Montag aus Licht
Encyclopedia
Montag aus Licht is an opera by Karlheinz Stockhausen
in a greeting, three acts, and a farewell, and was the third of seven to be composed for the opera cycle Licht
: die sieben Tage der Woche (Light: The Seven Days of the Week). The libretto was written by the composer.
Montag is an opera for 21 solo performers (14 voices, 6 instrumentalists, and 1 actor) plus mimes, a mixed choir, children's choir, and "modern orchestra". It was composed between 1984 and 1988. Monday is Eve's
day. Its exoteric
colour is bright green; its esoteric colours are opal and silver (Stockhausen 1989b, 200).
in Milan on 7 May 1988. Subsequent performances were on 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13 May. The stage direction was by Michael Bogdanov
, sets by Chris Dyer, costumes by Mark Thompson. Karlheinz Stockhausen was the sound projectionist.
, though Stockhausen avoids these aspects for his Eve in favour of positive, creative, and invigorating features (Stoianova 1999, 194–96). Montag is in three acts, with scenes and subscenes (called "situations" by the composer) as follows:
from the cult of Inanna
and from early Germanic cults, so that they are Eve in many forms (Stockhausen 1998c, 123). The act consists of six scenes.
gradually emerges (Stockhausen 1998a, 387–89).
are dwarf-like figures from an old Cologne folk tale, though this scene adopts only the humorous aspect from the legend. In this scene, Eve gives birth to a boys’ choir (Stockhausen and Kohl 1985, 29). The three sopranos sing joyfully and very rapidly as the statue gives birth to a boy with a lion’s head, a pair of twins with swallows’ heads and wings, and so on (Stockhausen 1998a, 395–98).
) struggle to rise from the sand, the three Eve sopranos sing a second aria (Stockhausen 1989, 389–99, 404)
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
in a greeting, three acts, and a farewell, and was the third of seven to be composed for the opera cycle Licht
Licht
Licht , subtitled "The Seven Days of the Week," is a cycle of seven operas composed by Karlheinz Stockhausen between 1977 and 2003. In total, the cycle contains over 29 hours of music.-Origin:...
: die sieben Tage der Woche (Light: The Seven Days of the Week). The libretto was written by the composer.
Montag is an opera for 21 solo performers (14 voices, 6 instrumentalists, and 1 actor) plus mimes, a mixed choir, children's choir, and "modern orchestra". It was composed between 1984 and 1988. Monday is Eve's
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
day. Its exoteric
Exoteric
Exoteric refers to knowledge that is outside of and independent from anyone's experience and can be ascertained by anyone. Compare Common sense. It is distinguished from internal esoteric knowledge. Exoteric relates to "external reality" as opposed to one's own thoughts or feelings. It is knowledge...
colour is bright green; its esoteric colours are opal and silver (Stockhausen 1989b, 200).
History
Montag was given its staged premiere by the Teatro alla ScalaLa Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
in Milan on 7 May 1988. Subsequent performances were on 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13 May. The stage direction was by Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov
Michael Bogdanov , is a British theatre director known for his work with new plays, modern reinterpretations of Shakespeare, musicals and work for Young People.-Early years:...
, sets by Chris Dyer, costumes by Mark Thompson. Karlheinz Stockhausen was the sound projectionist.
