''Die Verurteilung des Lukullus'' (''The Condemnation of Lucullus'') is an

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 ...

Paul Dessau Paul Dessau (19 December 189428 June 1979) was a German composer and conductor. He collaborated with Bertolt Brecht and composed incidental music for his plays, and several operas based on them. Biography Dessau was born in Hamburg into a ...

to a libretto by the German dramatist

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

. Brecht's dramatic text for the opera is more or less identical to that of the radio-play ''

The Trial of Lucullus ''The Trial of Lucullus'' is a short didactic radio play by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht written in verse. It was completed in 1940. In it, the great Roman general Lucullus appears after death before a judge and jury of the underworld, who ...

'', which was written in 1938–9.

Performance history

The opera was first performed under the latter's title at the

Berlin Staatsoper The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...

on 17 March 1951, conducted by

Hermann Scherchen Hermann Scherchen (21 June 1891 – 12 June 1966) was a German conductor. Life Scherchen was born in Berlin. Originally a violist, he played among the violas of the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin while still in his teens. He conducted in Riga ...

, with stage design by

Caspar Neher Caspar Neher (born Rudolf Ludwig Caspar Neher; 11 April 1897 – 30 June 1962) was an Austrian-German scenographer and librettist, known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht. Neher was born in Augsburg. He ...

. It was withdrawn, revised, and reinstated with its present title on 12 October 1951.Willett, John. 1959. ''The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht: A Study from Eight Aspects.'' London: Methuen. . pp. 49–50. The opera was broadcast on the radio in an English-language translation by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 3, Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and in ...

on 20 March 1953. In November 2021, the

Staatsoper Stuttgart 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 and ...

mounted a new production of the opera, directed by Franziska Kronfoth and Julia Lwowski and staged by the musical-theater-collective ''Hauen und Stechen''. The performances were conducted by contemporary music specialist Bernhard Kontarsky and featured tenor

Gerhard Siegel Gerhard Siegel (born in 1963) is a German operatic tenor. Life and career Born in Trostberg, Siegel studied at the Leopold Mozart Centre in Augsburg with Kammersänger Liselotte Becker-Egner. After engagements at the Theater Trier from 1993, t ...

as ''Lukullus'' and soprano/mezzo-soprano

Cheryl Studer Cheryl Studer (born October 24, 1955) is an American dramatic soprano who has sung at many of the world's foremost opera houses. Studer has performed more than eighty roles ranging from the dramatic repertoire to roles more commonly associated ...

as ''Tertullia''.

Roles

*The fishwife (

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...

) *The farmer ( bass) *The baker (

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

) *The cherrytree bearer (

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

) *The king (bass) *The teacher (tenor) *The dead judge (bass) *The courtesan (

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...

) *The queen (soprano) *Lasus (tenor) *Lukullus (tenor) *Tertullia (mezzo-soprano)

Recording

recorded 1964, Leipzig,

Herbert Kegel Herbert Kegel (29 July 1920 – 20 November 1990) was a German conductor. Kegel was born in Dresden. He studied conducting with Karl Böhm and composition with Boris Blacher at the Dresden Conservatory from 1935 to 1940. In 1946 he began co ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verurteilung des Lukullus, Die Operas by Paul Dessau German-language operas Plays by Bertolt Brecht Operas 1951 operas Operas based on plays