Showing posts with label Alban Berg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alban Berg. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Nonesuch to Release Metropolitan Opera's 2015 Staging of Alban Berg's "Lulu" on Blu-ray/DVD

For those who might have missed the live broadcast comes this welcome news....

From the Nonesuch website: "Nonesuch Records releases the Metropolitan Opera's performance of Alban Berg's Lulu on Blu-ray and DVD together in one package on October 28, 2016. The Met's new production, directed by acclaimed South African visual artist William Kentridge, premiered in 2015 and starred Marlis Petersen in her final performances as Lulu, a role she has made "hers and almost hers alone" (Opera News) in ten different productions over eighteen years. The New York Times called it "a stunning and searing production." Lulu was recorded and broadcast live in movie theaters around the world as part of The Met: Live in HD on November 21, 2015. The Lulu Blu-ray/DVD may be pre-ordered now from the Nonesuch Store. You can watch the Met's trailer for the production below.

Kentridge received acclaim for his previous work at the Met directing the company premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich's The Nose in 2010. This new Lulu, conducted by Lothar Koenigs, featured Susan Graham as the Countess Geschwitz, Daniel Brenna as Alwa, Paul Groves as The Painter/African Prince, Johan Reuter as Dr. Schön/Jack the Ripper, and Franz Grundheber as Schigolch. Lulu's production team included co-director Luc De Wit, set designer Sabine Theunissen, costume designer Greta Goiris, lighting designer Urs Schönebaum, and projection designer Catherine Meyburgh, all of whom also worked on The Nose.

Berg's monumental opera, which he left unfinished when he died in 1935, had its posthumous premiere in its incomplete version in 1937, with the three-act version that has become standard premiering in 1979. The opera tells the tragic story of a young woman who, as a victim of a harsh society, torments a series of men by whom she is objectified, desired, abused, and eventually killed. "She's ungraspable, and a fantastic white canvas for the men to put their ideas on," says Petersen about her character, in an interview with Graham.

Berg adapted the libretto from Frank Wedekind's two Lulu plays, Erdgeist (Earth Spirit, 1895) and Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora's Box, 1904). He wrote the music using the 12-tone style conceived of his teacher, Arnold Schönberg, but with a nod to Romanticism that makes it unusually accessible for something written by a Schönberg disciple. "Berg made it very tonal, actually, for us and also for the ears of the audience," says Petersen. "You don't hear the 12-tone music."

"Lulu is one of the great operas of the 20th century," says Kentridge, speaking on video about the production. "It's an opera that's about the fragility or the possibility or the fragmentation of desire…Ink is the primary medium of the production. Essentially [it's] the vehemence of a black brushstroke… trying to find some equivalent, visually, to the violence of the opera."

Kentridge's production will be presented at English National Opera in November 2016; for tickets, visit eno.org.


The Kentridge staging of Berg's Lulu was a big deal last year in New York City. Check out this Huffington Post piece, "Lulu-mania Sweeps New York City."

Thursday, October 17, 2013

William Kentridge Lulu inspired by Louise Brooks Lulu

An article in today's New York Times confirmed what the Louise Brooks Society had suspected or at least secretly hoped for, that South African-born artist William Kentridge's upcoming production of Alban Berg's opera Lulu is inspired in part by Louise Brooks' performance as Lulu in G.W.  Pabst's 1929 film, Pandora's Box. (See this earlier LBS blog about Kentridge's involvement in the Metropolitan production, which is set to open in 2015.)

The New York Times stated:
“Lulu,” Berg’s final opera, is in part about art: It features an artist who falls in love with a femme fatale after painting her portrait. And in the second act it calls for a silent film — which might be tailor-made for Mr. Kentridge, who is as well known for his videos as he is for his drawings, sculptures and tapestries....

“Those were things that kind of easily drew me to it,” said Mr. Kentridge, who explained that his “Lulu” was being inspired by German Expressionism, Weimar cinema (including, of course, “Pandora’s Box,” the G. W. Pabst version of the Lulu story starring Louise Brooks), Max Beckmann drypoints depicting brothels and the like, and other art projects he is working on. “But boy, there’s a lot of other stuff as well.”
How much Brooks' role in Pandora's Box leaves its mark on Kentridge's opera remains to be seen. The New York Times went on to add, "A funny but nightmarish section of a silent film shot in Johannesburg featured a black-and-white montage of, among other things, a man smoking a comically large cigar as gunshot wounds appear on his chest; a Louise Brooks-like Lulu figure holding a pistol spewing a stream of smoke; a dancing policeman; a judge with the overdone eye makeup of the silent-film era; a very creepy doctor; and a syringe oozing smoke."

