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Wozzeck
- 1995 Opera Production
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A Co-Production with
Le Nouvel
Ensemble Moderne
Composer: Alban
Berg (1885-1935)
Libretto: Alban Berg, based on George Büchner's
play Woyzeck
Orchestration: John Rea
Music Director: Lorraine Vaillancourt
Director: Nicholas Muni
Set and Costume Designer: Peter Werner
Lighting Designer: Harry Frehner
Stage Manager: Mary Yankee Peters
This production
is set in Germany during the Allied Forces
occupation following World War II.
NOTE:
It is not the intention of the production team
and should not be construed in any way, that by
setting the opera in the period following World
War II, any attempt is being made to ignore or
minimize either the atrocities committed by the
Nazis, or the sacrifices and heroism of the
Allied Force
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SYNOPSIS
Wozzeck, a former
soldier in the German Armed Forces has had a son by
Marie, a former prostitute. Although they are unmarried,
they continue to live together. Wozzeck takes on numerous
menial labour jobs for various members of the Allied
Forces personnel, even hiring himself out as a human
guinea pig for the Doctor's medical experiments in order
to earn a few pennies to feed his family. Under the
stress of his existence, he begins to experience strange
visions which increasingly preoccupy his thoughts and
alienate him from Marie, who consequently succumbs to the
sexual advances of the Drum Major. When Wozzeck discovers
this deception he kills her and then drowns, leaving
their son to face the world on his own.
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ABOUT THE OPERA
In May 1914, Alban Berg
witnessed a performance of Georg Büchner's drama
fragment Woyzeck, at the Vienna Kammerspiele. Büchner's
play, written in 1837, consists of 28 loosely connected
episodes, some of which were only a few lines in length,
and did not receive many performances or gain general
acceptance until the early twentieth century. Berg was
determined to utilize the series of scenes for an opera,
although the project of organizing the poet's sketchy
design for operatic presentation necessitated a new
dramaturgical treatment. He laboured for some eleven
years on his opera until it was premiered in Berlin on
December 14, 1925 under conductor Erich Kleiber, who said
that it had been written "with a man's whole heart
and soul." But, he added, "whether it marks a
new era in music, whether it's a step forward, it's
impossible to say, as yet. The critics can't tell: time
and time alone, can settle the point." Public
interest grew steadily and the work was presented in the
larger European theatres and received its North American
premiere at the Philadelphia Grand opera House on March
19, 1931 under Leopold Stokowski. Berg subsequently
created a reduced orchestration which was premiered in
Oldenburg and enabled the smaller theatres to present the
work.
Wozzeck is an anomaly in
that, over time, it has become one of the only 20th
Century operas not employing a traditional musical
language that has entered the traditional world opera
repertoire. The music deals with recognizable sounds: a
marching band, folk songs, a tavern song, a child's
lullaby, which are interwoven into emotional,
expressionistic music of extraordinary beauty. The story,
though theatrical and heightened in intensity, is one
that everyone can relate to; that of a person trying to
make sense of life and the society that surrounds film.
Berg's imaginative and sensitive depiction of Wozzeck and
Marie's struggle in a harsh world results in the palpable
cry of humanity which permeates the entire opera and
draws the listener into its mysterious depths.
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Production Photos
Click
on the below images to see a larger view.
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: Theatre: History: Opera: Wozzeck - 1995
Production
