Karl V. (opera) explained

Karl V.
Composer:	Ernst Krenek
Image Upright:	1.0
Description:	Bühnenwerk mit Musik
Librettist:	Krenek
Language:	German
Based On:	Charles V
Premiere Location:	Neues Deutsches Theater, Prague

Karl V. is an opera, described as a Bühnenwerk mit Musik (stage work with music) by Ernst Krenek, his opus 73. The German libretto is by the composer. His student Virginia Seay collaborated with him on the English translation of the libretto.^[1]

The first completed full-length twelve-tone opera^[2] tells the story of Emperor Charles V's life in a series of flashbacks on a split stage, devices which the composer only much later recognized as "cinematic" in style;^[3] there is also some use of Sprechstimme.

History

Originally commissioned in 1930 by the Vienna State Opera for performance in 1934, this much anticipated work^[4] became a cause célèbre when the production was cancelled after Krenek was blacklisted in Germany by the Nazi government immediately following the German parliamentary elections in March 1933.^[5] The composer believed it was its strong emphasis on Christian universality that made Karl V. "utterly intolerable" to the Nazis.^[6] A concert suite for soprano (Fragmente aus dem Bühnenwerk Karl V., Op. 73a) was performed in 1936, and the opera was staged for the first time on 22 June 1938 at the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague, by which time Krenek had fled overseas. In 1954 he revised the score for the first revival in Germany. A fully staged production of the opera was performed in the Festspielhaus of the Bregenzer Festspiele in the summer of 2008, and is available on DVD.

Roles

!Role!Voice type!Premiere cast, 22 June 1938
Conductor: Karl Rankl

Emperor Charles V	baritone
Juana, his mother	contralto	Lydia Kindermann
Eleonore, his sister	soprano	Martha Cuno
Ferdinand, his brother	tenor	Kurt Baum
Isabella, his wife	soprano
Juan de Regla, his confessor	speaking role
Henri Mathys, his physician
Francisco Borgia, a Jesuit, formerly the Empress' steward	tenor
Alarcon, captain of the Emperor	speaking role
Alba, captain of the Emperor	speaking role
Frundsberg, captain of the Emperor	speaking role
Imperial chancellor
Francis I, king of France	tenor
Frangipani	tenor
Clement VII	speaking role
A cardinal	speaking role
Luther	baritone
A follower of Luther	tenor
Moritz von Sachsen, a Protestant prince	speaking role
Sultan Soliman	bass
His astrologer	tenor

Recordings

Krenek: Karl V. – Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna

• Conductor: Gerd Albrecht
• Principal singers: Frank Hoffmann, Hanna Schwarz, Helmut Melchert, Horst Hiestermann, Kristine Ciesinski
• Recording date: 14 August 1980
• Label: Philips 6769 084 (2 LPs 106 minutes); later on Orfeo d'Or B00004YLCJ (CD)

Krenek: Karl V. – Bonn Beethovenhalle Orchestra

• Conductor: Marc Soustrot
• Principal singers: Wolf-Dieter Streicher, David Pittman-Jennings, Martina Borst, Tom Sol, Werner Hollweg, Franziska Hirzel, Andreas Conrad, Christoph Bantzer, Anne Gjevang, Axel Medrok, Florian Mock
• Recording date: 14 October 2000
• Label: MD&G Records – B00005NSOB (2 CDs 141 minutes)

References

NotesSources

• Ogdon, Will, and Ernst Krenek. 1972. "Conversation with Ernst Krenek". Perspectives of New Music 10, no. 2 (Spring–Summer): 102–110.
• Zenck, Claudia Maurer. "The Ship Loaded with Faith and Hope: Krenek's Karl V. and the Viennese Politics of the Thirties". The Musical Quarterly 71, no. 2 (1985): 116–134.

Further reading

• Krenek, Ernst. Selbstdarstellung. Zürich: Atlantis-Verlag, 1948.
• Krenek, Ernst. Horizons Circled: Reflections on My Music. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974.
• Purkis, Charlotte. "Karl V.", in: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie, 4 volumes. London: Macmillan Press, 1992.
• Stewart, John L. Ernst Krenek: The Man and His Music. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
• Tregear, Peter John. "Musical Style and Political Allegory in Krenek's Karl V". Cambridge Opera Journal 13, no. 1 (March 2001): 55–80.

Notes and References

1. Book: Stewart, John Lincoln . Ernst Krenek: The Man and His Music . 1991-01-01 . University of California Press . 978-0-520-07014-1 . en.
2. Schoenberg's Von heute auf morgen (1928) is in one act.
3. Ogdon 1972, 104, reprinted in Krenek 1974, 145.
4. The work is mentioned in almost any issue of Modern Music from 1933–1935.
5. Zenck 1985, 131.
6. Ogdon 1972, 103.