Chamber opera in five scenes (2011)
Libretto by Philipp J. Neumann based on motifs by Edgar Allan Poe
commissioned by Deutsche Oper am Rhein
Cast:
Kaspar Brand (baritone)
Nadja Brand (soprano)
Moritz Sandelmann (baritone)
Novice (mezzo-soprano)
Rosen (tenor)
Bühler (bass)
chamber choir
Orchestra:
1(also Picc) 1 1 TenSax(also AltSax, Bkl) 1(also Cbs) - 1 1 1 1 - Perc(2), Pno(also Synth), ElGuit, Str(0 0 1 3 2)
Duration: approx. 70 minutes
Premiere: June 14, 2012, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf
Conductor: Wen-Pin Chien
Staging and stage design: Philipp J. Neumann
Costume design: Karoline Schreiber
Light: Volker Weinhart
Chorus Master: Markus Fohr
Dramaturgy: Bernhard F. Loges
The restaurant owner Kaspar Brand becomes a murderer in an exceptionally stressful situation. Murder seems to him the only logical consequence of his burning jealousy, fueled by his suspicion that his successful competitor Sandelmann and his wife Nadja are having an affair. The excitement before and during the crime gives Brand the necessary energy boost for the murder. But then guilt and subconscious protective mechanisms fight against each other, the perpetrator develops a kind of protective paranoia, inwardly moves further and further away from his act, a 'psychedelic' interplay develops, somewhere between truth and illusion...