- Munich Biennale
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The Munich Biennale (German: Münchener Biennale) is an opera festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater, literally: International Festival for New Music Theater. The biennial festival was created in 1988 by Hans Werner Henze and is held in even-numbered years over 2–3 weeks in the late spring. The festival concentrates on world premieres of theater-related contemporary music, with a particular focus on commissioning first operas from young composers.[1][2]
Contents
The first four festivals, under Henze
Henze, himself a prolific composer of operas, described the genesis of the festival like this:
The whole story started with a query from the departmental head of the (Munich) cultural office ... whether I ... would be interested in considering creating some sort of civic music festival in Munich. After a period of time I suggested organizing something that had been lacking up until that point, something that also did not exist anywhere else in the world and yet was an urgent necessity – namely, a place where the young generation of composers interested in theatre ... could realize their ideas.[3]Henze curated the first four festivals, from 1988 to 1994, and established the general format of most of the festivals that followed.[4] Short runs of the premiered operas are preceded by talks and additional concerts from the featured composers, to introduce the audiences to their ideas and music.[5]
The later festivals, under Peter Ruzicka
Peter Ruzicka took over as artistic director ("one of the most influential administrative/ artistic positions in the European music-theatre scene")[6] in 1996, with that year's biennale being jointly curated by Henze. Ruzicka broadened the scope of the works presented, with more emphasis on works using multimedia, and moving away from the text-based sources that characterised the period curated by Henze.[7]
Operas given at the Munich Biennale
World premieres are marked as WP
Premiere Composer Title Libretto and source 29 May 1988 WP Detlev Glanert Leyla und Medjnun Aras Ören and Peter Schneider, after the epic poem by Nizami 03 Jun 1988 WP Gerd Kühr Stallerhof Franz Xaver Kroetz, after his own play 04 Jun 1988 WP Adriana Hölszky Bremer Freiheit Thomas Körner, after the play by Rainer Werner Fassbinder 17 Jun 1988 WP Mark-Anthony Turnage Greek the composer and Jonathan Moore, after the play by Steven Berkoff 26 Apr 1990 WP András Hamary Seid still José Vera Morales, after the play Tóték by István Örkény 28 Apr 1990 WP Wolfgang von Schweinitz Patmos D. E. Sattler (de), after the Apocalypse of St John in Martin Luther's translation 06 May 1990 WP Hans-Jürgen von Bose 63: Dream Palace the composer, after the novella by James Purdy 14 May 1990 WP Michèle Reverdy Le Précepteur Hans-Ulrich Treichel (de), after the play Der Hofmeister by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz 07 May 1992 [8] Violeta Dinescu Eréndira Monika Rothmaier, after the story The Unbelievable and Tragic Story of Simple Eréndira and her Heartless Grandmother by Gabriel García Márquez 29 Apr 1992 WP Jorge Liderman Antigona Furiosa the composer, after the drama by Griselda Gambaro 27 May 1992 [9] Giorgio Battistelli Teorema the composer, loosely after the film by Pier Paolo Pasolini 16 May 1992 WP Gerhard Stäbler Sünde.Fall.Beil Andreas Lechner (de), after the drama Catherine Howard by Alexandre Dumas père 22 May 1992 [10] Param Vir Broken Strings David Rudkin, after the Buddhist story Guttil Jatak 22 May 1992 [10] Param Vir Snatched by the Gods William Radice, after the poem Debatar Gras by Rabindranath Tagore 01 May 1994 WP Tania León Scourge of Hyacinths the composer, after the radio play by Wole Soyinka 19 May 1994 WP Benedict Mason Playing Away Howard Brenton 04 Dec 1996 WP Michael Obst Solaris the composer, after the novel by Stanislaw Lem 09 Dec 1996 WP Hanna Kulenty The Mother of Black-Winged Dreams Paul Goodwin 14 Apr 1997 WP Roderick Watkins The Juniper Tree Patricia Debney, after the folk tale by the Brothers Grimm 19 Apr 1998 WP Toshio Hosokawa Vision of Lear Tadashi Suzuki, after his stage play The Tale of Lear 21 Apr 1998 WP Sandeep Bhagwati Ramanujan the composer, after the life of Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) 25 Apr 1998 WP Jan Müller-Wieland Komödie ohne Titel the composer, after the drama Comedia sin título by Federico García Lorca 19 Apr 1999 WP Mauricio Sotelo De Amore Peter Mussbach (de) 10 May 2000 WP Chaya Czernowin Pnima ... ins Innere 27 Apr 2002 WP André Werner Marlowe: Der Jude von Malta the composer, after the play