Erwartung
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| Operas by Arnold Schoenberg |
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Erwartung (1924) |
Erwartung (translation: Expectation) is a one-act opera, with music by Arnold Schoenberg, composed in 1909 to a libretto by Marie Pappenheim. It was not premiered until June 6, 1924, in Prague, conducted by Alexander Zemlinsky with Marie Gutheil-Schoder as the soprano. The work takes the unusual form of a monologue for solo soprano, backed up by a large orchestra. In performance, it lasts for about half an hour. It is often paired with Béla Bartók's opera Duke Bluebeard's Castle, as the two works are generally thought to be similar in character and psychological themes. Schoenberg's succinct description of the work was:
"In Erwartung the aim is to represent in slow motion everything that occurs during a single second of maximum spiritual excitement, stretching it out to half an hour."[1]
Philip Friedheim has described Erwartung as Schoenberg's "only lengthy work in an athematic style", where no musical material returns once stated over the course of 426 measures. In his analysis of the structure, one indication of the complexity of the music is that the first scene of over 30 bars contains 9 meter changes and 16 tempo changes.[2] Herbert Buchanan has countered this description of the work as "athematic", and the general impression of it as "atonal", in his own analysis.[3]
Among the sopranos noted for their performances of this work are Karan Armstrong, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Susan Davenny Wyner, Wendy Dixon, Dorothy Dorow, Dorothy Dow, Dame Heather Harper, Dame Gwyneth Jones, Evelyn Lear, Alessandra Marc, Janis Martin, Éva Marton, Patricia Neway, Jessye Norman, Helga Pilarczyk, Renata Scotto, Nancy Shade, Rita Shane, Anja Silja and Dunja Vejzovic.
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[edit] Synopsis
In a forest, a woman is in an apprehensive state as she waits for her lover. In the darkness, she comes across what she first thinks is a body, but then determines to be a tree-trunk. She is frightened and becomes more anxious, as she cannot find the man she is looking for anywhere. She then finds a dead body, and sees that it is her lover, the man she has been waiting for. She calls out for assistance, but there is no response. She tries to revive him, and addresses him as if he were living, angrily charging him with being unfaithful to her. She then asks herself what she is to do with her life, as her lover is dead.
[edit] Selected recordings
- Columbia ML 4524 (original LP issue): Dorothy Dow; New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra; Dimitris Mitropoulos, conductor[4]
- CBS 79349: Janis Martin; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Pierre Boulez, conductor[5]
- Decca: Anja Silja; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Christoph von Dohnányi, conductor
- Philips: Jessye Norman; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; James Levine, conductor
- Teldec: Alessandra Marc; Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden; Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor
- KOCH International Classics: Anja Silja; Philharmonia Orchestra; Robert Craft, conductor
[edit] References
- ^ Schoenberg, Arnold. Style and Idea. University of California Press (Los Angeles, 1984), p. 105 (ISBN 0-520-05294-3)
- ^ Friedheim, Philip (Spring 1966). "Rhythmic Structure in Schoenberg's Atonal Compositions" ([dead link] – Scholar search). Journal of the American Musicological Society 16 (1): 59–72.
- ^ Buchanan, Herbert H. (Autumn 1967). "A Key to Schoenberg's "Erwartung" (Op. 17)" ([dead link] – Scholar search). Journal of the American Musicological Society 20 (3): 434–449. doi:.
- ^ Goldman, Richard F. (1952). "Reviews of Records". The Musical Quarterly XXXVIII (4): 671–673. doi:.
- ^ MacDonald, Calum, Review of recordings of Arnold Schoenberg (September 1984). Tempo (New Ser.), 150: pp. 52-56.
