Ópera
em três actos.
Libreto de Alban Berg segundo a peça de teatro
Woyzeck de Georg Büchner.
Direcção musical
Eliahu InbalEncenação e cenografia
Stéphane BraunschweigFigurinos
Thibault Vancraenenbroeck
Desenho de luz
Marion Hewlett
Intérpretes
Dietrich Henschel Wozzeck
Brigitte Pinter Marie
Stefan Margita Tambor-mor
Pierre Lefebvre Capitão
Johann Werner Prein Médico
Carlos Guilherme Andres
Claudia Nicole Bandera Margret
Andreas Macco Primeiro Trabalhador
Luís Rodrigues Segundo Trabalhador
Marco Alves dos Santos O Idiota
Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa
Coro do Teatro Nacional de São Carlos
maestro titular
Giovanni Andreoli
Coro dos Pequenos Cantores da Academia de Amadores de Música
Produção
Festival International d'Art Lyrique de Aix-en-Provence em co-produção com a Opéra de Lyon
Co-apresentação: TNSC/CCB
CCB - 17, 19, 21 de Janeiro de 2007
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Esta encenação de "Wozzeck", de Berg, que teve de ser cancelada na temporada de 2004, será finalmente apresentada em Lisboa em colaboração com o Centro Cultural de Belém, entre os dias 17 e 21 de Janeiro. Conta com a direcção do conceituado Eliahu Inbal e com um excelente leque de solistas.No papel de Wozzeck vai estar o premiado barítono alemão Dietrich Henschel. Em 2000, Henschel foi galardoado com um Grammy, mais um prémio a acrescentar ao longo currículo de distinções que começou a construir quando ainda era estudante. Muito elogiado pela crítica e dono de uma vasta discografia, destaca-se tanto a solo, como em papéis operáticos, como na companhia de orquestras como as filarmónicas de Viena e Berlim, o Royal Concertgebow ou a Sinfónica de Londres.
O papel de Marie é intepretado pela aclamada Brigitte Pinter, mezzosoprano austríaca que costuma impressionar imprensa e público (foi o que aconteceu em Março do ano passado, no São Carlos, em "Erwartung" e "Sancta Susanna). "Levou-nos às lágrimas com uma intensidade miraculosamente controlada e um timbre de brilho aveludado", escreveu "Le Figaro" sobre uma das suas interpretações.
Os elenco vocal fica completo com Stefan Margita, Pierre Lefebvre, Johann Werner Prein, Carlos Guilherme, Claudia Nicole Bandera, Andreas Macco, Luís Rodrigues e Marco Alves dos Santos, que se juntam ao Coro do Teatro Nacional de São Carlos e ao Coro dos Pequenos Cantores da Academia de Amadores de Música.
A dirigir a Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa estará o proeminente Eliahu Inbal. Além de destacado violinista, é conhecido pelos trabalhos à frente de colectivos como a Orquestra Sinfónica da Rádio de Frankfurt ou a La Fenice, bem como no plano operático. Apesar de já ter dirigido o colectivo português noutras ocasiões, esta é a primeira vez que se apresenta à frente de uma produção lírica do São Carlos.
"Wozzeck" é a mais famosa ópera de Alan Berg. É um dos mais importantes exemplos de atonalidade, usada pelo compositor para representar musicalmente estados de espírito e situações marcadas por alienação, loucura e injustiça. "Wozzeck" é também uma das mais complexas, intensas e polémicas obras que o século XX viu nascer.
(Público)__________
As noites de 17, 19 e 21 de Janeiro de 2007 assinalam o regresso ao CCB da ópera, cuja última representação se dera em 1998, com a Companhia do Teatro Mariinski (Kirov) de São Petersburgo. Em produção do Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, à qual o CCB se associou, apresenta-se uma das duas óperas escritas por Alban Berg (a outra é Lulu), um dos mais destacados compositores da chamada Escola de Viena.
Berg escreveu Wozzeck entre 1914 e 1922, após ter assistido à estreia, em Viena, do drama Woyzeck, do poeta romântico alemão Georg Büchner. A peça de Büchner esteve praticamente esquecida durante quase oitenta anos (o poeta deixara-a inacabada em 1837, data da sua morte), tendo sido estreada apenas em 1913 em Berlim.
Alban Berg começou por compor algumas partes musicais, concentrando-se na adaptação da peça e na escrita do libreto, mas a eclosão da Guerra Mundial de 1914/18 interrompeu o trabalho. Só em 1919 o 1º Acto ficaria completo e o 2º Acto seria dado por terminado dois anos depois. Em princípios de 1923, Berg terminara o 3ºActo e a orquestração, mas a ópera só veio a subir à cena em Dezembro de 1925, na Staatsoper de Berlim.
