Venus und Adonis

Venus und Adonis is a one-act opera by Hans Werner Henze with a German libretto by Hans-Ulrich Treichel, after the poem by William Shakespeare. The work uses both singers and dancers.

It was first performed by the Bavarian State Opera in Munich on 11 January 1997 (Chōki 1997, 18). The American première was at the Santa Fe Opera in August 2000, and the same production was used for the Canadian première, which took place in Toronto in 2001 (Brockmeier 2003). The Japanese premiere was given in concert form in Tokyo on 11 January 2001. [ [http://www.operajaponica.org/archivesj/summaries/summariespast01.htm Notice of Japanese premiere in Opera japonica, accessed 1 May 2008] ]

Roles

*Clemente (tenor)
*Heldendarsteller (baritone)
*Madrigalist (baritone)
*Primadonna (soprano)

References

ources

*Brockmeier, Jens. 2003. "Mythische Imagination in der Musik Hans Werner Henzes". In "Hans Werner Henze: Die Vorträge des internationalen Henze-Symposions am Musikwissenschaftlichen Institut der Universität Hamburg 28. bis 30. Juni 2001", Hamburger Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft 20, edited by Peter Petersen. Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Brussels, New York, Oxford, Vienna: Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-631-51114-5
*Chōki, Seiji [長木誠司] . 1997. "Hentse no shinsaku opera "Vinasu to Adonisu" shoen" [The première of Henze's new opera "Venus und Adonis"] . "Ongaku geijutsu" (March): 18–56.
*Konold, Wulf. 1996. "Venus und Adonis": Hans Werner Henzes Komposition eines Mythos". "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik" 157, no. 4 (July-August): 16–21.
*Petersen, Peter. 1999. "Die Oper als Mythos: "Venus und Adonis" von Hans Werner Henze". In "Musik und Mythos", Neue Aspekte der musikalischen Ästhetik 5, edited by Hans Werner Henze and Michael Kerstan, 137–53. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag. ISBN 3596138523
*Treichel, Hans-Ulrich. 1996. "Die Schule des Librettisten". "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik" 157, no. 4 (July-August): 22–25.