Realisation
Wiener Kammeroper
Music
Stephen Oliver, based on sketches by W.A. Mozart
Text and Text Arrangement
Stephen Oliver, based on sketches by G. Varesco, translated into Italian by L. Saviori
Conductor
Daniel Hoyem-Cavazza
Stage Design and Costumes
Thomas Goerge
Lighting
Harry Michlits
Soloists
Berit Barfred-Jensen (Auretta), Judith Halász (Celidora), Magdalena Hofmann (Lavina), Maida Karisik (a strange figure), Andries Cloete (Biondello), José Aparicio (Calandrino), Noé Colin (Chiccibio), Philip Zawisza (Don Pippo)
Orchestra
Orchester der Wiener Kammeroper (Vienna Chamber Opera Orchestra)
Austrian Premiere
9 May 2006
Place
Wiener Kammeroper
Tickets & Info
Wiener Kammeroper
Fleischmarkt 24
1010 Vienna
Tel.: +43-1-512 01 00 - 77
E-mail: tickets@wienerkammeroper.at
Web:
www.wienerkammeroper.at |
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L’oca del Cairo (The Goose of Cairo)
Austrian Premiere
Stephen Oliver´s chamber opera "L`oca del Cairo" is a highly subjective, independent work - written by one of the most brilliant composers of contemporary English opera, who died far too young at the age of 42.
Mozart’s L’oca del Cairo , which was planned as a two-act opera, is fragmentary in two respects: first, Varesco’s libretto was only partially set to music, and second, the musical numbers - with one exception - were composed only in short score, that is, Mozart set down only the vocal part and the orchestral bass, with occasional indications of the intended orchestration.
The fragments were composed between The Abduction from the Seraglio and The Impresario , and, especially in the conception of the finale of the first act, give a foretaste of what Mozart was to achieve in the Da Ponte operas. Stephen Oliver, for whom opera was of central importance in his own enormous oeuvre and who composed more than 40 operas, from mini-operas lasting less than 30 minutes to full-length works, saw himself as a craftsman much in the style of 18th-century composers who would undertake any commissioned work. It is therefore not surprising that he maintained close connections throughout his life with the music festival “Musica nel Chiostro” in Batignano, Tuscany, where four of his operas were first staged, the last of these being L`oca del Cairo in 1991.
Stephen Oliver extended Varesco’s libretto and slightly changed the story, which is a lighthearted comedy full of confusing absurdities. He faithfully orchestrated all of Mozart’s original sketches in the composer’s own style; however, instead of putting them all into the first act in the order Mozart intended, he distributed them throughout both acts. The hour of music which Oliver himself contributed is modern and, with its mixed tonal language, somewhat austere sound idiom and variable metre, deliberately not at all like Mozart. This both startling and amusing contrast has a fascinating effect of its own, lending a new perspective to the characters in the piece that takes them far beyond the original stereotyped figures.
Produced by WIENER KAMMEROPER in co-operation with WIENER MOZARTJAHR 2006
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