4 new recent program books in my collection

I have recently acquired 4 new program books for contemporary operas :

- Arnulf Herrmann, Der Mieter, Frankfurt, November 12, 2017 ;
- Krzysztof Knittel, The Last Judgement, Gdansk, November 9, 2017 ;
- Nico Muhly, Marnie, London (ENO), November 18, 2017 ;
- Salvatore Sciarrino, Ti vedo, ti sento, mi perdo, Milano (Teatro alla Scala), November 14, 2017.

The first one is a 96 pages book. It contains :

- crew for the production ;
- synopsis of the opera ;
- Das Klopfen der Nachbarn und das zerbrechende Glas, interview of composer Arnulf Herrmann and librettist Händl Klaus by dramatugist Zsolt Horpacsy ;
- Markus Böggemann : Energien, erfahrbar gemarcht (über Arnulf Herrmann) ;
- Kazushi Ono : Ein Gefühl des Schwankens (Anmerkungen zur Musik von Der Mieter) ;
- Alles Falle, interview of director Johannes Erath and set designer Kaspar Glarner by dramaturgist Zsolt Horpacsy ;
- Anja Petersen : Wie im Schwindel ;
- Memoiren eines alten Arschlochs, Portrait von Roland Topor ;
- Alexander Garcia Düttmann : Verwandlung, Gedanken zu Roland Topors Roman Le Locataire chimérique ;
- Georg Hensel : Ein Sonntagsmaler des Grauens ;
- 16 pages of color photos of the production ;
- Händl Klaus : Hausmitteilung, Schutzdichtung für Muriel ;
- the complete libretto.

The programme book is entirely in German. At the end of it, there is a 3 pages synopsis in English. There is a separate 6 pages flyer with the complete cast and crew and a separate 12 pages booklet with biographies of the artists with black and white headshots.

The second one is a 24 pages booklet. It contains :

- complete cast and crew :
- a short article by composer Krzysztof Knittel ;
- biographies of artists with black and white headshots ;
- synopsis ;
- an article on Hans Memling's painting The Last Judgement, by Alicja Andrzejewska-Zajac and Magdalena Podgorzak.

It is entirely in Polish.

The third one is a 62 pages book. It contains :

- complete cast and crew ;
- synopsis ;
- Nico Muhly : Writing 'Marnie' ;
 - a short excerpt of Winston Graham's original novel Marnie ;
- Paul Cremo ; Exploring 'Marnie' ;
- Winston Graham on 'Marnie', excerpt of Graham's Memoirs of a Private Man ;
- Paul Griffiths : Singing by Other Means : An Introduction to Nico Muhly's Music ;
- biographies of cast and crew, with black and white headshots. 

The fourth and last one is a 156 pages book. It contains :

- La scena, il dramma, il mito, l'oblio ;
- Organico strumentale (orchestral setting) ;
- complete libretto only in Italian ;
- synopsis in Italian by Cesare Fertonani, with translations in French, English, German, Japanese and
Russian ;
- Cesare Fertonani : Salvatore Sciarrino ;
- Cesare Fertonani : L'opera in breve ;
- Gianluigi Mattietti : La musica ;
- Enzo Restagno : Ti vedo, ti sento, mi perdo ;
- Andrea De Carlo : Stradella, o dell'atemporalità ;
- Raffaele Mellace : Alessandro Stradella ;
- Anna Paniale : Il teatro nel teatro - Alcune riflessioni di Jürgen Flimm ;
- Luca Chierici : Salvatore Sciarrino alla Scala dal 1969 al 2014 (with 'Cronologia') ;
- biographies of the artists with headshots.

With the exception of the translations of the synopsis, the book is entirely in Italian.

I now have 505 programme books for contemporary operas. All covers have been scanned and uploaded to this flickr folder.

Today : world première of 'Der Mieter' by Arnulf Herrmann in Frankfurt

Today, the Oper Frankfurt presents the world première of Der Mieter (The Tenant), an opera composed by Arnulf Herrmann with a libretto by Klaus Händl based on motifs from Roland Topor's novel Le Locataire chimérique.

It is the composer's second opera after Wasser (München, 2012).

Lodgings are scarce, so Georg is delighted to have found a room. The previous tenant is dead. She threw herself out of the window. Not long after he moves in the other people in the house start intruding on his life. It starts with complaints about noise. Then he is expected to help drive other tenants away. Everything takes place in a climate of increasing fear, intimidation and – what weighs most heavily – gradual self-restraint and the need to become increasingly obedient in order to be able keep his room. The extent to how he is free to move and act becomes less and less. His (bio)sphere begins to vanish. In the end it is unclear whether the threat is real or imagined – advanced paranoia. He begins to imagine that he is being forced to suffer the same fate as the previous tenant. And worse: that he should become part of her. Not only does he lose his own identity, he turns into a woman and takes his life. (reproduced from the Oper Frankfurt website)

The cast includes baritone Björn Bürger (Georg), soprano Anja Petersen (Johanna), bass Alfred Reiter (Herr Zenk), mezzo Hanna Schwarz (Frau Bach), mezzo Claudia Mahnke (Frau Greiner), tenor Michael Porter (Körner) and mezzo Judita Nagyova (Frau Dorn). Kazushi Ono conducts the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester and the Philharmonia Chorus Vienna. Johannes Erath directs.

The required orchestra is the following (reproduced from the Peters Edition website) :

- 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 4 clarinets, 3 bassoons ;
- 6 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba ;
- 2 timpani and 5 percussionists ;
- harp and keyboard ;
- strings (12.10.8.8.6).

The performance should last about 1 hour and 50 minutes, without interval.