(''Blood Wedding'') is an opera () in two acts by Wolfgang Fortner. The

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

, also by Fortner, is based on German translation of García Lorca's 1933 play '' Bodas de sangre''. It premiered at the Cologne Opera on 8 June 1957.

Composition

Fortner was asked by

Karl-Heinz Stroux Karl Heinz Stroux (25 February 1908 – 2 August 1985) was a German actor, film and theatre director, and theatre manager. As the director of the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus from 1955 to 1972 he opened the new building in 1970.(12 August 1985Gest ...

to write incidental music for a performance of Lorca's play ''Bodas de sangre'' in Hamburg in the early 1950s. The composer was impressed by the drama and felt that acting was not enough to "sing the tragedy to an end" ("die Tragödie zu Ende zu singen"), and decided to set longer sections to music. Fortner wrote the opera's libretto himself based on Enrique Beck's German translation of the play. ''Bluthochzeit'', a "literary opera" like

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

's ''

Wozzeck ''Wozzeck'' () is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama ''Woyzeck'', which the German playwright Georg Büchner left incomplete at h ...

'' and '' Lulu'', is driven by the action, as the composer comments: "The compulsion of the words drives the music." He scored the work for singing and speaking parts, following the text which is at times in prose, at times in poetry. Fortner used

dodecaphony The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...

but included traditional Spanish instruments, such as

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

s, castanets,

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

and guitars.

Giselher Klebe Giselher Wolfgang Klebe (28 June 19255 October 2009) was a German composer, and an academic teacher. He composed more than 140 works, among them 14 operas, all based on literary works, eight symphonies, 15 solo concerts, chamber music, piano w ...

noted in an introduction to the performance in Düsseldorf that Fortner, who was exposed to twelve-tone technique rather late in life, used the restriction of its rules to heighten expressiveness. In 1962 Fortner revised the scores of both ''Bluthochzeit'' and his 1954 dramatic scene ''Der Wald'' (''The Forest'') and used both of them in the score for a new opera, '' In seinem Garten liebt Don Perlimplin Belisa'' with a libretto based on another play by Garcia Lorca ('' Amor de Don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín''). This new opera premiered on 10 May 1962 at the Cologne Opera.

Roles

Performance history

''Bluthochzeit'' premiered at the Cologne Opera on 8 June 1957 in a production directed by Eric Bormann and conducted by Günter Wand.Gelli, Piero and Poletti, Filippo (eds.) (2007)
"''Bluthochzeit''"
''Dizionario dell'opera'', pp. 159–160.

Dalai Editore Baldini Castoldi Dalai Editore is an Italian publishing house, founded in 1897 and located under the arcades of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan. Baldini & Castoldi changed its name to Dalai Editore in 2011, and "Baldini & Castoldi" became a ser ...

It was the first world premiere to be staged in the rebuilt opera house. The performance by

Stuttgart Opera The Staatsoper Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Opera) is a German opera company based in Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Staatsorchester Stuttgart serves as its resident orchestra. History Performances of operas, ballet an ...

in 1964 was filmed live and released on DVD in 2005. The opera was chosen to open the

Opernhaus Düsseldorf Opernhaus Düsseldorf ( en, Düsseldorf Opera House) is a venue and administrative headquarters of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. The original opera house was constructed between 1873 and 1875 as the Stadttheater Düsseldorf, designed by Ernst Gie ...

with a performance on 12 October 1986 by the

Deutsche Oper am Rhein The Deutsche Oper am Rhein (German Opera on the Rhine) is an opera company based in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The opera also has an associated classical ballet company. Axel Kober has been its Music Director since 2009. The resident orchestra, th ...

, conducted by

Hans Wallat Hans Wallat (18 October 1929 – 11 December 2014) was a German conductor, GMD in Bremen, at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, Theater Dortmund and Deutsche Oper am Rhein. A specialist for the stage works of Richard Wagner, he appeared at the Bayreu ...

and staged by

Kurt Horres Kurt Horres (28 November 1932 – 2 January 2023) was a German stage director, particularly of opera, and opera manager. He held positions as general manager at the Staatstheater Darmstadt, the Hamburg State Opera, and from 1986 to 1996 at the ...

. ''Bluthochzeit'' was revived in January 2013 with a new production at the

Wuppertal Opera Opernhaus Wuppertal (Wuppertal Opera House) is a German theatre in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. It houses mostly performances of operas, but also plays, run by the municipal Wuppertaler Bühnen. The house is also the venue for dance perfo ...

, directed by Christian von Götz and conducted by Hilary Griffiths. A performance of this production was filmed and released on DVD in 2014.

Recordings

*''Bluthochzeit'' – Gürzenich-Orchester and chorus of Cologne Opera, conducted by Günter Wand (recorded 1 and 6 July 1957 by

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

, released 2007 as Volume 12 of ''The Günter Wand Edition''). Label: Profil PH05044. *''Bluthochzeit'' – Orchestra and chorus of

Stuttgart State Opera The Staatsoper Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Opera) is a German opera company based in Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Staatsorchester Stuttgart serves as its resident orchestra. History Performances of operas, ballet a ...

, conducted by

Ferdinand Leitner Ferdinand Leitner (4 March 1912 in Berlin – 3 June 1996 in Zürich) was a German conductor. Leitner studied under Franz Schreker, Julius Prüwer, Artur Schnabel and Karl Muck. He also was a composition student with Robert Kahn. Starting as ...

(recorded and filmed live in 1964, released on DVD 2005). Label: Immortal 950017.Steiger, Karsten (2008)
''Opern-Diskographie''
p. 633. Walter de Gruyter *''Bluthochzeit'' – Orchestra and chorus of

, directed by Christian von Götz and conducted by Hilary Griffiths (recorded and filmed in 2013, released on DVD 2014). Label: Wergo MV 8075.

References

External links

Schott Music Schott Music () is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe, and is the second oldest music publisher after Breitkopf & Härtel. The company headquarters of Schott Music were fou ...

''Bluthochzeit'' – orchestration and roles
*

''Bluthochzeit'' – production photos and commentary on the January 2013 production
{{Authority control Operas by Wolfgang Fortner 1957 operas German-language operas Operas based on plays Operas