Durante o nazismo Wozzeck foi considerada “entartete Musik” (música degenerada), mas depois da Segunda Guerra Mundial emergiu como uma das mais consistentes experiências da modernidade vienense da primeira metade do século, no domínio do drama musical.
Em Wozzeck, Berg dá expressão às orientações atonalistas que identificam a Escola em que se integrou (Schönberg, Anton Webern), mas cruza-as com referências à música tonal e, até, com citações de música mais convencional, como as marchas militares e as polcas populares, criando um universo musical de acentuados contrastes e forte dinâmica expressiva. Inovando em aspectos estruturais do desenvolvimento dramático, Berg realça a progressiva subjugação e desumanização do soldado Wozzeck e a sua cíclica redenção através do canto e da música.
A presente apresentação de Wozzeck, de Alban Berg, resulta de uma produção do Théâtre de Lyon/Festival de Aix-en-Provence, e será dirigida por Eliahu Inbal e encenada por Stéphane Braunschweig, com Dietrich Henschel no papel titular.
(CCB)__________
Synopsis
(Wikipedia)
Act I
Scene 1 (Suite): Wozzeck is shaving the Captain who lectures him for living an immoral life. Wozzeck protests that it is difficult to be virtuous when he is poor, but entreats the Captain to remember the lesson from the gospel, ""Laßet die Kleinen zu mir kommen!"" ("Suffer the little children to come unto me," Mark 10:14). The Captain greets this admonition with pointed dismay.
Scene 2 (Rhapsody and Hunting Song): Wozzeck and Andres are cutting sticks as the sun is setting. Wozzeck has frightening visions and Andres tries unsuccessfully to calm him.
Scene 3 (March and Lullaby): A military parade passes by outside Marie's room. Margret taunts Marie for flirting with the soldiers. Then Wozzeck comes by and tells Marie of the terrible visions he has had.
Scene 4 (Passacaglia): The Doctor scolds Wozzeck for not following his instructions regarding diet and behavior (which Wozzeck has been submitting to make extra money for Marie). However, when the Doctor hears of Wozzeck's mental aberrations, he is delighted and congratulates himself on the success of his experiment.
Scene 5 (Rondo): Marie admires the Drum-major outside her room. He makes an advance on her, to which she first rejects but then gives in.
Act II
Scene 1 (Sonata-Allegro): Marie is telling her child to go to sleep while admiring earrings which the Drum-major gave her. She is startled when Wozzeck arrives and when he asks where she got the earrings, she says she found them. Though not convinced, Wozzeck gives her some money and leaves. Marie chastises herself for her behavior.
Scene 2 (Fantasia and Fugue on 3 Themes): The Doctor rushes by the Captain in the street, who urges him to slow down. The Doctor then proceeds to scare the Captain by speculating what afflictions may strike him. When Wozzeck comes by, they insinuate that Marie is being unfaithful to him.
Scene 3 (Largo): Wozzeck confronts Marie, who does not deny his suspicions. Enraged, Wozzeck is about to hit her, when she stops him, saying even her father never dared lay a hand on her. Her statement "better a knife in my belly than your hands on me" plants in Wozzeck's mind the idea for his subsequent revenge.
Scene 4 (Scherzo): Among a crowd, Wozzeck sees Marie dancing with the Drum-major. After a brief hunter's chorus, Andres asks Wozzeck why he is sitting by himself. An Apprentice delivers a drunken sermon, then an Idiot approaches Wozzeck and cries out that the scene is ""Lustig, lustig...aber es riecht …Ich riech, ich riech Blut!"" ("joyful, joyful, but it reeks...I smell, I smell blood").
Scene 5 (Rondo): In the barracks at night, Wozzeck, unable to sleep, is keeping Andres awake. The Drum-major comes in, intoxicated, and rouses Wozzeck out of bed to fight with him.
Act III
Scene 1 (Invention on Themes and Variations): In her room at night, Marie reads to herself from the Bible. She cries out that she wants forgiveness.
Scene 2 (Invention on a Pedal-Point): Wozzeck and Marie are walking in the woods by a pond. Marie is anxious to leave, but Wozzeck restrains her. As a blood-red moon rises, Wozzeck becomes determined that if he can't have Marie, no one else can, and he stabs her.
Scene 3 (Invention on a Rhythm): People are dancing in a tavern. Wozzeck enters, and upon seeing Margret, dances with her and pulls her onto his lap. He insults her, and then asks her to sing him a song. She sings, but then notices blood on his hand and elbow; everyone begins shouting at him, and Wozzeck, now agitated and obsessed with his blood, rushes out of the tavern.
