Shadowtime (opera)

Shadowtime is the first opera by Brian Ferneyhough written to an English libretto by Charles Bernstein. It was written in 1999-2004 and was premiered on May 25, 2004 at the Prinzregententheater in Munich. The City of Munich commissioned the composition and libretto in 1999 for the Munich Biennale. It is in seven scenes (Bernstein, " [http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/bernstein/shadowtime/ "Shadowtime"] "):
# "New Angels/Transient Failure"
# "Les Froissements d'ailes de Gabriel"
# Doctrine of Similarity
# "Opus contra naturam: A Shadow Play for Speaking Pianist"
# "Pools of Darkness"
# "Seven Tableaux Vivants Representing the Angel of History as Melancholia"
# "Stelae for Failed Time"

The composer regards "Opus contra naturam", a scene set to the composer's own text and played by a Liberace-like figure, as the centre-piece of the opera (Whittall 2003, 27).

ynopsis

The opera begins with the suicide/death of philosopher Walter Benjamin and goes on to deal with various aspects of his writings and philosophy from the point of view of his descent into the underworld (Bernstein, " [http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/bernstein/shadowtime/ "Shadowtime"] ").

References

*BBC Radio 3: Opera On 3. " [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/operaon3/pip/kekrf/ Ferneyhough's "Shadowtime", 12 November 2005] "
*Bernstein, Charles. " [http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/bernstein/shadowtime/ "Shadowtime": An Opera by Brian Ferneyhough] " (Accessed 25 May 2008)
*Whittall, Arnold. 2003. "Connections and Constellations". "The Musical Times" 144, no. 1883 (Summer): 23–32.