Opera Wozzeck (Opera in three acts) World famous Bolshoi Ballet and Opera theatre (established 1776) - Small Stage
Schedule for Wozzeck (Opera in three acts) 2022
Choirmaster producer: Valery Borisov Set Designer: Dmitriy Chernyakov Stage Director: Dmitriy Chernyakov Light Designer: Gleb Filshtinskiy Costume Designer: Helen Zaytseva Composer: Alban Berg
Orchestra: Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra
Premiere of this production: 24 November 2009
The opera Wozzeck (1917-21) - an outstanding musical drama, a hallmark
expressionistic work of the beginning of the 20th century, was written by the
famous Austrian composer Alban Berg, a leading representative of the New
Viennese School. It is based on the equally well-known play Woyzeck (1836) by
Georg Buchner, which examines the psychology and confused emotions of the
down-trodden individual who is shattered by a cruel reality. In 1914, Berg saw
Buchner's play in the theatre and was inspired to write an opera on the theme.
He worked on Wozzeck virtually throughout the First World War. The full version
of Wozzeck was premiered in Berlin in 1925. Its Vienna Opera premiere was in
1930. In our country, Wozzeck was given its first production in 1927, in
Leningrad. It has never been done at the Bolshoi Theatre, though in 1982,
music lovers had the opportunity of seeing performances of a Hamburg Opera
production of Wozzeck at the Theatre. Wozzeck will be Dmitri Tcherniakov's third
Bolshoi Theatre production and it marks the start of the Theatre's collaboration
with conductor Theodor Kurentzis.
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It
was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. Since then it
has established a solid place for itself in the mainstream operatic tradition,
and modern productions are consistently sold out. Though its musical style is
challenging, the quality of Berg's work (in particular, the characterization of
the situation through clearly defined musical techniques) amply repays repeated
listenings. Although a typical performance takes only slightly over an hour and
a half, it is nevertheless an intense experience. The subject matter ЁC the
inevitability of hardship and exploitation for the poor ЁC is brutal and
uncompromisingly presented. Though Berg's musical style is not as violent as
some other composers might have written for this story, the style suits the
subject matter
Wozzeck is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by
the German playwright Georg Bechner at his death. Berg attended the first
production in Vienna of BЁ№chner's play (on 5 May 1914), and knew at once that
he wanted to base an opera on it. From the fragments of unordered scenes left by
BЁ№chner, Berg selected fifteen to form a compact structure of three acts with
five scenes each. He adapted the libretto himself.
Though Berg began work
on the opera in 1914, it was not until he was on leave from his regiment towards
the end of World War I that he was able to devote his full attention to it,
completing the opera in April 1922. Erich Kleiber conducted the world premiere
at the Berlin State Opera on December 14, 1925. It quickly became so
well-established in the repertoire of the major European opera houses that Berg
found himself able to live a comfortable life off the royalties. He spent a good
deal of his time through the 1920s and 30s travelling to attend performances and
to give talks about the opera. At Berg's death, his fellow pupil Anton Webern
noted in a letter to their teacher, Arnold Schoenberg, how tragic it was that
the most renowned of their trio was the first to die. That fame had come
predominantly from the success of this opera.
SynopsisAct I Scene
1 (Suite): Wozzeck is shaving the Captain who taunts him for living an
immoral life, in particular for having a child "without the blessing of the
Church". Wozzeck protests that it is difficult to be virtuous when he is poor,
but entreats the Captain to remember the lesson from the gospel, ""La§Бet die
Kleinen zu mir kommen!"" ("Suffer the little children to come unto me," Mark
10:14). The Captain greets this admonition with pointed dismay.
Scene
2 (Rhapsody and Hunting Song): Wozzeck and Andres are cutting sticks as
the sun is setting. Wozzeck has frightening visions and Andres tries
unsuccessfully to calm him.
