Medea (Reimann)
{{Short description|Opera by Aribert Reimann}}
{{Other uses|Medea (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox opera
| name = Medea
| composer = Aribert Reimann
| image = Aribert Reimann.jpg
| image_upright =
| caption = The composer in 2010
| librettist =
| language = German
| based_on = {{based on|Medea|Franz Grillparzer}}
| premiere_date = {{Start date|2010|02|28|df=y}}
| premiere_location = Vienna State Opera
}}
Medea is a German-language opera by Aribert Reimann after the play by Franz Grillparzer. It was premiered at the Vienna State Opera in February 2010. The German premiere was at the Oper Frankfurt in August 2010.
History
Aribert Reimann had already written seven literary operas, including Melusine, Lear and Troades, when he received a commission from the Vienna State Opera to write an opera for the conclusion of the era of Ioan Holender as General Director of the opera house. He chose the play Medea by Franz Grillparzer as a basis for the work, the last part of Grillparzer's trilogy {{ill|Das goldene Vließ|de|Das goldene Vlies|lt=Das goldene Vließ}} (The Golden Fleece) which is focused on Greek mythology and based on the Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes and Medea by Euripides.
The opera was successfully premiered at the Vienna State Opera in February 2010, staged by Marco Arturo Marelli, conducted by Michael Boder, with Marlis Petersen in the title role. The German premiere was at the Oper Frankfurt in August 2010.
Roles
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
! scope="col" |Role ! scope="col" |Voice type ! scope="col" |Premiere cast, 28 February 2010 |
| scope="row" | Medea |
|---|
| scope="row" | Kreusa
| Michaela Selinger |
| scope="row" | Gora |
| scope="row" | Kreon
| tenor | Michael Roider |
| scope="row" | Jason
| baritone |
| scope="row" | The Herald |
Music
Grillparzer showed Medea as a foreigner without protection who becomes the victim of powerful men, a view of the tragedy appealing to Reimann. In a production at the Komische Oper Berlin, staged by Benedict Andrews with Nicole Chevalier in the title role, Medea is shown as a barbarian woman, a stranger to the society and therefore expelled.
A reviewer of the premiere noteds that the vocal lines are highly ornamented, full of melisma, and with sharply jagged contours ("wild gezackt, scharf geschnitten"), demanding virtuosity from the singers. The metre changes without rest, also in the orchestra. The strings are divided multiple times, while the winds often have solo function. The vocal style was described as highly artificial ("hochartifiziell").
Recordings
- DVD (cast of the premiere): Marlis Petersen, Michaela Selinger, Elisabeth Kulman, Michael Roider, Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, Michael Boder, 2010{{OCLC|867911287}}
- CD (cast of the German premiere): Claudia Barainsky, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Michael Nagy, Michael Baba, Paula Murrihy, Tim Severloh, Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, Erik Nielsen. Oehms, 2CDs 2010{{OCLC|871957922}}
References
{{reflist|30em
| refs =
| last = Büning
| first = Eleonore
| authorlink = Eleonore Büning
| url = https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buehne-und-konzert/oper-medea-in-wien-eine-antike-bruennhilde-1653970.html?printPagedArticle=true#pageIndex_2
| title = Oper: "Medea" in Wien. Eine antike Brünnhilde
|trans-title=Opera: 'Medea' in Vienna. An ancient Brünnhilde
| newspaper = Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
| date = 1 March 2010
| language = de
| access-date = 22 July 2017
}}
| last1 = Carlà
| first1 = Filippo
| last2 = Berti
| first2 = Irene
| title = Ancient Magic and the Supernatural in the Modern Visual and Performing Arts
| publisher = Bloomsbury Academic
| date = 2016
| isbn = 978-1350007949
| quote = Reimann's work, following Franz Grillparzer's Medea (1820), the primary source for the libretto, can safely be ascribed to the second type. Reimann's social and political interpretation of Medea's magical abilities allows him to reflect on the violence of the power that fears and distrusts – but at the same time needs – the unknown, the foreigner.
}}
| last = Clements
| first = Andrew
| url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/may/26/reimann-medea-review
| title = Medea – review Barainsky/Baumgartner/Nagy/Baba/Frankfurt Opera/Nielsen (Oehms, two CDs)
| newspaper = The Guardian
| date = 26 May 2011
| access-date = 22 July 2017
}}
| last = Ossowski
| first = Maria
| url = https://www.rbb-online.de/kultur/beitrag/2017/05/medea-an-der-komischen-oper.html
| title = "Medea" an der Komischen Oper – "Erarmt bin ich an Macht"
|trans-title=Reviews: "Medea" at the Komische Oper – "I am in power"
| language = de
| work = Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
| date = 22 May 2017
| access-date = 24 July 2017
}}
| last = Whittall
| first = Arnold
| url = https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/reimann-medea
| title = Reimann Medea / Reimann's take on a bloodthirsty tale, filmed during its Vienna premiere run
| journal = Gramophone
| date = 2010
| access-date = 22 July 2017
}}
| url = https://www.komische-oper-berlin.de/programm/a-z/medea/
| title = Aribert Reimann / Medea
| journal = Komische Oper Berlin
| date = 2017
| access-date = 22 July 2017
| archive-date = 8 October 2017
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171008000534/https://www.komische-oper-berlin.de/programm/a-z/medea/
| url-status = dead
}}
| url = https://en.schott-music.com/shop/medea-no235355.html
| title = Medea
| date = 2010
| publisher = Schott
| access-date = 27 July 2019
| quote = Uraufführung: 28. Februar 2010 Wien, Staatsoper (A)
}}
}}
External links
- [https://bachtrack.com/review-reimann-medea-boder-marelli-wiener-staatsoper-april-2017 The wrath of a woman scorned: Reimann’s murderous Medea at the Wiener Staatsoper] bachtrack.com 2017
- {{YouTube|qeZrUg37eUA|Medea / Trailer / Komische Oper Berlin (2017)}}
{{Aribert Reimann}}
{{Medea}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Operas based on works by Franz Grillparzer
Category:German-language operas
Category:Operas based on Medea (Euripides play)
Category:Operas based on plays