Die Opferung des Gefangenen

Die Opferung des Gefangenen (The Sacrifice of the Prisoner) is a 1926 opera-ballet by Egon Wellesz based on a scenario by Eduard Stucken after the Mayan play Rabinal Achi which relates through drama and dance the story of conflict between Quiché and Rabinal in the early fifteenth century.^[1] The premiere was 2 April 1926, Cologne under the baton of Eugen Szenkar.^[2]

Recording

The field commander - Wolfgang Koch, Prince's shield bearer - Robert Brooks, head of the council - Ivan Urbas, Hoe-Seung Hwang, Patricia Dewey, Wiener Konzertchor, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Friedrich Cerha Live recording 1995, issued Capriccio 2020

References

^ Michael Haas Forbidden Music: The Jewish Composers Banned by the Nazis 2013 p 170 "In discussions with the choreographer Kurt Iooss, Wellesz developed the opera-ballet Opferung des Gefangenen (Sacrifice of the Prisoner) in 1924—5, based on a scenario by Eduard Stucken. It was to be the third part of Wellesz'5 'Heroic Trilogy' which already consisted of two works to texts by Hofmannsthal: the short opera Alkestis and the ballet Achilles auf Skyros. Opferung des Gefangenen was a further hybrid of theatrical genres in that each character was accorded both a dancing and a singing persona, a device employed nearly a decade later by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht in The Seven Deadly Sins"
^ Elisabeth Bauchhenß · Eugen Szenkar (1891–1977): Ein ungarisch-jüdischer Dirigent 2016 69 "Die Opferung des Gefangenen von Egon Wellesz -- Nach aufreibender Probenarbeit brachte Szenkar im April 1926 wieder Werke von Egon Wellesz auf die Bühne: die Oper Alkestis und die Uraufführung des Tanzdramas Die Opferung des Gefangenen.

[1] Michael Haas Forbidden Music: The Jewish Composers Banned by the Nazis 2013 p 170 "In discussions with the choreographer Kurt Iooss, Wellesz developed the opera-ballet Opferung des Gefangenen (Sacrifice of the Prisoner) in 1924—5, based on a scenario by Eduard Stucken. It was to be the third part of Wellesz'5 'Heroic Trilogy' which already consisted of two works to texts by Hofmannsthal: the short opera Alkestis and the ballet Achilles auf Skyros. Opferung des Gefangenen was a further hybrid of theatrical genres in that each character was accorded both a dancing and a singing persona, a device employed nearly a decade later by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht in The Seven Deadly Sins"

[2] Elisabeth Bauchhenß · Eugen Szenkar (1891–1977): Ein ungarisch-jüdischer Dirigent 2016 69 "Die Opferung des Gefangenen von Egon Wellesz -- Nach aufreibender Probenarbeit brachte Szenkar im April 1926 wieder Werke von Egon Wellesz auf die Bühne: die Oper Alkestis und die Uraufführung des Tanzdramas Die Opferung des Gefangenen.

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