Ullmann: Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Op. 49b "Die Tod-Verweigerung" (Live at Prinzregenten Theater, Munich 10/10/2021)
4/15/2022, 28 Tracks, 52:50
Featuring
Patrick Hahn
Juliana Zara
Christel Loetzsch
Johannes Chum
Adrian Eröd
Lars Woldt
Tareq Nazmi
Münchner Rundfunkorchester
Viktor Ullmann
Did you know?
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Recording & Production
This recording of "Der Kaiser von Atlantis" is a live performance from the Prinzregententheater in Munich on October 10, 2021.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Composer Viktor Ullmann experienced a 'real surge of creativity' in Theresienstadt, calling it 'a true school of form' where one had to overcome matter through form.
Compositional Technique
The opera features musical allusions to composers banned by the Nazis, such as a quote from Mahler's "Lied von der Erde," and a distorted version of the "Deutschlandlied."
Composition History
Although rehearsed in Theresienstadt, "Der Kaiser von Atlantis" was never performed there; both Ullmann and Kien were deported to Auschwitz and died before the war ended.
Historical Context
The Theresienstadt concentration camp, where the opera was created, was considered a 'model ghetto' by the Nazis, and a lively cultural life developed there, organized by the prisoners.
Composition History
Viktor Ullmann and his librettist Peter Kien created the opera "Der Kaiser von Atlantis" while interned in the Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II.
Compositional Technique
The opera incorporates diverse musical styles, including jazz, 1920s dance music like shimmy and slowfox, chorale, fugue, and free tonality, to add layers of meaning to the text.
