Jakob Lenz
Chamber opera by Wolfgang Rihm
The composer in 2007
LibrettistMichael Fröhling
LanguageGerman
Based onLenz (1836)
by Georg Büchner
Premiere
8 March 1979 (1979-03-08)
Hamburg State Opera

Jakob Lenz is a one-act chamber opera by Wolfgang Rihm, written 1977–78 to a libretto by Michael Fröhling after Georg Büchner's 1836 novella Lenz which in turn is based on an incident in the life of the German poet Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz (1751–1792).[1] Rihm dedicated the opera to his teacher, Eugen Werner Velte.[2]

Rihm received for Jakob Lenz the Beethoven Prize of the city of Bonn in 1980.[3]

Performance history

The first performance was given at the Hamburg State Opera on 8 March 1979. It was first performed in the United States in 1981 at Indiana University and in New York at the Juilliard Theater in 1987.[4] The UK premiere was in 1987 at the Almeida Festival.[5] There was an English National Opera/Hampstead Theatre co-production at the Hampstead Theatre in London in April 2012, given in celebration of the 60th birthday of the composer. It was directed by Sam Brown, and conducted by Alexander Ingram, with Andrew Shore in the leading role.[6][5]

Roles and orchestra

Rolws, voice types, premiere cast
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 8 March 1979[7]
Conductor: Klauspeter Seibel
Lenz baritone Richard Salter
Pastor Oberlin bass Ude Krekow
Kaufmann tenor Peter Haage
Chorus of six solo voices (2 sopranos, 2 altos, 2 basses), 2 or 4 children sopranos[lower-alpha 1]
  1. ↑ The chorus embodies real people, or Nature.

The opera is scored for 2 oboes (2nd doubling cor anglais), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), bassoon (doubling contrabassoon), trumpet, trombone, 3 cellos, harpsichord, percussion.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Spinola, Julia (13 November 2014). "So surren Nervenstränge". Die Zeit (in German). Hamburg. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  2. 1 2 Work details, Universal Edition
  3. ↑ Hartmann, Bernhard (30 September 2008). "Ein Experiment zu viel beim Beethovenfest-Finale mit Bamberger Symphonikern". General-Anzeiger (in German). Bonn. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  4. ↑ Rockwell, John (13 December 1987). "Opera: Jakob Lenz in City Premiere". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  5. 1 2 Clements, Andrew (18 April 2012). "Jakob Lenz – review". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  6. ↑ "ENO page on the 2012 production". Archived from the original on 8 June 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  7. ↑ "Wolfgang Rihm: Jakob Lenz" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
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