''Die Stadt hinter dem Strom'' (''The City Beyond the River'') is an

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

in three acts composed by Hans Vogt to a

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 ...

Hermann Kasack Hermann Robert Richard Eugen Kasack (24 July 1896 – 10 January 1966) was a German writer. He is best known for his novel '' Die Stadt hinter dem Strom'' (''The city beyond the river''). Kasack was a pioneer of using the medium broadcast for lit ...

based on his 1947

dystopia A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...

n novel ''

Die Stadt hinter dem Strom ''Die Stadt hinter dem Strom'' (The city beyond the river) is a German language Existentialism, existentialist novel by Hermann Kasack, published in 1947 in Berlin. It is considered one of the most important novels written in Germany after World W ...

''.

Background and performance history

''Die Stadt hinter dem Strom'' was Vogt's first opera, originally conceived as a radio opera. The librettist was Hermann Kasack, the author of the novel on which the opera is based. Kasack had written ''Die Stadt hinter dem Strom'' in 1942, 1943 and 1946, dealing with the horrors of the world wars. He imagined a ruined city with characters who resemble humans but act like puppets. The "Oratorische Oper" (oratorio opera) premiered on Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk and BBC Radio in 1952. Vogt later revised the work for the stage. It was first performed as a live theatre piece at the

Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden The Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden ('Hessian State Theatre Wiesbaden') is a German theatre located in Wiesbaden, in the German state Hesse. The company produces operas, plays, ballets, musicals and concerts on four stages. Known also as the ...

on 3 May 1955 as part of the Internationale Maifestspiele Wiesbaden.Hans Vogt
operone.de Vogt had collaborated with the librettist Hermann Kasack and also with the publisher and musicologist Fritz Oeser. In an obituary for Oeser authored by Vogt, he recalled that Oeser had requested him to come to Wiesbaden to change the ''Chorprolog'' (choral prologue) and address a missing climax in one of the act 3 scenes and promised to pay for the change.Vogt, Hans (1982)
Fritz Oeser
''Musica 36'', volume 2, pp. 194–196, 1982, re-published on fritz-oeser.de The libretto was published by

Suhrkamp Verlag Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature. Its roots go back to the "arianized" part of the S. Fischer Verlag. In January 2010 the ...

in 1955.''Die Stadt hinter dem Strom''; oratorische Oper in drei Akten
worldcat.org A recording of the work by the Hamburg State Radio was broadcast on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

on April 28, 1957.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stadt Hinter Dem Strom, Die Operas 1952 operas Radio operas German-language operas Operas based on novels