Dienstag aus Licht

Karlheinz Stockhausen, 7 March 2004

Dienstag aus Licht (Tuesday from Light) is an opera by Karlheinz Stockhausen in a greeting and two acts, with a farewell, and was the fourth of seven to be completed for the opera cycle Licht: die sieben Tage der Woche (Light: The Seven Days of the Week). It was begun in 1977 and completed from 1988 to 1991, to a libretto by the composer.

History

The Tokyo National Theatre, where Jahreslauf was premiered in 1977

Dienstag is an opera for 17 solo performers (three singers, 10 instrumentalists, 4 dancer-mimes), actors, mimes, choir, orchestra, and electronic music. Tuesday is the red day of conflict between Michael and Lucifer (Stockhausen 1989b, 200).

As was the case for most of the operas in the Licht cycle, component sections of Dienstag were commissioned and composed separately, and given seriatim premieres. The first component of this opera was in fact the first part of the entire Licht cycle to be composed: Jahreslauf (Course of the Years), which became the first act of Dienstag, was originally written in 1977 as an independent piece for gagaku ensemble. Stockhausen finished it in Kyoto in the fall of 1977, and it was premiered by the Imperial Gagaku Ensemble at the Tokyo National Theatre on 31 October. This version is dedicated to Jaynee Stephens. A concert version for European instruments, with the slightly different title Der Jahreslauf (The Course of the Years), was performed in the Large Broadcasting Hall of the WDR, Cologne, on 10 February 1979. The day before the premiere, a studio recording was made for commercial release, and the same musicians participated in five staged performances of this act produced by the Paris Opera at the Opéra-Comique from 20 to 24 November 1979 (Stockhausen 1989a, 156). It was while working on this piece in Japan that the idea occurred to him of composing a seven-part cycle of operas, all based on a single, multi-layered musical formula (Kurtz 1992, 2). In the spring of 1991 Stockhausen added a narrative frame for Michael and Lucifer (Kurtz 1992, 236).

Stage of the Kölner Philharmonie, where the Dienstags-Gruß was premiered

The Dienstags-Gruß (Tuesday's Greeting) was commissioned by the University of Cologne for the celebration of the 600th anniversary of its founding in 1388. It was premiered under the title Willkommen mit Friedensgruß (Welcome with Peace Greeting) on 4 November 1988 in the Kölner Philharmonie, as part of the ceremony marking the anniversary. The performers were Annette Meriweather (soprano), the Collegium Musicum Vocale of the University of Cologne, and an ensemble of nine trumpets (rehearsed by Markus Stockhausen) and nine trombones (rehearsed by Michael Svoboda), with Michael Obst and Simon Stockhausen (synthesizers). Dieter Gutknecht, music director of the university, conducted. Willkommen opened the ceremony, followed by the rector's greeting, speeches by the mayor of Cologne, the governor of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the president of Germany, and the conferring of honors by the rector. The Friedensgruß was then performed and, after a celebratory lecture, the final section was repeated as a "closing hymn" (Stockhausen 1989a, 58).

Museum Ludwig, where Klavierstück XV was premiered (Cologne Cathedral in the background)

The second act, Invasion, was originally commissioned for the Ensemble InterContemporain by Michel Guy, director of the Festival d'Automne, on the occasion of the bicentenary of the French Revolution in 1989. However, the administration of the ensemble declined to perform it after being informed of the requirements. Consequently, the score was not worked out until 1990 (Stockhausen 1998a, 16). The solo synthesizer part together with the electronic music for the closing five scenes of this act ("Pietà", "Explosion", "Jenseits", "Synthi-Fou", and "Abschied") constitute Stockhausen's Klavierstück XV (Kiec 2004, 144). The score is dedicated to the composer's son, Simon Stockhausen, who gave the premiere performance at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne on 5 October 1992.

Dienstag as a whole was originally commissioned by the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, but on 7 May 1991 the new Sovrintendente of La Scala, Carlo Fontana, wrote Stockhausen to say cuts to government support of La Scala had forced cancellation of the premiere there in 1992 as planned, and subsequent correspondence led to the release of rights for the premiere (Stockhausen 1998a, 28–38). Dienstag was given its staged premiere on 28 May 1993 by the Leipzig Opera. Subsequent performances were on 29 and 30 May. The stage realisation was by Uwe Wand, Henryk Tomaszewski, and Johannes Conen. Karlheinz Stockhausen was the music director and sound projectionist. The actor-mimes were members of the Tomaszewski Pantomime Theater, Wrocław.

