''Das verratene Meer'' (''The Betrayed Sea'') 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 libr ...

in two parts and 14 scenes, with music by

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as ...

to a German libretto by

Hans-Ulrich Treichel Prof. Dr. Hans-Ulrich Treichel (born 12 August 1952) is a Germanist, novelist and poet. His earliest published books were collections of poetry, but prose writing has become a larger part of his output since the critical and commercial success ...

, after

Yukio Mishima , born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was considered fo ...

's novel '' The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea''. Composed between 1986 and 1989, it was Henze's ninth opera, his third that he wrote for the

Deutsche Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the D ...

Performance history

It was first performed at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 5 May 1990, when it was conducted by

Markus Stenz Markus Stenz (born 28 February 1965, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate) is a German conductor. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Volker Wangenhein and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. Stenz has ...

and produced by

Götz Friedrich Götz Friedrich (4 August 1930 in Naumburg, Germany – 12 December 2000 in Berlin, Germany) was a German opera and theatre director. He was a student and assistant of Walter Felsenstein at the Komische Oper Berlin in (East) Berlin, where he w ...

. The US premiere was at

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

on 8 November 1991.

Roles

Synopsis

''Part I: Summer'' * Scene 1 – Fusako's house * Scene 2 – An abandoned warehouse * Scene 3 – A park on a hill above the sea * Scene 4 – Fusako's house * Scene 5 – The warehouse * Scene 6 – The park * Scene 7 – On the pier in the harbour * Scene 8 – The warehouse ''Part II: Winter'' * Scene 9 – The park * Scene 10 – The warehouse * Scene 11 – Fusako's house * Scene 12 – The warehouse * Scene 13 – Fusako's boutique * Scene 14 – The warehouse

Recordings

* 2006:

Gerd Albrecht Gerd Albrecht (19 July 1935 – 2 February 2014) was a German conductor. Biography Albrecht was born in Essen, the son of the musicologist Hans Albrecht (1902–1961). He studied music in Kiel and in Hamburg, where his teachers included Wilhel ...

conducting a Japanese cast (including Mari Midorkawa as Fusako Kuroda; Tsuyoshi Mihara as Ryuji Tsukazaki) and the

RAI National Symphony Orchestra The RAI National Symphony Orchestra ( it, italic=no, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI) is an Italian symphony radio orchestra, owned by the public radio and television company RAI. Its primary concert venue is the Auditorium RAI in the Piaz ...

for the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...

(live recording 26 August 2006) 2 CDs, Orfeo C794 092 I * 2021:

Simone Young Simone Margaret Young AM (born 2 March 1961) is an Australian conductor. She is currently chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Biography and career Young was born in Sydney, of Irish ancestry on her father's side and Croatian ...

conducting the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August ...

and as Fusako Kuroda; Bo Skovhus as Ryuji Tsukazaki; 2 CDs, Capriccio C5460; named Opera Recording of the Year by the magazine '' Limelight''.

References

External links

San Francisco Opera page on ''Das verratene Meer''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verratene Meer, Das Operas German-language operas Operas by Hans Werner Henze 1990 operas Operas set in Japan Operas based on novels Yukio Mishima Japan in non-Japanese culture