Roles
| Role | Performer | Premiere cast |
|---|---|---|
| Eve (act 1) | three sopranos | Annette Meriweather, Donna Sarley, Jana Mrazova |
| Lucifer (act 1) | bass | Nicholas Isherwood Nicholas Isherwood Nicholas Isherwood is US-born bass singer, who specialises in contemporary and baroque music. Notable roles include "Lucifer" in the world premieres of Stockhausen’s Montag, Dienstag, and Freitag from Licht at La Scala and the Leipzig Opera, and in Donnerstag aus Licht at Covent Garden.Isherwood... |
| Luzipolyp (act 1) | bass and actor | Nicholas Isherwood, Alain Louafi |
| Three Sailors (act 1) | three tenors | Helmut Clemens, Julian Pike, Alastair Thompson |
| Coeur de Basset (acts 2 & 3) | basset horn | Suzanne Stephens Suzanne Stephens Suzanne Stephens is an American clarinetist, resident in Germany, described as "an outstanding performer and tireless promoter of the clarinet and basset horn" .-Biography:... |
| Budgerigar (act 2) | pianist | Pierre-Laurent Aimard Pierre-Laurent Aimard Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a French pianist. He was born in Lyon, where he entered the conservatory. Later he studied with Yvonne Loriod and with Maria Curcio.... |
| Monday Boy (act 2) | soprano | Gabriella Vakarcs |
| Tuesday Boy (act 2) | soprano | Attila Kudor |
| Wednesday Boy (act 2) | soprano | Patrik Pulinka |
| Thursday Boy (act 2) | soprano | Borbála Györi |
| Friday Boy (act 2) | soprano | Agnes Pintér |
| Saturday Boy (act 2) | soprano | Péter Kertész |
| Sunday Boy (act 2) | soprano | Gergely Hutás |
| Bassettinen (act 2) | 2 basset horns and soprano | Rumi Sota, Nele Langrehr, Kathinka Pasveer Kathinka Pasveer -Biography:Kathinka Pasveer was born in Zaandam, North Holland, the daughter of a conductor who also taught at the Amsterdam Conservatory . She studied with Frans Vester at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she received her performer's diploma, with the distinction of the Nicolai Prize in... |
| Pied Piper (act 3) | flautist | Kathinka Pasveer |
| Invisible Choir (act 1) | mixed choir | Choir of the West German Radio Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the consortium of German public-broadcasting institutions, ARD... , Cologne |
| Animal-Children, Heinzelmännchen (act 1), Girls' Choir (act 2), Children (act 3) |
children's choir | Children's Choir of Radio Budapest (Janos Remenyi, choir master) |
| Men and Women | choir | Zaans Kantatekoor (Jan Pasveer, choir master) |
Synopsis
Within the Licht cycle, the opera Monday focuses on the character of Eve, on the feminine side of existence, on birth (Stockhausen and Kohl 1985, 33). Monday is the day of the moon, lunae dies in Latin, and the moon has been traditionally associated with the feminine, in contrast to the sun, which was regarded as masculine. In myths and legends, it is a symbol of fertility, and veneration of the "lesser light" of the moon is a cult of the creative and productive power of nature, of the instinctive wisdom and shadowy perceptions that rule the night. The moon is also the demonic form of the feminine principle, the blind force of eclipse, of destruction, of primal fear, as personified in the Greek goddess HecateHecate
Hecate or Hekate is a chthonic Greco-Roman goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, necromancy, and crossroads.She is attested in poetry as early as Hesiod's Theogony...
, though Stockhausen avoids these aspects for his Eve in favour of positive, creative, and invigorating features (Stoianova 1999, 194–96). Montag is in three acts, with scenes and subscenes (called "situations" by the composer) as follows:
Montags-Gruß
The Monday Greeting is a tape composition played in the foyer as the audience arrives. The visual impression is of being underwater. The music is multilayered, made of stretched-out basset-horn sounds, occasionally mixed with the sounds of splashing and rushing water. Twelve photographs of the basset-horn player in different poses corresponding to the twelve pitches of the mirrored Eve formula surround the space (Stockhausen 1998a, 334).Act 1: Evas Erstgeburt
In the first act, Eve's First Parturition, Eve is manifested in three sopranos who have many names. They sing constantly changing names for the Cosmic MotherMother goddess
Mother goddess is a term used to refer to a goddess who represents motherhood, fertility, creation or embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother.Many different goddesses have...
from the cult of Inanna
Inanna
Inanna, also spelled Inana is the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare....
and from early Germanic cults, so that they are Eve in many forms (Stockhausen 1998c, 123). The act consists of six scenes.
