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Performances of Wolfgang Rihm's Die Eroberung von Mexico in Mainz and Jagden und Formen in Paris

Jan. 25, 2023

The Staatstheater Mainz presents a new production of Wolfgang Rihm's opera, Die Eroberung von Mexico from January 29-March 3. The production is directed by Elisabeth Stöppler and conducted by Hermann Bäumer. For Die Eroberung von Mexico, which premiered in 1992 with Metzmacher leading the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Rihm takes Antonin Artaud’s La Conquête du Mexique (1932) as his primary source. In the opera, Rihm develops the two main characters—Cortez and Montezuma—as “sonic spheres” of opposing cultural worlds whose encounter is like “an encounter with the Self.” He elaborates:

Artaud’s mantra “male-female” plays an important role. The confrontation of two problematic spheres, two “cultures,” each of which is at odds with itself, determines the sonic reality. A kind of unification of opposites develops in the circumstance of unconscious conflicts – almost like an act of love… Artaud’s theatrical work is not a historical drama; it is a phantasmagoria about ambivalence: hence his mantra “male-female-neuter.” We are already in the midst of a music which has always already begun.

In developing the concept of the “male-female-neuter,” Rihm casts the character of Montezuma as a soprano whose voice is extended by two additional female voices in the orchestra, while the role of Cortez is taken by baritone voice augmented by two male speakers.

On January 22, Matthias Pintscher led Ensemble Intercontemporain in a performance of Rihm's Jagden und Formen for orchestra. Wolfgang Schaufler noted:

"Jagden und Formen is so immediately gripping that it is already considered a classic of the modern age. As a ‘work-in-progress’ that has grown over the years, Jagden und Formen has reached its final form in the version of 2008. It begins as a mating dance of two violins and increases to a breathless music of irresistible pull: virtuosic, intoxicating and exuberant with ideas, without ever losing the tension. Inescapable."



Excerpt from Wolfgang Rihm's Jagden und Formen/Ensemble Modern/
Dominique My, conductor

For more information on Wolfgang Rihm, visit: universaledition.com.

Wolfgang Rihm
Die Eroberung von Mexico (The Conquest of Mexico) (1987-1991)
music drama after Antonin Artaud
libretto by Wolfgang Rihm
for dramatic soprano, high soprano, alto, baritone, a screaming man, two speakers dancer and chorus
3.4.4.1-3.3.3.1-timp.5perc-wind machine-hp.pno.eorg.2ebass-2vn.2va.2vc.4dc
120’

Jagden und Formen (1995-2001/2007/2008)
for orchestra
2.1.2.1-2.2.2.1-3perc-hp-pno-guit-2vn.va.vc.cb
55'

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