' is an opera by

Philippe Boesmans Philippe Boesmans (17 May 1936 – 10 April 2022) was a Belgian pianist, composer and academic teacher. He studied to be a pianist at the Royal Conservatory of Liège, and was self-taught as a composer, influenced by the Liège Group of Henri Po ...

to a libretto by

Luc Bondy Luc Bondy (17 July 1948 – 28 November 2015) was a Swiss theatre and film director. Life and career upright=1.3, '' Charlotte Salomon'' at the Salzburg Festival 2014 Trained in Paris with the theatre teacher Jacques Lecoq, he received a job ...

and after Shakespeare's ''

The Winter's Tale ''The Winter's Tale'' is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, many modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some crit ...

''. It was premiered on 10 December 1999 at

La Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (french: Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, italic=no, ; nl, Koninklijke Muntschouwburg, italic=no; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National O ...

in Brussels. The German premiere followed in 2001 at the Staatstheater Braunschweig.

History

has been

composer-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

at Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, where he successfully showed '' Reigen'' in 1993, a literary opera after the play '' Reigen'' by Arthur Schnitzler, on a libretto by

. Now assisted by the writer , Boesmans and Bondy created ''Wintermärchen'' after Shakespeare's play ''

''. The opera is dedicated to

Bernard Bernard ('' Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "bra ...

, Annick Foccroulle, and

Harry Halbreich Harry Halbreich (Berlin, 9 February 1931 – Brussels, 27 June 2016) was a Belgian musicologist.Dust jacket biography of Harry Halbreich from Halbreich (2007).Patrick Szersnovicz. Harry Halbreich (obituary). '' Diapason'', September 2016, No.64 ...

. The premiere on 10 December 1999 at La Monnaie was staged by Bondy on a set by Erich Wonder, conducted by

Antonio Pappano Sir Antonio Pappano (born 30 December 1959) is an English-Italian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Royal Opera House and of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He is scheduled to become chief c ...

and choreographed by

Lucinda Childs Lucinda Childs (born June 26, 1940) is an American postmodern dancer/ choreographer and actress. Her compositions are known for their minimalistic movements yet complex transitions. Childs is most famous for being able to turn the slightest mov ...

. It was a great success, selling out eleven times. The production was shown in November 2000 at the Festival d’Automne in Paris. The opera was performed in 2001 in Braunschweig, in 2002 at the

Neue Oper Wien Neue Oper Wien is an Austrian opera company based in Vienna. Insight Guides cites them and the Wiener Taschenoper as "two of the independent groups which perform exclusively 20th and 21st-century opera". Operas performed, 1992–2014 * 1992: Mu ...

and in Nürnberg, and in 2004 at the

Liceu The Gran Teatre del Liceu (, English: Great Theatre of the Lyceum), known as ''El Liceu'', is an opera house in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Located in La Rambla, it is the oldest running theatre in Barcelona. Founded in 1837 at another ...

in Barcelona. A recording of the Brussels performance was recorded,Wintermärchen
Operone and presented on 29 November 2000 on TV (

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...

) and in 2015/2016 on internet TV (ARTE Concert).

Roles

Music

The libretto stays close to Shakespeare's play, and is "skilfully abbreviated and adapted", according to one reviewer, but because "neither oesmans nor Bondycould bear to cut Shakespeare's original", they wrote the Sicilian scenes mostly in German, a language in which both librettist and composer were fluent. The scenes on the seacoast of Bohemia, in the third act, are mostly in English, accompanied by jazz-rock music. In the premiere and the first recording this was performed by the Belgian group Aka Moon. They invented the role of Green, who personifies Time and is a Shakespearean jester holding the scenes together. The music at times alludes to Mozart, Richard Strauss, and Alban Berg. Claudio Monteverdi is quoted literally. Boesmans writes lyrical and singable parts, and finely detailed orchestration. He uses music described as

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

to characterize Leontes who is insane with jealousy, causing pain and guilt. The music for Hermione, his wife, is full of passion and warmth. A reviewer summarizes that "the sometimes eclectic melodic and harmonic characteristics of his music reaccessible yet challenging".

Recordings

*''Wintermärchen'', Dale Duesing (Leontes), Susan Chilcott (Hermione), Cornelia Kallisch (Paulina),

Anthony Rolfe Johnson Anthony Rolfe Johnson (5 November 1940 – 21 July 2010) was an English operatic tenor. Early life Anthony Rolfe Johnson was born in Tackley in Oxfordshire. As a boy, he demonstrated musical ability and sang as a boy soprano, making a record ...

(Polixenes), Franz-Joseph Selig (Camillo),

Heinz Zednik Heinz Zednik (born February 21, 1940) is an Austrian operatic buffo tenor, closely associated with the character tenor roles of Wagner such as Mime and Loge (''Der Ring des Nibelungen'') and David ('' Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg''). He is al ...

(Le Temps), Juha Kotilainen (Antigonus), Johanne Saunier (Perdita), with the jazz band Aka Moon, conducted by

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

References

{{Authority control 1999 operas Operas by Philippe Boesmans Operas Operas based on works by William Shakespeare Multiple-language operas Opera world premieres at La Monnaie