''Theatre of the World'' is the fifth and last opera by Dutch composer

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Althoug ...

, with 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. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major li ...

by Helmut Krausser. Subtitled ''A Grotesque Stagework in 9 Scenes'', the work concerns itself with the life of 17th-century Jesuit scholar

Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fe ...

and was premiered at the

Walt Disney Concert Hall The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It was opened on October 24, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Ave ...

in Los Angeles 6 May 2016, a co-production between

Los Angeles Philharmonic The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at th ...

and

Dutch National Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, ...

, conducted by

Reinbert de Leeuw Reinbert de Leeuw (8 September 1938 – 14 February 2020) was a Dutch conductor, pianist and composer. Life Lambertus Reinier de Leeuw's mother and father were both psychiatrists: Cornelis Homme 'Kees' de Leeuw (1905-1953) and Adriana Judina ...

. The title alludes to the Catholic idea that life is a great play with God as the author, a concept also found in Shakespeare's "

All the world's a stage "All the world's a stage" is the phrase that begins a monologue from William Shakespeare's pastoral comedy ''As You Like It'', spoken by the melancholy Jaques in Act II Scene VII Line 139. The speech compares the world to a stage and life to a ...

" passage.

Roles

Synopsis

Kircher, aged 76, meets a boy of about twelve years who we learn is the devil. He takes the unsuspecting Kircher, together with his patron

Pope Innocent XI Pope Innocent XI ( la, Innocentius XI; it, Innocenzo XI; 16 May 1611 – 12 August 1689), born Benedetto Odescalchi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 September 1676 to his death on August 12, 1689. Poli ...

(who cannot see the boy), on a magical journey through ancient Egypt,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and

Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...

. Kircher was renowned for building fanciful theories based on weak material and as the journey unfolds his outlandish ideas begin to unravel before our eyes. Kircher starts to become increasingly anxious and suspicious. We learn that earlier in his life, Kircher had mistakenly given his soul to the devil instead of to God during his narrow escape from Protestant mercenaries. The boy now curses Kircher and orders him to be broken by illness. On his deathbed Kircher requests the hangman to cut out his heart and take it to a shrine of the Virgin. On doing so, the boy grabs the heart and eats it only to discover that Kircher's soul has evaded him. The opera is scored for the singers and full orchestra plus eight guest musicians playing: clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, percussion, keyboards, bass guitar and electric guitar.

Reception

There was a mixed reception to the stage work and subsequent CD release. ''

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'' wrote that Andriessen's score was "Immediate, transparent and almost disarmingly direct" while ''

Opera News ''Opera News'' is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to engender the appreciation of opera and also suppor ...

'' noted Andriessen was trying a softer approach: "A welcome change from his works' usual sensory overload, though the score drags during its many bland transitional passages." ''Music & Literature'' said "Marked by a consistency of texture and polished with stunning orchestrational élan, Andriessen's music managed to effectively underscore the truly grotesque array of action on stage, while somehow remaining elegant at all times. It was stunning." ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' said of the recording "a superb surreal journey". The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' claims it will "stand the test of time".

Language

Krausser's libretto is written in seven languages. German is the most frequent while English, Latin, Spanish, Old Dutch, Italian and French can occur mid-sentence. Kircher's first line for example "..In questa necropoli I enjoy my melancholy". Stageraw's Myron Meisel wrote "It's all too polyglot and prolix to be considered a masterpiece, let alone accessible.."Meisel, Myron (31 May 2016)
Theatre of the World: A Grotesque Stagework in 9 Scenes (L.A. Philharmonic); The Impresario & First the Music, Then the Words (Pacific Opera Project)
stageraw.com May

References

{{Authority control Operas by Louis Andriessen 2016 operas Operas set in the 17th century Operas Multiple-language operas