Scene 1: In Hoffnung
The first scene, Expecting, opens on a multistory house with an inner courtyard lit by small green lamps. A terrace at the front ends at a huge Venetian blind. As night falls, the blind opens disclosing a sandy beach, with an indistinct, high tower at the left. High up in this tower, illuminated by a dim green light, stand three naked women. Groups of women with pails, cloths, sponges, baskets, and ladders approach, singing as they go. The moon rises, and the tower is seen to be a huge statue of a female figure, seated on the sand with her back to the terrace. The women begin to wash and anoint the statue, preparing Eve for a ceremony of celebration of birth. The music presents nine periodic cycles in which a musical formulaFormula composition
Formula composition is a serially-derived technique encountered principally in the music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, involving the projection, expansion, and Ausmultiplikation of either a single melody-formula, or a two- or three-voice contrapuntal construction .In contrast to serial music, where the...
gradually emerges (Stockhausen 1998a, 387–89).
Scene 2: Die Heinzelmännchen
HeinzelmännchenHeinzelmännchen
The Heinzelmännchen are a race of creatures appearing in a tale connected with the city of Cologne in Germany.The little house gnomes are said to have done all the work of the citizens of Cologne during the night, so that the inhabitants of Cologne could be very lazy during the day...
are dwarf-like figures from an old Cologne folk tale, though this scene adopts only the humorous aspect from the legend. In this scene, Eve gives birth to a boys’ choir (Stockhausen and Kohl 1985, 29). The three sopranos sing joyfully and very rapidly as the statue gives birth to a boy with a lion’s head, a pair of twins with swallows’ heads and wings, and so on (Stockhausen 1998a, 395–98).
Scene 3: Geburts-Arien
The three sopranos sing two Birth Arias as the Eve statue continues to produce children. During the first aria, a dark figure appears on the beach: it is Lucifer. As he approaches the newborn bodies, he hoots "Repulsive!" Everyone shrinks back, and Lucifer hurries out, As the seven newborn boys and seven newborn Heinzelmännchen (with beards and pointed hats, two of which are conjoined twinsConjoined twins
Conjoined twins are identical twins whose bodies are joined in utero. A rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 100,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa. Approximately half are stillborn, and a smaller fraction of...
) struggle to rise from the sand, the three Eve sopranos sing a second aria (Stockhausen 1989, 389–99, 404)
Scene 4: Knaben-Geschrei
In Boys' Hullaballoo the boys are supposed to sing, but cannot. Instead, they just make strange noises and scream like babies (Stockhausen and Kohl 1985, 29).Scene 5: Luzifers Zorn
In the fifth scene, Lucifer's Fury is directed at the deficent creatures who have been born, and he orders them all back into the womb. The whole process must be gone through again, because the first result was so ugly (Stockhausen and Kohl 1985, 29).Scene 6: Das große Geweine
The Great Weeping is a general lament over Lucifer's decision to reject Eve's first-born, and is realised by a series of glissandos in the synthesizers and choir, which imitate sobbing and weeping (Ferrari 1988, 116).Act 2: Evas Zweitgeburt
Eve's Second Parturition consists of three scenes.Scene 1: Mädchenprozession
In the Girls' Procession, a choir of young girls, wearing dresses shaped like lilies, ceremonially enters bearing candles. The sea is now frozen, and women are hacking blocks of ice with axes, and melting the ice in cauldrons (Stockhausen 1998a, 555). The idea came from a ritual Stockhausen witnessed in Japan, in a valley near Kyoto, in which girls were carrying small lamps in a procession to a temple (Stockhausen 1989b, 279). This type of ceremony, with processions of torches, candles, or other forms of fire, is found as a fertility rite in many world traditions, such as the Egyptian Feast of Lamps for Osiris, the Greek and Roman rites of Hecate and Diana, respectively, and later in the Christian festival of torches on 15 August in honor of the Virgin Mary (Stoianova 1999, 198).Scene 2: Befruchtung mit Klavierstück—Wiedergeburt
- Conception with Piano Piece. The women and girls call for a grand piano played by a budgerigar to inseminate the Eve statue for a second birth. The budgerigar plays Klavierstück XIV (Stockhausen 1998a, 557–58).
