
Availability
World Premiere
28/06/1953Hessischer Rundfunk, Frankfurt a.M.
Company: unknown
World stage premiere
17/10/1953Nationaltheater, 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