Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Moritz Eggert
HELLE NÄCHTE. Opera on themes from "Märchen aus 1001 Nacht" and "Mysterien" by Knut Hamsun (2006)
- Hans Sikorski (USA and Canada only)
- rec, 2cl(bcl), tsx, bn(cbn), 2tpt(pictpt), euph, tbn, tba, 3perc, egtr, eb, acn, pf(harmonium), kbd, str
- fl(pic), 2(bcl), asx, bn(cbn), 2tpt(pictpt), 2(btbn), tba, 2perc, pf, harmonium, syn, str
- 2 hr
- Helmut Krausser
Programme Note
Johann Nagel falls in love with the pastor’s daughter Dagny, and she also feels mysteriously attracted to him. To coax Dagny from her reserve, Johann tells her about a dream in which a strange dwarf and his blind daughter lead him to a tower in the ghostly night. Johann now asks the deeply affected Dagny to herself tell a love story from the Arabian Nights:
Aziz and Aziza are engaged, but shortly before the wedding Aziz falls in love with a beautiful unknown woman. He asks his bride to feign an illness so as to be able to postpone the wedding. In selfless love, Aziza shows him the way to the mysterious beauty and dies. Johann is enraged over Dagny’s story: no one in his right mind would sacrifice one’s own love! He then begins to tell another story from the Arabian Nights in which a goldsmith falls in love with the portrait of a beautiful singer. He ruthlessly forms an intrigue and, falsely accused, the beauty ends up in the dungeon. Through bribery the goldsmith succeeds in abducting the poor singer from prison. Full of objections, Dagny interrupts Johann’s tale: no one could love a person who would lie to the beloved and blackmail her! She continues with her own tale. As his penalty, a young thief is to have his right hand cut off. At the last second at the place of execution, however, a veiled woman throws herself between the executioner and the convict. It is none other than Dagny! She confesses that the thief is her lover. To save her honour, he had posed as a thief when her brother discovered him in the night. When the executioner nevertheless wants to move on to the criminal act, Dagny rips off his mask: it is Johann Nagel, who has slipped into the story in order to put an end to the sentimentality. A storm of contradictory feelings rages in Dagny. Giving herself a slap, she frees herself from her love for Johann. Perplexed, the thief and the Imam remain behind and feel like they are in the wrong tale. They set out on the long return to the Orient, trying to remember the story of Dagny and Nagel ...
Aziz and Aziza are engaged, but shortly before the wedding Aziz falls in love with a beautiful unknown woman. He asks his bride to feign an illness so as to be able to postpone the wedding. In selfless love, Aziza shows him the way to the mysterious beauty and dies. Johann is enraged over Dagny’s story: no one in his right mind would sacrifice one’s own love! He then begins to tell another story from the Arabian Nights in which a goldsmith falls in love with the portrait of a beautiful singer. He ruthlessly forms an intrigue and, falsely accused, the beauty ends up in the dungeon. Through bribery the goldsmith succeeds in abducting the poor singer from prison. Full of objections, Dagny interrupts Johann’s tale: no one could love a person who would lie to the beloved and blackmail her! She continues with her own tale. As his penalty, a young thief is to have his right hand cut off. At the last second at the place of execution, however, a veiled woman throws herself between the executioner and the convict. It is none other than Dagny! She confesses that the thief is her lover. To save her honour, he had posed as a thief when her brother discovered him in the night. When the executioner nevertheless wants to move on to the criminal act, Dagny rips off his mask: it is Johann Nagel, who has slipped into the story in order to put an end to the sentimentality. A storm of contradictory feelings rages in Dagny. Giving herself a slap, she frees herself from her love for Johann. Perplexed, the thief and the Imam remain behind and feel like they are in the wrong tale. They set out on the long return to the Orient, trying to remember the story of Dagny and Nagel ...