''Die Hamletmaschine'' is an opera composed by

Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm (born 13 March 1952) is a German composer and academic teacher. He is musical director of the Institute of New Music and Media at the University of Music Karlsruhe and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Sa ...

to a German-language libretto based on

Heiner Müller Heiner Müller (; 9 January 1929 – 30 December 1995) was a German (formerly East German) dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. His "enigmatic, fragmentary pieces" are a significant contribution to postmodern drama and postdr ...

's 1977 play of the same name. The libretto, subtitled ''Musiktheater in 5 Teilen'' (Music Drama in 5 parts), was written by the composer. The opera was composed between 1983 and 1986 and premiered on 30 March 1987 at the

Nationaltheater Mannheim The Mannheim National Theatre (german: Nationaltheater Mannheim) is a theatre and opera company in Mannheim, Germany, with a variety of performance spaces. It was founded in 1779 and is one of the oldest theatres in Germany. History In the 18 ...

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-bas ...

Wolfgang Rihm, ''Die Hamletmaschine: Musiktheater in 5 Teilen''
Retrieved 21 July 2013.

Background

Müller's play, on which the opera is based, paraphrases Shakespeare's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

''. In the play's first staged production, directed by Robert Wilson, the first words—"Ich war Hamlet." (I was Hamlet.)—were spoken after 20 minutes of silent action.Herbort, Heinz Josef Herbort (29 May 1987)
Letzte Szenen in Momentform / Verwirrung und Tod, Zwiespalt und Entscheidungslosigkeit gebannt in Bildern aus dem Geist der Musik
Die Zeit Rihm composed his opera between 1983 and 1986 and presented parts of the score for the Rolf-Liebermann-Preis of Hamburg, which he won in 1986.

Performance history

''Die Hamletmaschine'' premiered on 30 March 1987 at the

in a production directed by Friedrich Meyer-Oertel and conducted by Peter Schneider. The role of

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama '' Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends u ...

, written for a Wagnerian soprano, was sung by Gabriele Schnaut. The

character was portrayed at different stages in his life by three separate performers: the actors Kurt Müller and Rudolf Kowalski as Hamlet I and Hamlet II, and the baritone Johannes M. Kösters as Hamlet III. A live recording of the opera's premiere was released on CD in 1995 (Wergo #6195)

Roles

I (male actor)Gelli, Piero and Poletti, Filippo (eds.) (2007)
"Hamletmaschine", ''Dizionario dell'opera''
p. 611. Dalai. *Hamlet II (male actor) *Hamlet III ( baritone) *

( soprano) *Ophelia's doubles:

Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

(soprano),

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

(soprano), Mao ( mezzo-soprano) *3 naked women, voices from the casket (soprano, soprano, mezzo-soprano) *4 laughing people (2 female and 2 male actors) *3 screaming people (3 male actors)

Structure

* I. ''Familienalbum'' (''Family Album'') * II. ''Das Europa der Frau'' (''Europe of the Woman'') * III. ''Scherzo'' * IV. ''Pest in Buda, Schlacht um Grönland'' (''Pest in Buda, Battle of Greenland'') * V. ''Wildharrend, In der furchtbaren Rüstung, Jahrtausende'' (''Wildstraining, In the Fearsome Armaments, Millennia'')

WERGO WERGO is a German record label focusing on contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1962 by German art historian and music publisher (1903–1975) and the musicologist Helmut Kirchmeyer. Their first release, filed under "WER 60001", was ...

Wolfgang Rihm, ''v''
Retrieved 21 July 2013.

Music

The opera is scored for actors, singing and speaking voices, choir and orchestra. The work is described in the ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'' as following

Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundb ...

in that it seeks "a total theatre of sound and nonnarrative, ritualistic drama." Sounds use the complete space of a hall by placing instrumentalists not only in the pit, but also on stage and in the audience. Sounds are mixed from live performance, electronic amplification and purely electronic sounds, described as soundscapes.

Other musical settings

Müller's play, which formed the basis for the libretto, has subsequently had two more musical settings—an opera by

Ruth Zechlin Ruth Zechlin (22 June 1926 – 4 August 2007) was a German composer. Life Ruth Oschatz was born in Grosshartmannsdorf, where she began piano lessons at the age of five years, and wrote her first composition at the age of seven. From 1943 to 1 ...

for singers and small orchestra (1991) and 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 ...

for choir, soloists and orchestra by

Georges Aperghis Georges Aperghis ( el, Γιώργος Απέργης; born 23 December 1945) is a Greek composer working primarily in the field of experimental music theater but has also composed a large amount of non- programmatic chamber music. He lives in Fr ...

(2000).Yunker, Johanna Frances (2013)
"Father or Criminal: Ruth Zechlin's Post-Reunification Opera ''Die Reise''"
p. 3. AMS-SW Conference, Spring 2013, Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio. Retrieved 21 July 2013.

References

Further reading * Neff, Severine (1990)
"''Die Hamletmaschine'': Musiktheater in fünf Teilen (1983–1986) by Wolfgang Rihm"
''

Notes Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versio ...

'', Second Series, Vol. 47, No. 1 (September 1990), pp. 215–217 {{Use dmy dates, date=July 2013 Operas by Wolfgang Rihm 1987 operas German-language operas Operas based on plays Operas