Jakob Lenz (opera)

Jakob Lenz is a one act chamber opera by Wolfgang Rihm, written 1977–78 after the novella Lenz by Georg Büchner in turn based on an incident in the life of the German poet Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz.[1]

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

Büchner's extraordinary opening pages describing the mountain landscape and hinting at Lenz's inner state with the single sentence "he did not feel at all tired, only it sometimes annoyed him that he could not walk on his hands instead of his feet" are reduced to a stage direction, but the rest of the libretto roughly follows Büchner's outline.

Performance history

The first performance was given in Hamburg on 8 March 1979. First performance in the United States was in 1981 at Indiana University.[2] There was an ENO/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.[3][4]

Roles
Role Voice type Premiere Cast, 8 March 1979[5]
(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)

Instrumentation
  • 2 oboes, bass clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, 3 celli, harpsichord and percussion.

Reception

Awards

Rihm received for Jakob Lenz the Beethoven Prize of the city of Bonn in 1980.[6]

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