' ( Op. 21), is an opera in three acts by

Alexander von Zemlinsky Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky (14 October 1871 – 15 March 1942) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher. Biography Early life Zemlinsky was born in Vienna to a highly diverse family. Zemlinsky's grandfather, Anton S ...

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 ...

by the composer after the play ' by

Klabund Alfred Henschke (4 November 1890 – 14 August 1928), better known by his pseudonym Klabund, was a German writer. Life Klabund, born Alfred Henschke in 1890 in Crossen, was the son of an apothecary. At the age of 16 he came down with tuberculo ...

– a telling of the '' Chalk Circle'' story. The opera was written during 1930-31 and premiered on 14 October 1933 in the

Zürich Opera House The Zürich Opera House (german: Opernhaus Zürich, links=no) is an opera house in the Swiss city of Zürich. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zürich Opera since 1891, and also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich. ...

. Among the singers were Artūrs Cavara,

Maria Madlen Madsen Maria Madlen Madsen (23 March 1905 – 23 March 1990), temporarily also under the stage name Gerda Hansi, was a German operatic soprano, theatre, film and television actress. Life Training period Born in Krefeld, Madsen grew up in Hamburg, w ...

Maria Bernhard-Ulbrich; Fred Destal, Georg Oeggl and Peter Klein; it was directed by Karl Schmid-Bloß and the stage design was by . It was planned to premiere the work simultaneously on four German stages: Frankfurt, Berlin, Cologne, and Nuremberg. Because of Zemlinsky's Jewish ancestry, this became impossible when the

Nazis came to power Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...

early in 1933. Nevertheless, the work was performed in January 1934 in Stettin, Coburg, Berlin and Nuremberg, and in Graz in February due to the temporary lifting of certain restrictions. The work was also performed in Prague and Bratislava.
Original publication
Zürich Opera revived the opera in 2003. A new production was staged at the

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

in January 2018 directed by Richard Brunel and conducted by

Lothar Koenigs Lothar Koenigs (born 1965 in Aachen, Germany) is a German conductor. Biography Koenigs grew up in Aachen, in West Germany; as a young boy, he was a chorister at Aachen Cathedral, where he sang all of Anton Bruckner's masses and motets, and dev ...

Roles

Synopsis

Act 1

Tong, a former executioner, is the proprietor of a house of ill repute. He is visited by Mrs Chang and her daughter Haitang: Mrs Chang must sell her daughter into prostitution following the death of her husband, who, a victim of extortion by the evil and unscrupulous tax collector Ma, has committed suicide leaving the family penniless. Her son, Chang-Ling, a political revolutionary, objects, but after some haggling over the price, Haitang is admitted to the brothel. A customer, Prince Pao, is entranced by Haitang. She draws a chalk circle on the paper wall, symbolic of the wheel of fate. Ma's head unexpectedly bursts through the paper circle: he desires Haitang for himself and purchases her from Tong for a price with which Pao is unable to compete.

Act 2

Ma’s first wife, Yü-Pei, is furious and humiliated over Haitang’s appearance in the household. Haitang has borne Ma a son while Yü-Pei has remained childless which legally entitles Haitang to Ma’s inheritance. Yü-Pei conspires with her lover, Chow, to murder Ma. The destitute Chang-Ling reappears at the garden gate: he has joined a revolutionary group which has decreed that the villainous Ma must die. Haitang explains that she has borne Ma’s child and her husband has become a changed person as a result. After consulting the chalk circle, Chang-Ling agrees to defer the execution. Haitang gives Chang-Ling her coat, observed by Yü-Pei who promptly informs Ma, accusing Haiting of consorting with beggars. Yü-Pei slips poison into Ma’s tea and he collapses on the spot. Haitang is arrested for the murder and Yü-Pei claims the child as hers.

Act 3

The corrupt judge, Chu-Chu, has been bribed by Chow while Yü-Pei has bribed the midwife, Mrs Lien, and two fake witnesses to testify against Haitang. Haitang is duly sentenced for the murder of Ma. News arrives that Prince Pao has been crowned Emperor and, as an act of goodwill, has declared an amnesty for all condemned prisoners. Chang-Ling shouts from the gallery that the new Emperor will be no different to the old one and he is also sentenced. Haitang and Chang-Ling are escorted by two unsympathetic soldiers in a snow-storm to Peking where they must appear before the new Emperor. Pao sympathises with the views of Chang-Ling and reprieves him. He orders the child to be placed in the middle of a chalk circle and the two women are told to pull the child out: the child will be handed to whoever pulls the hardest. Unable to harm her son, Haitang reveals herself to be the true mother. Yü-Pei, Chow and Chu are led off for sentencing. As she is about to leave, Haitang reveals to Pao that she had a dream in which he had made love to her while she slept during her first night in Ma’s house. Pao tells her that it was no dream and Haitang tells him the child must therefore be his. Pao proclaims Haitang his wife and she is crowned empress.

Instrumentation

flutes The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

(doubling flute 3), 2

oboes The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

, English horn, 2

clarinets The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. ...

in B flat/A (2nd doubling E flat clarinet), bass clarinet,

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

(doubling

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

), 2 bassoons (2nd doubling

contrabassoon The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences. Differences from the bassoon The reed is consi ...

); *4

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

, 3

trumpets The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...

, 3

trombones The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

bass tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

; *

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...

, banjo (doubling

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

and

mandoline file:Cooking Mandolin with Carrot.jpg, A mandoline used for slicing a carrot A mandoline (US, ) or mandolin (British, /ˌmandəˈlɪn/, /ˈmandəlɪn/, /ˈmandl̩ɪn/), is a culinary utensil used for slicing and for cutting Julienning, juliennes ...

); *strings Onstage music:

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

Recording

*1991 (re-issued 2013): Renate Behle (soprano), Gabriele Schreckenbach (alto), (tenor),

Roland Hermann Roland Hermann (born 17 September 1936; died 17 November 2020) was a German operatic baritone and former professor at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe. A member of the Opernhaus Zürich, he performed leading roles internationally, not only i ...

(baritone),

Gidon Saks Gidon Saks (born 15 January 1960) is an Israeli-born South African bass-baritone. Education Saks grew up in South Africa. His father was a first generation South African of Lithuanian descent. His mother was Scottish of Ukrainian extraction. ...

(baritone),

Reiner Goldberg Reiner Goldberg (17 October 1939 in Crostau, Lusatia, Germany) is a German operatic heroic tenor. After his vocal studies at the conservatory of music "Carl Maria von Weber" in Dresden, Goldberg made his debut 1967 in the Saxon Theatre (Sächsi ...

(tenor),

Warren Mok Warren Mok () is a Hong Kong-based Macau operatic tenor who has performed many leading roles since his European debut in 1987 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He has a repertoire of 50 operatic roles, including Calaf in ''Turandot'', Cavaradossi in ''T ...

(tenor), Hans Helm (baritone), Celina Lindsley (soprano), Siegfried Lorenz (baritone), Gertrud Ottenthal (soprano), Kaja Borris (alto),

Peter Matić Peter Matić (24 March 1937 – 20 June 2019) was an Austrian stage, film, television and voice actor. He appeared in more than eighty films from 1961. In German speaking countries he was well known for dubbing the voice of Ben Kingsley Sir B ...

(narrator), Uwe Peter (tenor); Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Stefan Soltesz. Capriccio C5190''Der Kreidekreis''
1991 recording

References

External links

Details, synopsis, libretto
Opera-Guide.ch
''Der Kreidekreis''

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kreidekreis, Der Operas by Alexander Zemlinsky Operas 1933 operas German-language operas Operas based on plays