Today, the Oper Stuttgart presents the world première of Erdbeben. Träume (Earthquake. Dreams), an opera in one act composed by Toshio Hosokawa, with a libretto by Marcel Beyer based on Das Erdbeben von Chili by Heinrich von Kleist.
It is the composer's seventh opera, after Vision of Lear (Munich, April 19, 1998), Matsukaze (Brussels, May 3, 2011) and Stilles Meer (Hamburg, January 24, 2016), among others.
A child, whose parents were massacred leaving him to be raised by foster parents, goes on a journey to find his real parents asking himself, ‘Where are my real parents?’ and ‘Who am I ?’The cast includes Esther Dierkes (Josephe Asteron) ; Dominic Große (Jeronimo), Sophie Marilley (Elvire), André Morsch (Fernando Ormez), Josefin Feiler (Constanze) and Torsten Hofmann (Pedrillo). Sylvain Cambreling conducts the Staatsorchester Stuttgart, the Staatsopernchor and the Kinderchor of the Stuttgart opera. Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito direct.
The audience follows the aural and visual representation of the child’s existencial voyage as he prepares to become an adult. Nevertheless, this journey is by no means without peril.
Awaiting him are violent forces of nature (earthquakes and tsunamis), the terrifying unconscious mass violence hidden in the heart of humans, and the ferocity of nature; on the other hand, there emerges the love story of his parents, the solidarity of mankind, and the grace of nature. (reproduced from the Schott Music website)
The required orchestra is the following (reproduced from the Schott Music website) :
- 2 flutes (doubling piccolo, alto flute and bass flute), 2 oboes (doubling English horn) ; 2 clarinets (doubling bass clarinet), 2 bassoons (doubling contrabasson) ;
- 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 1 tuba ;
- 4 percussionists ;
- 1 harp, celesta ;
- strings.
The performance should last about 90 minutes. The score is published by Schott Music.