As Louise Brooks / Lulu devotees know, Berg's opera, Lulu, was based on the Lulu plays by Frank Wedekind, which also served as basis for the G.W. Pabst film, Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks. In later years, Berg's widow has stated that the composer had seen the Pabst film; interestingly, he included a filmic element in his opera. How Kentridge stages his version of Berg's early 20th century opera should prove fascinating.

More on this exciting story will be posted as things develop!

UPDATE:

The Louise Brooks Society just came across a newspaper article from last month which reported that William Kentridge had visited the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. The Eastman House and Rochester were, of course, the film archive and city were Louise Brooks spent the last decades of her life. The article, "William Kentridge, South Africa's best known artist, to visit Rochester," appeared in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on September 17th. The plot thickens.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Artist William Kentridge to produce Lulu opera in 2015


Though it's not news, I was pleased to learn just recently that famed South-African artist, filmmaker and designer of opera and theater William Kentridge will direct a new production of Alban Berg's opera, Lulu, for the Met in 2015. According to the Chicago Sun-Times,
Kentridge was celebrated with a major retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2010, mounted in conjunction with The Nose, the Shostakovich opera he designed for New York’s Metropolitan Opera House. He is now gearing up for his next big project — a return to the Met in the fall of 2015 with a production of Alban Berg’s sensational opera, Lulu.
Berg's opera, Lulu, was based on the Lulu plays by Frank Wedekind, which also served as basis for the G.W. Pabst film, Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks. Berg, as his widow has stated, had seen the Pabst film, and interestingly, he included a filmic element in his opera. How Kentridge stages this 20th century opera should prove fascinating. (Please note: the illustration provided here are not by Kentridge or associated with the forthcoming production of Lulu, and are displayed for decorative purposes only.)


Thursday, January 31, 2013

The latest issue of Golwg

Louise Brooks and Louise Brooks Society are mentioned in the latest issue of Golwg, a Welsh-language magazine, in the story pictured over the soccer player's left shoulder. 


"Agor Bocs Pandora" by Dilwyn Roberts-Young looks at the Welsh National Opera forthcoming presentation of Alban Berg’s opera, Lulu, and a related screening of Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks. More on those events here.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Welsh National Opera stages Berg’s Lulu, screens Pandora's Box starring Louise Brooks

Welsh writer and Louise Brooks fan Dilwyn Roberts-Young has let me know that the Welsh National Opera will be staging Alban Berg’s 1937 opera Lulu, as well as screening the 1929 silent film  Pandora's Box with live musical accompaniment on February 20th. The opera and screening of Blwch Pandora (the Welsh title of Pandora's Box) are part of the Welsh National Opera season devoted to "Free Spirits." Here is what their website has to say:

"Free Spirits is the first of our themed seasons. It brings together two of the greatest operas of the 20th century, Janáček’s The Cunning little Vixen and Berg’s Lulu. Both pieces pose profound questions about how much freedom we desire and how much we can tolerate and still remain a functioning society.

She is a vision of freedom too pure to be allowed to last. Everyone is drawn to Lulu, intoxicated by her; those in her thrall are like moths to a flame. Her flame burns bright and fast but sooner or later it will be extinguished by the very things it once fed upon.

Berg’s second and final opera is a masterpiece – total theatre. Anyone wishing to see the greatest works in the repertoire must include Lulu in their list. Few composers invite their audiences unflinchingly to confront humanity’s darkest regions in the way that Berg does here. Lulu promises a shattering but rewarding experience for those who encounter it.

Welsh National Opera has an important association with this great composer’s work: WNO gave the first British performances of Lulu in the 1970s and won acclaim and awards for our 2005 production of Wozzeck. David Pountney is one of the world’s most influential opera directors. This production of Lulu is his first new production in his role as our Chief Executive and Artistic Director."

