York Höller's ‘The Master and Margarita’: A German Opera

1 ‘Literaturoper’: Literary Opera and the ‘problem of opera’ Right up to the end of the 19th century, an opera libretto was conceived differently from a stage play. This was because, from the outset, the libretto was thought out and constructed with a view to being set to music and sung. The librett...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Tempo (London) 1991-12, Vol.179 (179), p.8-15
Main Author: Stenzl, Jürg
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Composers
Electroacoustic musical instruments
Librettos
Music composition
Musical structure
Novels
Opera
Orchestras
Poetry
Theater
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:1 ‘Literaturoper’: Literary Opera and the ‘problem of opera’ Right up to the end of the 19th century, an opera libretto was conceived differently from a stage play. This was because, from the outset, the libretto was thought out and constructed with a view to being set to music and sung. The librettist, whether he was writing in Italian or French, had to respect the conventions of this particular literary genre, conventions that were derived from a specific type of musical drama comprised of an alternation between recitatives (action) and arias or ensembles (tableaux). The use of specific lines and rhymes made the libretto into a ‘pre-composition’, and gave the composer an architectural plan to follow.
ISSN:0040-2982
1478-2286
DOI:10.1017/S0040298200061337