Today, the Theater Dortmund presents the world première of Gerald Resch's opera Gullivers Reise, with a libretto by John von Düffel, freely adapted from Jonathan Swift's novel.
photo: www.georglembergh.com
It is the composer's third stage work.
After his ship has capsized in a storm, the young Gulliver is washed ashore on the beach of a strange island. The people are tiny here on Lilliput – or looked at the other way around, Gulliver is unimaginably large to these people. It is therefore no wonder that they fear this foreign giant and would like to hunt him down like a stranded whale. But the clever girl Vaniliput considers the intruder to be harmless and convinces her fellow citizens that they should first become acquainted with him. The good-natured Gulliver needs a very great deal of food by Lilliputian standards, but makes himself useful in return by driving away an enemy fleet from Lilliput’s coast. Through his peacefulness, however, he makes an enemy of the powerful Admiral Skyresch, who is only waiting for an opportunity to harm Gulliver. When Gulliver saves the burning royal palace by emptying the contents of his bladder onto it, the tolerance of both sides is put to a foul-smelling test. (reproduced from the Sikorski Verlag website)The cast includes tenor Joshua Whitener (Gulliver), soprano Ashley Thouret or Tamara Weimerich (Prinzessin Rosalila), mezzo Almerija Delic (Vaniliput) and bass Luke Stoker (Steuermann / Skyrech). Ingo Martin Stadtmüller conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the Theater Dortmund. Marcelo Diaz directs.
The orchestra setting is the following (reproduced from the Sikorski website) :
- 2 flutes (also piccolo), 2 oboes (also English horn), 2 clarinets (also alto saxophone in E flat), 2 bassoons (also contrabassoon) ;
- 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones (2. doubling tenorbass trombone) ;
- 5 percussionists ;
- harp, piano (doubling celesta) and strings.
The performance should last about 75 minutes, with no interval.
