Spuren der Verirrten (The Lost)
Music by Philip Glass
Opera in three acts for singers, actors, dancers, chorus and orchestra
Libretto based on the work by Peter Handke adapted by Rainer Mennicken.
Sung in German.
Premiered April 12, 2013
Commissioned by Landestheater Linz for the official Opening of the New Upper Austrian Opera House
CAST:
A – Male Dancer
B – Female Dancer
C – Tenor
D – Soprano
E – Soprano
F – Baritone
G – Mezzo Soprano
H – Character Tenor
J – Bass
K – Soubrette
Third Person – Mezzo Soprano or Countertenor
Protagonist – Actor
Spectator – Actor
Passerby – Chorus, Male and Female dancers.
Instrumentation:
Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes (2nd doubling English Horn), 2 Clarinets in B (both doubling Clarinet in A; 2nd doubling E Clarinet), Contrabass Clarinet (doubling Bass Clarinet), 2 Bassoons; 4 Horns in F, 3 Trumpets in C, 2 Trombones, Bass Trombone, Tuba , Timpani; Percussion (7 players): Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Marimba, Triangle, Anvil, Castanets, Shaker, Rattle, Cowbell, Tambourine, Wood Block, Temple Blocks, Cymbal, Suspended Cymbal, Tamtam, Snare Drum, Tom-toms, Tenor Drum, Bass Drum, Drum Set; Celeste, Piano (doubling Barrel Organ), Harp, Strings
SYNOPSIS:
The opera starts with an empty stage and the surprising character of The Spectator who imagines and introduces entrances and exits of couples and groups of people walking along with their quarrels and hopes, aims and fears, conflicts, obsessions and longings for happiness.
Scene by scene the number of people on stage grows. They end up in a kind of mass migration which has to cope with questions of leadership, war and helplessness. Some of them seem to be taken from a street around the corner, some of them are mysterious, several are obviously connected with ancient myths and fairy tales. Everybody is looking for a chance to survive and to find a place to live in peace but something is missing: communication becomes difficult, the fellow man, the opposite partner is vanishing and time is dissolving
(Spuren der Verirrten)The Lost, written as a kind of novel play by Peter Handke (one of the most important poets of our time with Austrian roots) is a philosophical stocktaking of the estate of our civilization. At the same time it asks for celebrating the theatre as a place for the playful examination of basic questions for our existence.
PUBLISHER:
Dunvagen Music Publishers
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