La Bettleropera
(2017)2recs(=melodica)-elec.gtr-vlc-typewriter
Abbreviations (PDF)
Sikorski
Moritz Eggert's ‘Beggar's Opera’ premiered at the Neukölln Opera on 19 October 2017, performed by musicians from the ‘Freira Syndikat’ group and the ‘Balleto Civile’ dance company. Eggert's piece is based on a momentous opera by librettist John Gay and composer Johann Christoph Pepusch from 1728, in which Gay ventured a new form that was also controversial in terms of content because it was parodic. new form, a so-called ‘ballad opera’. In a conversation about his ‘Beggar's Opera’ with Helmut Peters, the composer said:
To what extent does the ‘Beggar's Opera’ refer to the baroque original from the 18th century?
Moritz Eggert: The original has been reinvented several times in new versions, some close to the original and the original text (like Britten), some also in very free reinterpretations (like Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill in the ‘Threepenny Opera’). We certainly fall more into the second camp, as both songs and texts are completely reinvented. The plot is also modernised and multilingual, and dance and performance play a major role. However, the characters and the outline of the plot are taken from the original, which is more or less timeless, as there are beggars and crooks at all times.
What new musical means do you use to tell the story?
Eggert: The ensemble ‘Freiraum Syndikat’, which I brought into this piece, has a unique line-up that has never existed before: 2 female recorder players, an electric guitarist and a cello. All the musicians also use electronics, special instruments such as typewriters, washboards and table bells as well as various effect devices and amplification. This creates a great variety of sound that sounds like more than ‘just’ a quartet. My songs (there will be many short songs, similar to the original) will be sung by actors, dancers, opera singers and musical singers as well as a Russian rapper from Berlin. There is also a great variety of languages: most of the songs are in English, but there are also German songs. The dialogues are also in Italian, Russian, etc.