Scene 3 (March and Lullaby): A
military parade passes by outside Marie's room. Margret taunts Marie for
flirting with the soldiers. Marie shuts the window and proceeds to sing a
lullaby to her son. Then Wozzeck comes by and tells Marie of the terrible
visions he has had.
Scene 4 (Passacaglia): The Doctor scolds
Wozzeck for not following his instructions regarding diet and behavior. However,
when the Doctor hears of Wozzeck's mental aberrations, he is delighted and
congratulates himself on the success of his experiment.
Scene 5
(Rondo): Marie admires the Drum-major outside her room. He makes an advance
on her, to which she first rejects but then gives in.
Act II Scene 1 (Sonata-Allegro): Marie
is telling her child to go to sleep while admiring earrings which the Drum-major
gave her. She is startled when Wozzeck arrives and when he asks where she got
the earrings, she says she found them. Though not convinced, Wozzeck gives her
some money and leaves. Marie chastises herself for her behavior.
Scene
2 (Fantasia and Fugue on 3 Themes): The Doctor rushes by the Captain in
the street, who urges him to slow down. The Doctor then proceeds to scare the
Captain by speculating what afflictions may strike him. When Wozzeck comes by,
they insinuate that Marie is being unfaithful to him.
Scene 3
(Largo): Wozzeck confronts Marie, who does not deny his suspicions. Enraged,
Wozzeck is about to hit her, when she stops him, saying even her father never
dared lay a hand on her. Her statement "better a knife in my belly than your
hands on me" plants in Wozzeck's mind the idea for his subsequent
revenge.
Scene 4 (Scherzo): Among a crowd, Wozzeck sees Marie
dancing with the Drum-major. After a brief hunter's chorus, Andres asks Wozzeck
why he is sitting by himself. An Apprentice delivers a drunken sermon, then an
Idiot approaches Wozzeck and cries out that the scene is ""Lustig, lustig...aber
es riecht ЎIch riech, ich riech Blut!"" ("joyful, joyful, but it reeks...I
smell, I smell blood").
Scene 5 (Rondo): In the barracks at
night, Wozzeck, unable to sleep, is keeping Andres awake. The Drum-major comes
in, intoxicated, and rouses Wozzeck out of bed to fight with him.
Act III Scene 1 (Invention on a Theme): In
her room at night, Marie reads to herself from the Bible. She cries out that she
wants forgiveness.
Scene 2 (Invention on a Single Note
(B)): Wozzeck and Marie are walking in the woods by a pond. Marie is anxious
to leave, but Wozzeck restrains her. As a blood-red moon rises, Wozzeck becomes
determined that if he can't have Marie, no one else can, and he stabs
her.
Scene 3 (Invention on a Rhythm): People are dancing in a
tavern. Wozzeck enters, and upon seeing Margret, dances with her and pulls her
onto his lap. He insults her, and then asks her to sing him a song. She sings,
but then notices blood on his hand and elbow; everyone begins shouting at him,
and Wozzeck, now agitated and obsessed with his blood, rushes out of the
tavern.
Scene 4 (Invention on a 6-Note Chord): Having returned
to the murder scene, Wozzeck becomes obsessed with the thought that the knife he
killed Marie with will incriminate him, and throws it into the pond. When the
blood-red moon appears again, he wades into the pond and drowns. The Captain and
the Doctor, passing by, hear Wozzeck moaning and rush off in fright. The
orchestra rise during the drowning is quoted in Luciano Berio's "Sinfonia"
(1968ЁC69).
Interlude (Invention on a Key (D minor)): This interlude
leads to the finale.
Scene 5 (Invention on an Eighth-Note moto
perpetuo, quasi toccata): Next morning, children are playing in the sunshine.
The news spreads that Marie's body has been found, and they all run off to see,
except for Marie's little boy, who after an oblivious moment, follows after the
others.
From Wikipedia
Schedule for Wozzeck (Opera in three acts) 2022
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