Freitag aus LICHT

Opera for 5 musical performers

1991-94

Friday is the day of Eva's temptation by Luzifer.

Freitag aus Licht

Opera in a greeting, 2 acts and a farewell

for 5 acting musicians (soprano, baritone, bass, flute, bassett-horn)

12 couples of dancer-mimes, children's orchestra, children's choir, 12 choir singers, synthesizer player, electronic music with sound scenes.

The following is a short description of the opera

The FRIDAY GREETING is 66 minutes of electronic music played to the public as they enter the opera house foyer. The foyer is lit with candles.

The 2 Acts of the opera FRIDAY TEMPTATION last 144 minutes and are presented as three simultaneous musical layers.

• Abstract electronic music is heard throughout.
• A tape of sound scenes (samples) is played synchronously with 12 couples of dancer-mimes, who represent complimentary pairs, such as a woman and a man, a pencil sharpener and a pencil, a cat and a dog, a violin and a bow etc. These dancer-mimes are positioned about the auditorium next to the loudspeakers that play their particular sound scenes.
• 10 real scenes (see below) are played out on stage by the 5 acting-musicians.

  ANTRAG / PROPOSAL (1994) quartet for soprano, bass, flute, basset-horn

  KINDER-ORCHESTER / CHILDREN'S ORCHESTRA (1994) children's orchestra, soprano, flute, basset-horn, synthesizer player

  KINDER-CHOR / CHILDREN'S CHOIR (1994) children's choir, bass, synthesizer player

  KINDER-TUTTI / CHILDREN'S TUTTI (1994) children's choir, children's orchestra, soprano, bass, flute, bassett-horn, synthesizer player

  ZUSTIMMUNG / CONSENT (1994) quartet for soprano, bass, flute, basset-horn

  ---

  FALL (1994) quartet for soprano, baritone, flute, basset-horn

  KINDER-KRIEG / CHILDREN'S WAR (1994) children's choir, synthesizer player

  REUE / REPENTANCE (1994) trio for soprano, flute, basset-horn

  ELUFA (1991) duet for basset-horn , flute

  CHOR-SPIRALE / CHOIR SPIRAL (1994) for 12 choir singers

   

The drama concerns three main characters, Ludon (bass) who proposes that Eve (soprano) should conceive a child by his son Caino (baritone). The two lovers eventually unite, but the children, (Ludon's are black and African and Eve's are white and European) who had hitherto made music together, fight a terrible war. The dancer-mimes begin to change partners, and in so doing create unlikely hybrid images in candle flames between them. Eve sings in repentance for her temptation. The drama ends with the six hybrid couples and the six candle flames uniting into a beautiful new candle flame, spiralling up into the heights.

The FRIDAY FAREWELL consists of electronic music played in the foyer until the public have left the opera house, through a dense orange mist.

The opera explains that for the advancement of humanity the cultures of the world must mix, despite the wars that are (presented here as) unavoidable consequences. The coupling of Eve and Kaino is seemingly parodied by the bizarre pairings of animate and inanimate objects about the stage, as dancer/mimes, After their "repentance" Stockhausen makes these "mismatched" pairs become a beautiful new form that spirals up towards heaven at the close of the opera.

This theatrical presentation is a projection of the musical devices projected into the visual realm. In this opera Stockhausen combines pairs of melodies, principally the Eve and Lucifer formulae, and therefore uses a dramatic dimension to synchronise with the note weaving. The drama is throughout a visual metaphor for the intermodulation of electronic sounds into new ones.

B.Pulham

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