''Melusine'' is a 1971 German-language opera by

Aribert Reimann Aribert Reimann (, 4 March 1936 – 13 March 2024) was a German composer, pianist, and accompanist, known especially for his literary operas. His version of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'', the opera '' Lear'', was written at the suggestion of Dietr ...

, on a

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 ...

by Claus H. Henneberg after ''Melusine'', a 1920 play in four acts by

Yvan Goll Yvan Goll (also written Iwan Goll, Ivan Goll; born Isaac Lang; 29 March 1891 – 27 February 1950) was a French-German poet who was bilingual and wrote in both French and German. He had close ties to both German expressionism and to French surr ...

which transposes the legendary water-spirit to Goll's time. The opera was written for the

Schwetzingen Festival The Schwetzingen Festival (German: Schwetzinger Festspiele, now Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele) is an early summer festival of opera and other classical music presented each year from May to early June in Schwetzingen, Germany. In 1952, the broadca ...

, where it premiered in 1971. It was recorded in 2010.

History

''Melusine'',

's second opera, was written on the seventh commission from the Süddeutscher Rundfunk for a new opera for the

, following for example

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large List of compositions by Hans Werner Henze, oeuvre is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Igor Stravinsky, Stravinsky, Mu ...

's '' Elegie für junge Liebende'' (1961) and Fortner's '' In seinem Garten liebt Don Perlimplin Belisa'' (1962). The libretto was written in German by Claus H. Henneberg, based on a 1920 play of the same name by

, which was again based on ''Mélusine'', a French-language libretto written by Goll for an earlier – possibly unperformed – opera by

Marcel Mihalovici Marcel Mihalovici (Bucharest, 22 October 1898 – Paris, 12 August 1985) was a French composer born in Romania. He was discovered by George Enescu in Bucharest. He moved to Paris in 1919 (at age 21) to study under Vincent d'Indy. His works include ...

in 1920.

Plot

The title refers to the legendary

water spirit A water spirit is a kind of supernatural being found in the folklore of many cultures: African Some water spirits in traditional African religion include: * Mami Wata is a transcultural pantheon of water spirits and deities of the African ...

Melusine Mélusine () or Melusine or Melusina is a figure of European folklore, a nixie (folklore), female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a Serpent symbolism, serpent or Fish in culture, fish fr ...

. Derived from French legend and later a German folk book by , the topic is transposed to modern everyday life ("modernes Alltagsleben") in France before World War I. The main character is married to a real estate agent, but still a virgin, focused on the preservation of a local park (or forest) that she sees filled with

nature spirit In religion, a nature deity is a deity in charge of forces of nature, such as water, biological processes, or weather. These deities can also govern natural features such as mountains, trees, or volcanoes. Accepted in animism, pantheism, pane ...

s. She is unable to stop a castle being built on the land, a building in which she loses her virginity and dies.

Performances

''Melusine'' premiered at the opening of the festival Schlosstheater Schwetzingen in 1971, conducted by Reinhard Peters, staged by Rudolf Sellner, with

Catherine Gayer Catherine Gayer (born 11 February 1937) is an American coloratura soprano, violinist, musicologist, and academic voice teacher. She made a career in Germany. A member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin for more than four decades, she is known for her p ...

in the title role, and

Martha Mödl Martha Mödl (22 March 1912, Nuremberg – 17 December 2001, Stuttgart) was a German soprano, and later a mezzo-soprano. She specialized in large dramatic roles such as Isolde, Brünnhilde, and particularly Kundry, and is considered, along with Ast ...

as Pythia. The opera was recorded by Wergo in 2010 from a live performance at the

Staatstheater Nürnberg The Staatstheater Nürnberg is a German theatre company in Nuremberg, Bavaria. The theatre is one of four Bavarian state theatres and shows operas, plays, ballets and concerts. History Its main venue, the opera house ("Opernhaus Nürnberg"), i ...

. Nürnberger Philharmoniker conducted by Peter Hirsch. A 1974 handbook on opera production notes the features of

aleatoric Aleatoricism (or aleatorism) is a term for musical compositions and other forms of art resulting from "actions made by chance". The term was first used "in the context of electro-acoustics and information theory" to describe "a course of sound ...

passages, dissonances and

atonality Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on ...

. A reviewer of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' described the musical language as neo-

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 ...

, with writing for voices in declamatory style and with demanding

coloratura Coloratura ( , , ; , from ''colorata'', the past participle of the verb ''colorare'', 'to color') is a passage of music holding elaboration to a melody. The elaboration usually takes the form of runs, trills, wide leaps or other virtuoso ma ...

s. A reviewer of the premiere, writing for the weekly ''

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 ...

'', found the vocal writing for the three main characters convincing, and compared the work's expressivity to Alban Berg's ''

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...

'' and its atmosphere to Debussy's '' Pelléas et Mélisande'', noting the similarities of the three female characters. In 2016, a production by the

Berlin University of the Arts The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the second largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research uni ...

, where Reimann had been a professor of contemporary ''

Lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

'', honoured the composer's 80th birthday.

Roles

References

External links

''Melusine''

Universität der Künste Berlin The Universität der Künste Berlin (UdK; also known in English as the Berlin University of the Arts), situated in Berlin, Germany, is the second largest art school in Europe. It is a public art and design school, and one of the four research uni ...

* Peter Uehling
"Aribert Reimanns frühe Oper ''Melusine'' in der UdK Berlin: Gegen die Regel verliebt"
''

Berliner Zeitung The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (; ) is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since Reunification of Germany, reunification. It is published by Berl ...

'', 8 July 2016 (in German) {{Authority control 1971 operas Operas by Aribert Reimann German-language operas Operas Operas based on plays Melusine Operas set in France Works set in castles