Received today : programm book for 'Andersens Erzählungen' by Jherek Bischoff in Basel

Today, I have received in the mail the programm book published by Theater Basel for the world première of Andersens Erzählungen, an opera composed by Jherek Bischoff, first performed on September 27, 2019.

It is a 44 pages book. It contains :

- complete cast and crew ;
- plot summary ;
- Jan Dvorak (librettist) : Das unsagbare Sagen ;
- Jens Andersen : Der Fehler wr allein die Liebe ;
- Niklas Luhmann : Vernunftehe, Liebesehe und eheliche Liebe ;
- Discussion with conductor Thomas Wise, director Philipp Stölzl, set designer Heike Vollmer and costume designer Kathi Maurer : Man kann diesem Märchen wie einer Melodie folgen ;
- Johanna Mangold (dramaturge) : Jherek Bischoff : ein Kurzporträt ;
- Andreas Krass : Verderberin, Gebärerin, Verführerin - Meerjungfrauen als Sinnbild einer unmöglichen Liebe ;
- Dag Heede : Busenfreund und Frauenleichen - oder Der dänische Krieg um Hans Christian Andersens Sexualität ;
- biographies of the artists ;
- four colour postcards of the production (photos by Sandra Then).

I now have 683 programm books for contemporary operas in my collection. I have scanned the covers and uploaded the images to this flickr folder.

Today : world première of 'Andersens Erzählungen' by Jherek Bischoff in Basel

Today, the Theater Basel presents the world première of Andersens Erzählungen (Andersen's Tales), an opera drama composed by Jherek Bischoff with a libretto by Jan Dvorak.

(c) Allan Amato

It is the composer's first opera.

Hans Christian Andersen is just starting to write the fairy tale «The Little Mermaid» when he turns up at his friend Edvard Collin’s house the night before his wedding in order to confess his love for him. However, he is rejected once again. Upset by this, Andersen continues spinning his yarn and allows it to take a tragic turn : for love of a prince, the Little Mermaid wants to be human, at any price. To achieve this she enters a fatal bargain with the Sea Witch. The Little Mermaid then becomes a human being – but she is still unable to gain the prince’s love.

Andersen discharges his unfulfilled longings in a fictional story and in turn that story then influences his personal life. Side by side with the Danish writer who escapes into an imaginary world in order to be able to gain greater control over his own life, we dive deep into the world of the Little Mermaid. (reproduced from the Theater Basel website)

The cast includes actor Moritz von Treuenfels (Hans Christian Andersen), actor Mario Fuchs (Edvard Collin), counter tenor Bruno de Sa (Der kleine Meerjungfrau), mezzo Ena Pongrac and soprano Stefanie Knorr (Die zwei Meerschwestern), soprano Jasmin Etezadzadeh (Grossmutter) and tenor Rolf Romei (Meerhexe). Thomas Wise conducts the Basel Sinfonietta. Philipp Stölzl directs.