Roles

Leipzig Opera House, where Dienstag was first staged
Role Performer Premiere Cast
Eve soprano Annette Meriweather
Michael tenor Julian Pike
Lucifer bass Nicholas Isherwood
Michael trumpets and flugelhorn Markus Stockhausen,
Andreas Adam,
Achim Gorsch
Lucifer trombones Michael Svoboda,
Timo Bäuerle,
Iven Hausmann
Synthi-Fou synthesizers Simon Stockhausen
synthesizer Massimiliano Viel
percussion Andreas Boettger, Renee Jonker
Millenium Runner dancer Tadeusz Dylawerski
Century Runner dancer Jerzy Reterski
Decade Runner dancer Marek Oleksy
Year runner dancer Artur Borkowski
Little Girl actor Katja Mittag / Manuela Fritz
Three Applauders actors Zbigniew Szymczyk,
Krzysztof Antkowiak,
Maciej Prusak
Cook actor Aleksander Sobiszewski
Three Waiters actors Zdzisław Zaleziński,
Krzysztof Antkowiak,
Artur Grochowiecki
Lion actor Maciej Prusak
Car Driver (Ape) actor Aleksander Sobiszewski
Beautiful Woman actor Anja Hanisch
Four Thunderstorm Acrobats actors Krzysztof Antkowiak, Artur Grochowiecki,
Maciej Prusak, Aleksander Sobiszewski
Michael and Lucifer Choirs /
Those from the Beyond		 choir Chor der Musikalischen Komödie,
Extrachor der Musikalischen Komödie,
Leipziger Vocal-Ensemble

Synopsis

Michael in combat with Lucifer

Dienstags-Gruß

A "Welcome" fanfare from a choir of trumpets and trombones with synthesizers is followed by a "Peace Greeting", in which a Michael choir of sopranos and tenors opposes a Lucifer choir of altos and basses from opposite sides of the hall in a musical dispute. A soprano (Eve) intervenes four times in an attempt to mediate—first appearing at the right side of the audience, then at the back, and a third time at the left, before finally walking out on to the stage in front where she remains, singing to both groups until the end, when both parties agree, "We want peace, freedom", but with a remaining difference, "in/without God!" (Stockhausen 1989a, 65–66).

Act 1: Der Jahreslauf

The first act, The Course of the Years, is performed as a ballet, accompanied by a tenor, bass, actor-singers, modern orchestra, tape and sound projectionist. Lucifer challenges Michael to a contest, a race of the years. He, Lucifer, will attempt to stop the flow of time, and Michael shall try to set it going again. Four dancers personify the years, the decades, the centuries, and the millennia, while four groups of musicians play music in four corresponding temporal layers. Lucifer stops the race four times with temptations, and each time Michael finds incitements to get it going again (Stockhausen 1998a, 73–74).

First Temptation

A ship's bell and marching steps of three entering characters are followed by an announcement by men's voices offering flowers to the runners, who stop.

First Incitement

Children run in, clapping their hands, and a girl's voice urges the audience to applaud the runners, who resume.

Second Temptation

"A cook with exquisite spices"

Second Incitement

A lion roars, and the runners quickly return to their rounds.

Third Temptation

An automobile drives onstage, tooting four bulb-horns. The runners stop to watch.

Third Incitement

A girl runs in to announce a cash prize for the winner of the race, which spurs the runners on. The car rushes off.

Fourth Temptation

A slow, sultry blues in night-club style is followed by a man's voice, announcing the entrance of a female figure: "ho ho ho ho: stark naked!"

Fourth Incitement

A ferocious thunderstorm breaks the spell and the runners continue.

With irony, Lucifer congratulates Michael on winning the contest, but darkly warns: "MIKA, brace yourself for a much tougher fight!" (Stockhausen 1989a, 76).

Act 2: Invasion-Explosion mit Abschied

Yamaha DX7-II synthesizer, similar to one of the synthesizers used in producing Oktophonie
Oberheim Matrix 1000 synthesizer module, of the type used in producing Oktophonie
Casio FZ-1 sampler, of the type used in producing Oktophonie

Eight-channel electronic music (called Oktophonie when performed separately) is projected from the corners of a cube surrounding the audience throughout Act 2. The act is divided into three large sections, together containing eleven scenes, though they run continuously without a break (Stockhausen 1989a, 16):

Invasion

The stage is filled with a rocky precipice, covered with vines, moss, shrubs, and bushes. At the front there is a raised, rocky ledge, which slopes down to the ground at the left and right. Night is falling, and the sky is overcast (Stockhausen 1989a, 219).

Pietà

Pietà in the Markuskapelle in Altenberg, where Stockhausen grew up

Jenseits

Ascent of the Blessed (detail), from the polyptych Visions of the Hereafter (ca. 1490) by Hieronymus Bosch—one of Stockhausen's favourite painters (Cott 1973, 215)
Akai S1000: one of two samplers used by Simon Stockhausen for Synthi-Fou
Roland D-50: one of the three synthesizers used for Synthi-Fou

Discography

References

Further reading

External links

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