- Rebirth. To the singing of American Indian children, the piano is quickly pulled away and the statue's womb begins to glow, green and red, like a nativity scene. The sunlight returns, and seven boys are born, one for each weekday (Stockhausen 1998a, 558–60).
Scene 3: Evas Lied
Eve's Song is basically a concerto for basset horn and synthesizers, against a background of the continuing boys' and girls' choirs from the preceding scenes, and trombones (Stockhausen and Kohl 1985, 30). It consists of a succession of four situations:- Cœur de Basset emerges fron the breast of the statue, playing a basset horn. The women melt large chunks of ice in steaming vats. With glass laboratory equipment, they condense the steam into water.
- In Wochenkreis (Cycle of the Week), Cœur de Basset teaches each of the boys the song of his weekday.
- Basset-Teases: the women put the water they have collected into watering cans and sprinkle the earth with it. Cœur de Basset divides into multiple basset-horn players, Busi, Busa, and Muschi. A transparent Eve figure emerges from the statue and floats toward the boys.
- Initiation. Cœur, Busi, Busa, and Muschi begin a dance, confusing and infatuating the boys. A distant thunderstorm is heard, and a boy calls, "Turn off the lights!" The lights go out (Stockhausen 1998a, 562–84)
Scene 1: Botschaft
Message has a series of four situations.- Evas Spiegel (Eve’s Mirror). Eve, as Cœur de Basset, moves as in a dream over the fresh green lawn until she sees her reflection in the water-filled glassware. Fascinated by her mirror-image, she begins to play, as a male chorus appears and sings, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is fairest of them all?" (Stockhausen 1989, 691).
- Nachricht (News). Women rush in and report the news that a musicus with magic powers has arrived (Stockhausen 1989, 691).
- Susani. The men sing to Eve, and the glass sculpture that mirrored Cœur de Basset bursts (Stockhausen 1989, 691–92).
- In Ave, an alto-flute player dressed as a young man arrives. Eve and the flautist play a duet as the choir comments on their dialogue (Stockhausen 1989, 693–94).
Scene 2: Der Kinderfänger
In The Pied Piper—originally titled Der Zauber (The Magic)—the musicus bewitches the children as Cœur, confused and disappointed, withdraws into the heart of the Eve statue. The adults, too, become frightened and shrink away against the walls and into the corners and watch as the Pied Piper enchants their children (Stockhausen and Kohl 1985, 31). It is a game of mimicry, in which the children try to imitate everything that the flute player demonstrates to them, accompanied by a rapid succession of sound-scenes from the real world. In the end, the Pied Piper dupes the children into removing their shoes and piling them up in a heap (Stockhausen 1998a, 695–96)Scene 3: Entführung
In the final scene, Abduction, the Pied Piper, now playing a piccolo, leads the singing children off in ordered procession into the skies. As their voices become higher and higher in pitch, the Eve statue is transformed into a mountain (the "Evaberg"), sprouting trees, bushes, animals, and streams. The children are seen as giant white birds, circling higher and higher into the skies. Just before the end, one child come back out on stage, looks at the audience in astonishment and shouts, "Are you still here?" He then goes to the pile of shoes, finds his own and puts them on, observing, "It is very dirty outside", and darts away, as the children-bird voices continue to be heard in the distance (Stockhausen and Kohl 1985, 31; Stockhausen 1998a, 697–98).Montags-Abschied
Monday's Farewell, like the greeting, is played back over four channels in the foyer as the audience leaves the theatre. The foyer is now wreathed in clouds, as the ever-rising voices of the children-birds circle around. Toward the end, a single voice sings: "The Eve-children have been abducted by music into higher worlds with green clouds" (Stockhausen 1998a, 759–61).Discography
- Stockhausen: Montag aus Licht. Annette Meriweather, Donna Sarley, Jana Mrazova (soprano); Nicholas IsherwoodNicholas IsherwoodNicholas Isherwood is US-born bass singer, who specialises in contemporary and baroque music. Notable roles include "Lucifer" in the world premieres of Stockhausen’s Montag, Dienstag, and Freitag from Licht at La Scala and the Leipzig Opera, and in Donnerstag aus Licht at Covent Garden.Isherwood...
