Tobias Picker - LILI ELBE

Lili Elbe (2023)
an opera in two acts
libretto (Eng) by Aryeh Lev Stollman

"An emotionally charged masterpiece."
– Voralberger Zeitung

"Lili Elbe is an opera that is relevant today and worthy of remounting...this is the story of a great love that overcomes all obstacles, a universal theme that runs through all the operatic repertoire.”
– Die Welt

Note from the composer:
Lili Elbe is the first full scale opera about a transgender person and composed for a trans opera singer in the title role. Lili Elbe (1882-1931) was one of the first persons to undergo gender affirmation surgery. Lili before transition was known as the acclaimed Danish landscape painter Einar Wegener. Lili was happily married to Gerda Wegener (1886-1940), herself an important artist considered the Danish pioneer of Art Dèco and a sought-after portraitist.

Synopsis:
When the actress Anna Larssen of the Royal Danish Theater, who had just premiered the role of Orpheus in a new play, could not come for the last sitting of her portrait, the centerpiece of a new exhibition, she makes an unusual suggestion; that the artist, Gerda Wegener, ask Lili Elbe, (at that time known as Gerda’s husband, the artist Einar Wegener), to dress up and pose as Anna. At this sitting Lili is brought to a profound self-discovery, never before acknowledged. Like Orpheus compelled to look back at Eurydice, Lili can never again help turning away from her true self. Lili, despite the support of Gerda, their friends Eric and Hélène, and Lili’s brother Marius, encounters hostility even from her own sister Dagmar. Finally, through the efforts of Hélène she is introduced to Professor Warnekros who agrees to operate on her at the Municipal Women’s Clinic in Dresden and help her fully live her life as a woman. After her first surgery, through a dramatic encounter with the King of Denmark, she receives a royal decree confirming her gender identity and dissolving her marriage to Gerda. As a pioneer of gender affirmation surgery, Lili endures the terrible pains and dangers of the more limited and experimental medical science of her time, ultimately dying from complications after a second surgery. During this journey both Lili and Gerda find temporary love in different quarters, Lili with the perfumer Claude LeJeune, and Gerda with the Italian Major Fernando Porta who will squander her money and leave her in poverty. Lili and Gerda, together at the end, declare their great and everlasting love for each other, which has never altered. 

MATERIALS

Press Quotes
One Sheet
Full Score
Piano-Vocal Score
Libretto
Staging Concept and Designs
Notes from the Composer

World Premiere Cast:
Lili Elbe - Lucia Lucas
Gerda Wegener - Sylvia D'Eramo
Anna Larssen Bjørner/Orpheus/Mother Wegener/Young Woman - Mack Wolz
Hélène Allatini/Eurydice - Jennifer Panara
Claude LeJeune - Brian Michael Moore
Marius Wegener - Sam Taskinen
Professor Warnekros - Msimelelo Mbali
Art Critic / Major Fernando Porta / Christian X, King of Denmark - Kristján Jóhannesson
Danish Countess/Dagmar/Matron - Theo Imart
Eric Allatini - David Maze

Roles:
LILI ELBE (historically known as Einar Wegener, pre-transition), Baritone
GERDA WEGENER, wife of Lili, Soprano
CLAUDE LEJEUNE, fiancé of Lili, Tenor
DANISH COUNTESS / DAGMAR, sister of Lili / MATRON, Soprano
ANNA LARSSEN BJØRNER, famous actress and friend of Gerda and Lili / ORPHEUS / MOTHER WEGENER / YOUNG WOMAN, Mezzo-soprano
PROFESSOR WARNEKROS, Director of Municipal Women’s Clinic in Dresden, Bass
ART CRITIC / MAJOR FERNANDO PORTA (Gerda's second husband) / CHRISTIAN X, King of Denmark, Bass
MARIUS WEGENER, Lili’s brother, Baritone
HÉLÈNE ALLATINI, wife of Eric Allatini, friends of Lili and Gerda / EURYDICE, Mezzo-soprano
ERIC ALLATINI, (husband of Hélène Allatini), Baritone 

SATB Chorus

Composer’s note on casting:
The double and triple casting choices for Theater St. Gallen’s 2023 world premiere production may be used as a guide for future productions. While Lili Elbe, Gerda Wegener and Claude LeJeune should never be doubled, there are other permutations of double or triple role assignments possible. The world premiere cast comprises ten singers in principal and supporting roles. 

Instrumentation: 
2(pic)2(ca)2(bcl)2(cbn)-4.2.2.1-timp.1perc-hp.pno-str(10.8.6.6.4)
Reduced orchestration in preparation

Duration: Full Evening

Publisher: Schott Helicon Music Corporation

World Premiere: October 22, 2023, 7:00 PM at Theater St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Additional performances: 
October 29 at 5:00 PM
November 2 at 7:30 PM
November 5 at 2:00 PM
November 11 at 7:00 PM
November 17 at 7:30 PM
December 3 at 7:00 PM

For more information on 
Tobias Picker, visit
tobiaspicker.com and
on the Schott Music website HERE.

VIDEO

Watch a complete performance of Lili Elbe HERE.

Lili Elbe | Trailer from the world premiere production at Theater St. Gallen


“I see a woman," from Lili Elbe, sung by Sylvia D'Eramo


Introduction to the Making of Lili Elbe

PRODUCTION PHOTOS

Click here to view additional photos from the world premiere production of Lili Elbe at Theater St. Gallen, October 2023. Photos © Edyta Dufaj.