Scene 4 (Invention on a 6-Note Chord): Having returned to the murder scene, Wozzeck becomes obsessed with the thought that the knife he killed Marie with will incriminate him, and throws it into the pond. When the blood-red moon appears again, he wades into the pond and drowns. The Captain and the Doctor, passing by, hear Wozzeck moaning and rush off in fright.
Intermezzo (Invention on a Key): This interlude leads to the finale.
Scene 5 (Invention on a Equal of 8ths quasi toccata): Next morning, children are playing in the sunshine. The news spreads that Marie's body has been found, and they all run off to see, except for Marie's little boy, who after an oblivious moment, follows after the others.
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Berg was born in Vienna, the third of four children of Johanna and Conrad Berg. His family lived quite comfortably until the death of his father in 1900.
He was more interested in literature than music as a child and did not begin to compose until he was fifteen, when he started to teach himself music. He had very little formal music education until he began a six-year period of study with Arnold Schoenberg in October 1904 to 1911, studying counterpoint, music theory, and harmony; by 1906, he concentrated on his music studies full-time and by 1907, he began composition lessons. Among his compositions under Schoenberg were five piano sonata drafts and various songs, including his Seven Early Songs (Sieben frühe Lieder), three of which were Berg's first publicly performed work in a concert featuring the music of Schoenberg's pupils in Vienna that same year.
These early compositions would reveal Berg's progress as a composer under Schoenberg's tutelage. The early sonata sketches eventually culminated in Berg's Piano Sonata (Op.1) (1907–8); while considered to be his "graduating composition", it is one of the most formidable initial works ever written by any composer (Lauder, 1986). Schoenberg was a major influence on him throughout his lifetime; Berg not only greatly admired him as a composer and mentor, but they remained close friends for the remainder of his life. Many people believe that Berg also saw him as a surrogate father, considering Berg's young age during his father's death.
An important idea Schoenberg used in his teaching was what would later be known as developing variation, which stated that the unity of a piece is dependent on all aspects of the composition being derived from a single basic idea. Berg would then pass this idea down to one of his students, Theodor Adorno, who stated: "The main principle he conveyed was that of variation: everything was supposed to develop out of something else and yet be intrinsically different". The Sonata is a striking example of the execution of this idea — the whole composition can be derived from the opening quartal gesture and from the opening phrase.
Berg was a part of Vienna's cultural elite during the heady period of fin de siècle. Among his circle included the musicians Alexander von Zemlinsky and Franz Schreker, painter Gustav Klimt, writer and satirist Karl Kraus, architect Adolf Loos, and poet Peter Altenberg. In 1906, Berg met Helene Nahowski, singer and daughter of a wealthy family; despite the outward hostility of her family, the two married on May 3, 1911.
In 1913, two of Berg's Five Songs on Picture Postcard Texts by Peter Altenberg (1912) were premiered in Vienna under Schoenberg's baton. The pieces - settings of unpoetic, aphoristic utterances accompanied by a very large orchestra - caused a riot, and the performance had to be halted; the work was not performed in full until 1952 (and its full score remained unpublished until 1966).
From 1915 to 1918, he served in the Austrian Army and it was during a period of leave in 1917 that he began work on his first opera, Wozzeck. Following World War I, he settled again in Vienna where he taught private pupils. He also helped Schoenberg run the Society for Private Musical Performances, which sought to create an ideal environment for the exploration of unappreciated and unfamiliar new music by means of open rehearsals, repeated performances and the exclusion of all newspaper critics.
The performance in 1924 of three excerpts from Wozzeck brought Berg his first public success. The opera, which Berg completed in 1922, was not performed in its entirety until December 14, 1925, when Erich Kleiber directed a performance in Berlin. The opera is today seen as one of his most important works; a later opera, the critically acclaimed Lulu, was left with its third act incomplete at his death.
Berg's best-known piece is probably his elegiac Violin Concerto. Like so much of his mature work, it employs a highly personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve tone technique that enables it to combine frank atonality with more traditionally tonal passages and harmonies; additionally, it uses actual quotations of pre-existing tonal music, including a Bach chorale and a Carinthian folk song. The Violin Concerto was dedicated to Manon, the deceased daughter of architect Walter Gropius and Alma Schindler.
Other well known Berg compositions include the Lyric Suite (seemingly a big influence on the String Quartet No. 3 of Béla Bartók), Three Pieces for Orchestra and the Chamber Concerto for violin, piano and 13 wind instruments.
Berg died on Christmas Eve, 1935, in Vienna, apparently from blood poisoning caused by an insect bite. He was 50 years old.
As the 20th century closed, the ‘backward-looking’ Berg suddenly came as the American composer George Perle remarked, to look like its most forward-looking composer.
(Wikipedia)
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Serialismo
Witold Lutoslawski e Alban Berg (compositores século XX)