(bass); Alain Louafi (actor); Helmut Clemens, Julian Pike, Alastair Thompson (tenors); Krisztina Veress, Menyhert Keri, Eszther Marshalko, Attila Botos, Eszther Szabados, Márta Benkó, Gergely Hutás (children's choir soloists); Suzanne Stephens, Rumi Sota, Nele Langrehr (basset horns); Kathinka PasveerKathinka Pasveer-Biography:Kathinka Pasveer was born in Zaandam, North Holland, the daughter of a conductor who also taught at the Amsterdam Conservatory . She studied with Frans Vester at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she received her performer's diploma, with the distinction of the Nicolai Prize in...
(voice and flute); Pierre-Laurent AimardPierre-Laurent AimardPierre-Laurent Aimard is a French pianist. He was born in Lyon, where he entered the conservatory. Later he studied with Yvonne Loriod and with Maria Curcio....
(piano); Michael ObstMichael Obst (composer)Michael Obst is a German composer and pianist.-Life:At first Obst studied music education from 1973 to 1978 in Mainz, and from 1977 to 1982 studied piano with Alfons Kontarsky and Aloys Kontarsky at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, where he sat his piano examination in 1982...
, Simon Stockhausen (synthesizers); Michael Svoboda (synthesizer and trombone); Andreas Boettger (percussion); Choir of the West German Radio, Cologne, Karlheinz Stockhausen, cond.; Radio Budapest Children’s Choir (János Reményi, chorus master), Péter Eötvös, cond. Girls Choir of Radio Budapest, Karlheinz Stockhausen, cond.; Zaans Cantatekoor, Holland (Jan Pasveer, choir master); Péter EötvösPeter EötvösPéter Eötvös is a Hungarian composer and conductor.Eötvös was born in Odorheiu Secuiesc/Székelyudvarhely, Szeklerland, Transylvania . He studied composition in Budapest and Cologne. From 1962, he composed for film in Hungary. Eötvös played regularly with the Stockhausen Ensemble between 1968 and...
(conductor of the soloists in act 1); Karlheinz Stockhausen (sound projection). Stockhausen Complete Edition, CD 36 A–E (5CDs). Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, 1992. - Karlheinz Stockhausen. Musik für Flöte: Kathinka Pasveer spielt 9 Kompositionen. (Kathinkas Gesang als Luzifers Requiem, version for flute and electronic music; In Freundschaft, for flute; Piccolo, solo for piccolo; Amour, for flute; Susanis Echo, for alto flute; Xi, for flute; Zungenspitzentanz, for piccolo; Flautina, for flute with piccolo and alto flute; Ypsilon, for flute.) Stockhausen Complete Edition CD 28 A–B (2CDs). Kürten: Stockhausen-Verlag, 1992.
External links
- Photos of Montag aus Licht at La Scala, Milan
- Stephen Eddins, "Stockhausen: Montag aus Licht" (record review). Allmusic.com. (Accessed 20 April 2011)
- Albrecht Moritz essays:
- "Montag aus Licht (Monday from Light), Opera in Three Acts (1984–88)" (Introduction) (Accessed 20 April 2011)
- "Ave (1984/85), for Basset-Horn and Alto Flute" (Accessed 20 April 2011)
- Reviews by Ingvar Loco Nordin (Accessed 20 April 2011)