The cast includes:
Lulu - Marie Arnet / Countess Geschwitz - Natascha Petrinsky / Wardrobe Mistress/Schoolboy - Patricia Orr / Doctor Schön/Jack the Ripper - Ashley Holland / Alwa - Peter Hoare / Artist/Negro - Mark le Brocq / Schigolch - Richard Angas / Prince/Manservant/Marquis - Alan Oke / Athlete / Acrobat - Julian Close

Conductor - Lothar Koenigs / Director - David Pountney / Set Designer - Johan Engels / Costume Designer - Marie Jeanne Lecca / Lighting Designer - Mark Jonathan

Lulu is a co-production with the National Theatre in Prague. The running time is approximately 3 hours 30 minutes including two intervals. The opera will be sung in German with surtitles in English (and Welsh in Cardiff and Llandudno). Download the 2012/2013 season brochure by clicking here. It contains an image of Louise Brooks, and links the actress to the character of Lulu.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Evelyn Lear, Versatile Soprano who sang Lulu, Dies at 86

Today's New York Times ran an obit on Evelyn Lear, the versatile Soprano who sang the role of  Lulu in Alan Berg's great modern opera, Lulu. Lear was 86. The newspaper notes
Evelyn Lear, an American soprano who became a star in Europe in the 1950s and later won acclaim in the United States for singing some of the most difficult roles in contemporary opera, died on Sunday .... She was especially renowned as an interpreter of Alban Berg. In midcentury Europe, Miss Lear was considered one of the pre-eminent interpreters of Berg’s Lulu, the doomed, murderous prostitute at the heart of his 1937 opera of that name.... Her talent for quick study served her well two years later [in 1960], when the Vienna Festival asked her to take over the part of Lulu — a role she had never sung — on short notice. The opera is composed in the 12-tone or “serial” style, an eminently unhummable technique in which all 12 notes of the Western musical scale are used in rigorously equal proportion.... Her other Met roles include ... in later years, Countess Geschwitz in “Lulu.”
Berg's opera, like Pandora's Box — the G.W. Pabst film from 1929 (which stars Louise Brooks as Lulu), was based on the Lulu plays by Frank Wedekind. Berg's opera, unfinished at his death, is considered one of the greatest opera's of the 20th century. I have seen it performed once, in San Francisco, and own a couple of different films of the opera. I have heard a radio broadcast of it, from the Met in New York. I also have four different recordings of Berg's Lulu, including Lear's. It is a riveting work. And her's is a riveting performance. Each is well worth checking out.



Saturday, January 24, 2009

George Perle, Composer and Theorist, Dies at 93

George Perle, a Pulitzer Prize winning composer, author,  and theorist has died. He was 93 years old. I was alerted to his death by an article in today's New York Times. This from the New York Times piece: 
For many years Mr. Perle was most widely known as a theorist and author. He published his first articles on 12-tone music in 1941 and became the most eloquent spokesman for the style. His 1962 book, “Serial Composition and Atonality: An Introduction to the Music of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern,” became a classic text that was published in many translations. He set forth his own method in “Twelve-Tone Tonality” in 1977.
But his most revolutionary writing was on Berg. Considered an authority on the composer by the early ’60s, Mr. Perle was granted access to Berg’s unpublished manuscript for the opera “Lulu” in 1963. When he ascertained that the third act, long thought to be an unfinished sketch, was actually about three-fifths complete and cast an entirely new light on the opera, he protested publicly that Berg’s publisher was repressing an important part of the work. His efforts led to the completion of the third act and the presentation of the complete opera in 1979.

As many of you know, Berg based his Lulu opera on Frank Wedekind's Lulu plays. Pabst's version of Lulu, Pandora's Box - a film staring Louise Brooks, came in between.

I was most familiar with Perle's work as an author and musical scholar. Perle wrote The Operas of Alban Berg (1980 and 1985), a two-volume study widely regarded as the definitive analysis of Berg's operas. I have a copy of the second volume, which is devoted to Lulu.
 

Saturday, February 4, 2006

Alban Berg's Lulu

I recently viewed a DVD of Alban Berg's opera, Lulu. I want to recommend it, as I think this production is truly exceptional! Previously, I had seen one live production of this opera (in San Francisco a few years back), heard one on the radio (a Metropolitan Opera broadcast), and listened to a couple I have on CD. This is my favorite Lulu, by far.



Based on a pair of once banned plays by Frank Wedekind (the same source material that G.W. Pabst drew on for his 1929 film starring Louise Brooks), Alban Berg's operatic swansong charts the rise and fall of a femme fatale - Lulu. With its intense, and at times beautiful and harsh score, this is one of the great operatic masterpieces of the 20th century. This subtitled production by the Glyndebourne Festival Opera stars Christine Schafer, Kathryn Harries, and Wolfgang Schone. Andrew Davis conducted the London Philharmonic.

Schafer, who sings the role of Lulu, is especially appealing. (She has short hair, but does not evoke Brooks' appearance.) I really enjoyed watching her. And the staging of the opera was brilliant. Minimal, but sophisticated in many ways. To have to see it to know what I mean. This production won the 1997 Gramaphone Award for Best Video. If you have ever wanted to check out a production of Lulu, I would recommend this.
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