The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe 12 May 2004 WP Johannes Maria Staud Berenice Durs Grünbein, after Edgar Allan Poe 25 May 2004 WP Brian Ferneyhough Shadowtime Charles Bernstein 09 May 2006 WP Aureliano Cattaneo La Philosophie dans le labyrinthe Edoardo Sanguineti, after the Greek myth of the Minotaur 18 May 2006 WP José María Sánchez-Verdú GRAMMA the composer 17 Apr 2008 WP Enno Poppe Arbeit Nahrung Wohnung Marcel Beyer, loosely after the novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe 18 Apr 2008 WP Klaus Lang Die Architektur des Regens after the Noh play Shiga by Zeami (c1363–c1443) 23 Apr 2008 WP Carola Bauckholt hellhörig (none) 30 Apr 2008 WP Jens Joneleit Piero – Ende der Nacht Michael Herrschel, loosely after the novel Die Rote by Alfred Andersch 27 Apr 2010 WP Philipp Maintz Maldoror Thomas Fiedler, after Les Chants de Maldoror by Comte de Lautréamont 28 Apr 2010 WP Márton Illés Die weiße Fürstin after the first draft of the dramatic poem by Rainer Maria Rilke 05 May 2010 WP Klaus Schedl Tilt[11] Roland Quitt, after the diary of Sir Walter Raleigh 05 May 2010 WP Tato Taborda Der Einsturz des Himmels[11] Roland Quitt, after the book La Chute du Ciel by Davi Kopenawa and Bruce Albert 05 May 2010 WP Ludger Brummer (web) In Erwartung[11] Peter Weibel 09 May 2010 WP Lin Wang Die Quelle the composer and Can Xue, after a story by Can Xue 03 May 2012 WP[12] Sarah Nemtsov L'Absence the composer, after Livre des Questions by Edmond Jabès 05 May 2012 WP[12] Eunyoung Esther Kim (web) Mama Dolorosa Yona Kim 16 May 2012 WP[12] Arnulf Herrmann Wasser Nico Bleutge (lyrics) Significance
The Munich Biennale has provided first or early commissions for stage works from many composers now established as opera composers, such as Mark-Anthony Turnage, Detlev Glanert, Gerd Kühr, Hans-Jürgen von Bose, Param Vir, Toshio Hosokawa and Violeta Dinescu.
The strongly international scope of the festival has meant that it has been able to offer opportunities missing at a national level.[13]
Notes
- ^ Munich Biennale Concert Series: Biennale plus Ernst von Siemens music foundation 2010
- ^ Hans Werner Henze: Komponist der Gegenwart. p. 117. http://books.google.de/books?ei=Ip-PTYrTKc34sgbW4sSHCg&ct=result&id=Ze8YAQAAIAAJ&dq=Munich+Biennale++Hans+Werner+Henze&q=Hans+Werner+Henze+1988+#search_anchor.
- ^ festival history pages "Munich Biennale Official website". Munich Biennale. http://www.muenchenerbiennale.de/standard/en/the_festival festival history pages. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
- ^ Official website, archive notes to first biennale, 1988
- ^ Official website, Klangspuren (discussion concerts) archive
- ^ Salzman, Desi, p. 164
- ^ Official website, archive notes to fifth biennale, 1996
- ^ Dinescu's Eréndira was a co-commission with the Staatsoper Stuttgart, where it had its world premiere on 18 March 1992
- ^ Battistelli's Teorema was a co-commission with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, where it had its world premiere in the Teatro Comunale, on 10 May 1992
- ^ a b Vir's operas Broken Strings and Snatched by the Gods were a co-commission with De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, where they had their world premieres on 11 May 1992
- ^ a b c Tilt, Der Einsturz des Himmels and In Erwartung were presented in a triple bill entitled Amazonas
- ^ a b c Preliminary information for the 2012 edition from the Munich Biennale website. Retrieved 12 Mar 2011
- ^ Salzman, Desi; p.222: ".. with one or two notable exceptions, the lively London theatre and music scene has not developed a strong creative music-theatre component. The result is that the Munich Biennale and the film industry have sometimes been better patrons for new British opera and music theatre than local musical institutions".
References
- münchener biennale website
- Salzman, Eric; Desi, Thomas (2008). The New Music Theater: Seeing the Voice, Hearing the Body. Oxford University Press USA. ISBN 978-0195099362.
External links
- Peter & Alexa Woolf: Munich Biennale 2000 (Contemporary Music Festival) 4-19 May 2000 (PGW & AW) musicweb-international.com 2000
- John Warnaby: Tenth Münchener Biennale musicweb-international.com 20 May 2006
- Komponieren für die reine Natur Münchener Merkur 23 April 2010 (German)
- Münchener Biennale / Urwald-Symphonie und surrealer Seelentrip Bayerischer Rundfunk 14 May 2010 (German)
- Gerhard Rohde: Münchener Biennale / Wozu der ganze Aufwand? FAZ 12 May 2010 (German)
Categories:- Opera festivals
- Contemporary classical music festivals
- Music festivals in Germany
- Munich culture
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