Erwartung
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Erwartung (translation: Expectation) is an opera, composed in 1909 by the Viennese composer Arnold Schoenberg, 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."
Among the sopranos noted for their performances of this difficult masterpiece are Karan Armstrong, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Susan Davenny Wyner, Wendy Dixon, Dorothy Dorow, Dorothy Dow, Heather Harper, Evelyn Lear, Alessandra Marc, Janis Martin, Eva Marton, Patricia Neway, Jessye Norman, Helga Pilarczyk, Renata Scotto, Nancy Shade, Rita Shane, Anja Silja and Dunja Vejzovic.
[edit] References
- Schoenberg, Arnold. Style and Idea. University of California Press, Los Angeles, 1984. ISBN 0-520-05294-3 ↑ p. 105.
[edit] External links
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