Viktor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis (The Emperor of Atlantis) at Black Box Opera Theater in Seattle during Opera America 2006 Conference

May. 01, 2006

Verdi’s Macbeth is not the only opera in town during the 2006 Opera America Conference in Seattle. Viktor Ullmann’s one hour chamber opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis can be seen at Black Box Opera Theater on May 5, 6 and 7. Composed while Ullmann was imprisoned in the Theresienstadt concentration camp  during World War II, Der Kaiser carries a historical resonance rare in its acuity. Its plot delineates a thinly veiled allegory condemning Hitler and the Nazi regime. The emperor of Atlantis, acting the role of Hitler, wages a bloody war, killing his own people, at the sight of which Death himself goes on strike, throwing the balance of the world into calamity.

With a libretto also composed by a Thereseinstadt prisoner, Peter Kien, Der Kaiser was intended to be premiered within the concentration camp itself. However, during performance preparation in 1944 the S.S. became aware of the opera's allegorical implications and anti-Nazi stance, and the project was terminated. Shortly thereafter, Ullmann, Kein, and many of the other participants were sent to Auschwitz, where they were murdered in the gas chamber.

Amazingly, the manuscript for Der Kaiser survived, having been smuggled out of Thereseinstadt, but it was not until 1975 that the work was premiered in Amsterdam.

To learn more about Viktor Ullmann and his works, please visit www.schott-music.com or www.viktorullmannfoundation.org. To learn more about Black Box Opera Theater and their performance of Der Kaiser von Atlantis, please visit www.blackboxoperatheater.com.