''Dionysos'' is an opera by Wolfgang Rihm based on

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philology, classical philologist, turning to philosophy early in his academic career. In 1869, aged 24, Nietzsche bec ...

's '' Dionysian Dithyrambs''. The composer wrote the

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

and subtitled his work: "Opernphantasie nach Texten von Friedrich Nietzsche / Szenen und Dithyramben" ("Operatic fantasy after texts by Friedrich Nietzsche / Scenes and

dithyramb The dithyramb (; , ''dithyrambos'') was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility; the term was also used as an epithet of the god. Plato, in '' The Laws'', while discussing various kinds of music m ...

s"). It premiered at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

on 27 July 2010.

History

''Dionysos'' is Rihm's eleventh work for the stage. He considered an opera around Dionysos for 15 years and realized it when he received a commission from the Salzburg Festival, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin and

De Nederlandse Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, a m ...

. Rihm wrote the libretto, based on Nietzsche's late work, which he fragmented and arranged in a different order. He chose the passages according to his plans for the music. Rihm said in an interview that opera needed more ''

Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

'', "mehr Machwerk" (More action), citing the opening scene with three ladies coming to the rescue of the prince attacked by a snake. Rihm said that opera finds its potential in situations that are not ordinary ("... findet ihre Möglichkeiten in Situationen, die nicht alltäglich sind"). The opera has autobiographical traits and is in a way his first

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

. Rihm dedicated the work "in friendship" to the conductor Ingo Metzmacher. Rihm composed mostly between December 2009 and May 2010, sending it in batches to the conductor. He finished the finale last minute. The opera premiered at the Haus für Mozart in Salzburg on 27 July 2010. Johannes Martin Kränzle performed the title role (N.), with Mojca Erdmann, Elin Rombo and in leading roles, the

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO) is a German broadcast orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families ...

and the , conducted by Metzmacher and staged by Pierre Audi. The magazine '' Opernwelt'' chose the performance as the premiere of the year (''Uraufführung des Jahres''), and Kränzle as singer of the year. A live recording was published as DVD. The production was repeated from 8 June 2011 in Amsterdam and from 8 July 2012 in Berlin. A new production was staged on 8 February 2013 at the Theater Heidelberg by .

Plot

The main character is called N., a symbol for both the poet Nietzsche, but also for Dionysos whose name Nietzsche used as his pen name for the

s. Some scenes relate to events in Nietzsche's life, others with the Dionysos myth. The action is not a linear story, but shows different views on life (''Lebensbilder'').

Music

A review of the premiere in ''Opernwelt'' notes the overwhelming echos of late-romantic sensuality of sound (''überbordender "Nachhall spätromantischer Klangsinnlichkeit"''), reminiscent of

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

and

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

References

External links

* Benedetta Sagliett
''Il mondo onirico di Nietzsche, L’Opernphantasie di Rihm in prima mondiale al Festival di Salisburgo''
(review) ''Il giornale della musica'', 27 July 2010 * Giangiorgio Satragn
''Rihm fa cantare Nietzsche''
(review) ''

La Stampa (English: "The Press") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin with an average circulation of 87,143 copies in May 2023. Distributed in Italy and other European nations, it is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. Until the late 1970 ...

'', 29 July 2010 * Claus Spahn
''So schnell schluckt uns die Tiefe!''
(review) ''

Die Zeit (, ) is a German national weekly newspaper published in Hamburg in Germany. The newspaper is generally considered to be among the German newspapers of record and is known for its long and extensive articles. History The first edition of was ...

'', 5 August 2010 * Roberto Becker
''Aus der schönen alten Welt.''
(review) ''Online Musik Magazin'' * Joachim Lange

(review) ''Online Musik Magazin'' 2013 {{authority control Operas Operas by Wolfgang Rihm 2010 operas German-language operas Music based on works by Friedrich Nietzsche Operas based on literature

History

Plot

Music

Further reading

References

External links