Wolfgang Rihm's Opera-Fantasy Dionysos
Genres and Theatres: Wolfgang Rihm’s Opera-Fantasy Dionysos Introduction Dionysos: Szenen und Dithyramben – eine Opernphantasie is a multi-layered opera: it draws on Nietzsche’s biography, his poetry, his philological interest in Greek mythology, musical references, and Rihm’s own preoccupations. Rihm assembled the libretto, in a mosaic-like fashion, mainly from Nietzsche’s Dithyrambs of Dionysus. In the score, the full title is given as follows: ‘Dionysos: Szenen und Dithyramben –Eine Opernphantasie nach Texten von Friedrich Nietzsche, Libretto vom Komponisten’. This description is accurate, but Rihm has also coined the more witty formulation, ‘Words by Friedrich Nietzsche. Text by Wolfgang Rihm’; and this is the one that appears on the title page of the programme book for the Berlin Staatsoper run of performances (Staatsoper Berlin, 2012). For the composer, the opera starts from four basic situations: ‘a lake, mountains, an intimate space, and a public square.’ (Erhardt, 2012b.) Despite this earnest dimension, the ‘opera fantasy’ aspect has provided Rihm (2012b, p. 9) with a degree of freedom in relation to factual biography and classical mythology, in keeping with his preference for the make-believe drama of The Magic Flute over verismo opera. The principal characters are N. (baritone), Ein Gast (tenor) and Ariadne (high soprano). There is also a prominent group of four female vocalists, which takes on a variety of roles, and a choir which is a frequent stage presence. Although the orchestra is not excessively large, it contains a substantial array of percussion. Commissioned by the Salzburg Festival, Dionysos received its premiere in July 2010 (the commercially available DVD is taken from the Salzburg performances); the same production was subsequently staged in Amsterdam, in the summer of 2011; and in Berlin, in the summer of 2012.
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