Just received : two programme books from Hamburg (Dvorak and Ruzicka)

This Tuesday morning, I have received in the mail two programme books published by the Staatsoper Hamburg for two new operas :

- Jan Dvorak, Frankenstein, May 20, 2018 ;
- Peter Ruzicka, Benjamin, June 3, 2018.

The first one is a 48 pages book. It contains :

- Mutability, a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, in English with facing translation in German ;
- Ohne eine Liebe - Die Geschichte von viktor Frankenstein und seiner Schöpfung, by director Philipp Stölzl ;
- Wie das Böse in die Welt kommt, dialogue with librettist and composer Jan Dvorak, by Janina Zell and Lisa-Michelle Helten ;
- Das verachtenswerteste Leben, by Mary Shelley ;
- Die Geburtsstunde zweier Kreaturen, excerpt of the introduction to Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, by Mary Shelley ;
- Ein Funken des Seins, excerpt of Mary Shelley's novel ;
- Effektiver Umgang mit Unwissenheit, Brian Eno über Künstliche Intelligenz ;
- Trägt irgendjemand die Verantwortung für dieses Gebilde ? David Christian über Künstliche Intelligenz ;
- several colour photos from rehearsals and several B & W stills of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein.

The book also contains a 4 pages leaflet with complete cast and crew for the first performance.

The second is a 64 pages book. I tcontains :

- synopsis, by librettiste Yona Kim ;
- Die Suche als Daseinsform, interview with composer Peter Ruzicka and librettist Yona Kim, by Detlef Brandenburg ;
- Kontexte, by Habakuk Traber ;
- Walter Benjamin, eine musiktheatralische Metapher, by librettist Yona Kim ;
- Im Augenblick der Gefahr, by Angela Beuerle ;
- Chronology of Benjamin ;
- detailed biographies of Peter Ruzicka and Yona Kim ;
- complete libretto, in German ;
- several colour photos of rehearsals.

The book also contains a 4 pages leaflet with complete cast and crew for the first performance.

I now have 568 programme books for contemporary operas. All scanned covers have been uploaded to this flickr folder.

Today : world première of Peter Ruzicka's 'Benjamin' in Hamburg

Today, the Staatsoper Hamburg presents the world première of Benjamin, an opera in seven stations composed by Peter Ruzicka, with a libretto by Yona Kim.

It is the composer's third opera, after Celan (Dresden, March 25, 2001) and Hölderlin (Berlin, November 16, 2008).

Walter Benjamin was a German philosopher and cultural scientist. A Jew and Marxist, his path through the 20th century was irregular and meandering. The figures accompanying Benjamin on his last wanderings through life designate areas of his influence. Hannah Arendt spoke of the 'banality of evil', Benjamin’s chess partner Bertolt Brecht polemicised against his 'Jewish fascism', the Kabala researcher Gershom Scholem urged his friend to come to Israel, and with the Latvian actress Asja Lacis, Benjamin fantasised about proletarian children’s theatre. To Benjamin, it was not world revolution, but 'weak messianic power' that pointed the way to a just society. While escaping to the USA, Benjamin took his own life in the Spanish border town of Port-Bou in 1940. (reproduced from the Staatsoper Hamburg website)

The cast includes soprano Lini Gong (Asja L.), mezzo Dorottya Lang (Hannah A.), tenor Andreas Conrad (Bertolt B.) ; baritone Dietrich Henschel (Benjamin), bass Tigran Martirossian (Gerhsom Sholem) and mezzo Marta Swiderska (Dora S.). Peter Ruzicka conducts the Philharmoniches Staatsorchester Hamburg, the Choir of the Staatsoper Hamburg and the Hamburger Alsterspatzen. Yona Kim directs.

The score is published by Sikorski. According to the publisher's website, the required orchestra is the following :

- 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets (doubling bass clarinet) ; 3 bassoons (doubling contrabassoon) ;
- 3 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba ;
- timpani and 4 percussionists ;
- piano / celesta ;
- strings (10.8.6.5.5).

The performance should last about 100 minutes.

Walter Benjamin was already the main character of Benjamin, dernière nuit, composed by Michel Tabachnik, an opera first performed in Lyon on March 15, 2016.