''Till Eulenspiegel'' () is a Russian-language opera (composed 1983, premiere 1993) by the Soviet composer Nikolai Karetnikov. 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 ...

is by film director

Pavel Lungin Pavel Semyonovich Lungin (; born 12 July 1949) is a Russian film director. He is sometimes credited as Pavel Loungine (as in the American release of ''Tycoon (2002 film), Tycoon''). Lungin was awarded the distinction People's Artist of Russia in ...

, based on

Charles De Coster Charles-Theodore-Henri De Coster (20 August 1827 – 7 May 1879) was a Belgian novelist whose efforts laid the basis for a native Belgian literature. Early life and education He was born in Munich; his father, Augustin De Coster, was a n ...

's French novel ''

The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak ''The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak'' (, "The Legend and the Heroic, Joyous and Glorious Adventures of Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak in the land of Flanders and elsewhere") is an 1867 in literature, 1867 French-language novel by ...

''.

History

With no opportunity for performance, the opera was built up from

samizdat Samizdat (, , ) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. The practice of manual rep ...

tape recording sessions, and received its premiere in Germany (

Bielefeld Opera The Bielefeld Opera is the venue of Städtische Bühnen Bielefeld (Municipal stages Bielefeld) in Bielefeld, Germany. It is a ''Dreisparten Haus'' (three-department house), offering Play (theatre), plays, music (opera, musical theatre), and ball ...

, 1993) after the end of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

.''Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Russian'' p. 437, Smorodinskaya, Karen Evans Romaine, Helena Goscilo – 2007 "... of operas written before 1991 still took place overseas; Nikolai Karetnikov's ''Til Ulenshpigel'' (Till Eulenspiegel) was ..."

Composition

The opera is a

twelve-tone The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition. The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale ...

composition. The

Till Eulenspiegel Till Eulenspiegel (; ) is the protagonist of a European narrative tradition. A German chapbook published around 1510 is the oldest known extant publication about the folk hero (a first edition of is preserved fragmentarily), but a background i ...

story had previously been set by several composers, including a Flemish setting by J. De Winter, and a German-language opera by Emil von Reznicek.

References

External links

Libretto in English translation

Brilliant Classics Brilliant Classics is a classical music label based in the Dutch town of Leeuwarden. It is renowned for releasing super-budget-priced editions on CD of the complete works of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and many other composers. The label also s ...

Compositions by Nikolai Karetnikov 1993 operas Operas Operas based on novels Operas set in the Netherlands Russian-language operas Twelve-tone compositions Till Eulenspiegel Adaptations of works by Charles De Coster {{opera-stub