Lulu (opera)

Lulú is an opera in a prologue, two acts and an epilogue composed by Alban Berg. The libretto, by the composer himself, is based on the tragedies Erdgeist (The Spirit of the Earth) and Die Büchse der Pandora ( Pandora's Box), by Frank Wedekind. It was premiered on June 2, 1937 at the Zurich Opera House.

History

Creation

Frank Wedekind (Hanover, July 24, 1864 – Munich, March 9, 1918), non-conformist, controversial and anti-system playwright, was working on writing a work that dealt with the world of female eroticism, in a stark and crude way, for more than 20 years, from 1892 to 1913.

At first, the result of his work was a monumental tragedy entitled Pandora's Box divided into five acts, but after successive modifications, it was divided into two independent works: The Spirit of the Earth, a tragedy in four acts, and Pandora's Box, a tragedy in three acts.

In 1928 Alban Berg would begin the adaptation of the two Wedekind tragedies as the basis of the libretto for his opera Lulu, but in 1935 the composer died of septicemia, leaving the orchestration of the third act unfinished, although he did leave his scheme resolved musical. The composer's widow, Helene Nahowski, proposed to Arnold Schönberg that he conclude the third act, but when he refused, Helene categorically refused that Lulu was finished in the future. It was not until Helene's death that the work was finished musically by the Austrian composer and conductor Friedrich Cerha.

Representations

It was premiered on June 2, 1937 at the Zurich Opera House. In Argentina it premiered at the Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires) on October 29, 1965 and was directed by Ferdinand Leitner with Evelyn Lear as Lulú.

In Spain it premiered at the Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona in 1969 and, the version completed by Cerha, on the same stage in 1987.

In New York at the Metropolitan Opera in 1977 with Carole Farley and Tatiana Trojanos conducted by James Levine.

There are two versions: the original by Berg from 1937 in Zurich (Prologue, 2 acts and epilogue); and that of Cerha (Prologue, 3 acts and epilogue) whose premiere took place, after an intense bid from various theaters, at the Opera Garnier in Paris on February 24, 1979.

This opera is rarely performed; in Operabase statistics it appears as number 139 of the operas performed in 2005-2010, being the 19th in Germany and the second for Berg, with 22 performances in the period.

Characters

Plot

The opera is articulated as a series of scenes from Lulu's rugged and indomitable life. The action takes place between some unknown place in Germany and the city of London, at the end of the 19th century.

Foreword

A circus somewhere in Germany.

The tamer invites attendees to visit the circus zoo, where they can see exotic beasts, among them a large and poisonous snake that is none other than Lulu herself, a reflection of the first woman, Eva.

Act I

First scene

Painter's Studio.

The composer Alwa enters looking for his father, Doctor Schön, editor of a newspaper, to accompany him to the rehearsal of his new work. At that moment, the wife of the Health Inspector (Lulú) is posing dressed as Pierrot for the Painter. The erotic desire between the Painter and his model is increasing and, when it almost reaches its climax, the Health Inspector appears who, seeing his wife in the Painter's arms, falls struck down by a heart attack.

Second scene

Living room in the new house of the Painter.

The Painter has married Lulu, now a wealthy young widow. Things are going very well for him, as he manages to sell all the paintings he makes, without realizing that it is Dr. Schön, Lulu's lover, who buys all his creations.

When Lulu finds herself alone, an old beggar none other than Schigolch, who long ago turned her into a prostitute when she was just a child, comes to visit her to ask for money. As Schigolch leaves, the viewer is left in doubt as to whether this is Lulu's father or lover, possibly both.

Later, Dr. Schön enters the scene and tells Lulu that their relationship must end, as it poses a danger to her social status and business interests, since after all he was the one who picked her up from the street and married her to the Painter. Now he is going to join a girl from high society and he wants to change her life. The two start a heated discussion. The Painter arrives and asks for an explanation of what is happening there. Dr. Schön opens her eyes and tells her the whole truth about his relationship with his wife. The Painter, desperate to realize that his marriage, which he believed to be sincere, is nothing more than a screen for Dr. Schön and Lulú, slits his throat with a razor.

Third scene

Dressing room of a theater.

Lulú triumphs as prima ballerina in a show created by Alwa, the sole purpose of the young woman being to find a rich husband. Alwa coincidentally finds out that Lulu has engaged to a Prince who, after marrying her, will take her to Africa.

At one point, Dr. Schön, the Director of the Theater, the Wardrobe Manager, and Lulu, who has fainted on stage when she recognized Dr. Schön. After some heated reproaches, Dr. Schön gives in and falls exhausted at Lulu's feet; she is she then dictates a letter of rupture with the young fiancée, which means the death sentence for Dr. Schön in the eyes of society.

Act II

First scene

Living room in the House of Dr. Schön.

Lulú has finally married Dr. Schön. Countess Geschwitz, a lesbian and friend of the couple, tries to curry favor with Lulu. Likewise, other friends of the couple such as the Schigolch Swindler, an athlete and a Schoolboy court Lulu without her resisting.

Dr. Schön, totally unhinged by jealousy, maintains a bitter dispute with Lulu, providing her with a revolver to commit suicide, however, Lulu accidentally shoots and the one who falls mortally wounded is Dr. Schön. Alwa, Schön's son, arrives to discover the body of his father and reports Lulu to the police. Lulu is sentenced to twenty years in jail.

Countess Geschwitz, unable to resist being separated from Lulu, voluntarily catches cholera, which she then infects Lulu, getting them both admitted to the same hospital.

Second scene

Living room in the House of Dr. Schön a year later.

Countess Geschwitz, who has been released from the hospital, and the Athlete await Schigolch's arrival. When he arrives, the Countess proposes that he accompany her to the hospital where she will exchange her clothes with Lulu's and thus make her run away from her.

Lulú arrives dressed in the clothes of the Countess. The Athlete, who had intended to exploit her as an attraction in the circus, sees the sorry state she is in and abandons her.

Alwa arrives and, seeing Lulu sick with cholera and worn out after two years in prison, he decides to help her, since he has always been in love with his father's lover; he sells Dr. Schön's newspaper and with the money obtained he takes Lulu across the border.

Epilogue

London

Lulú is a street prostitute and her only friend is Countess Geschwitz. One night, Lulu receives a customer who turns out to be Jack the Ripper. The Countess tries to protect Lulu and Jack kills them both. After cleaning his knife of blood, Jack leaves the scene with a dismissive gesture.

Music analysis

Berg wrote this work based on the technique of twelve-tone music, a composition method developed by his teacher Arnold Schönberg. In his previous opera, Wozzeck, Berg had already used Schönberg's method in a fragmentary way, without adhering one hundred percent to the teachings of his teacher. In Lulú he develops a set of main and secondary series, which he assigns to each of the characters.

Instrumentation

The work is written for the following instruments:

• 3 flutes (all bending to piccolo), 3 oboes (the third bending to the English corn), 3 clarinets in Yes, bemol. (the first and the second bending to the clarinet My bemol), 1 low clarinet in Yes, bemol., 1 high saxophone My bemol, 3 fagotes (the third bending the counterphagot);
• 4 tubes in Fa3 trumpets in Do3 trombones 1 tuba,
• Timbales, percussion (8 interpreters), piano and harp;
• String section: violins I and II, violas, cellos, bass.

The jazz ensemble performing on stage in act I.iii can be drawn from the performers in the pit. It consists of: 3 clarinets in B flat , 1 bass clarinet in B flat , alto saxophone in E flat, tenor saxophone in B flat , 1 contrabassoon, 2 jazz trumpets in B; 2 jazz trumpets in C, 2 jazz trombones; sousaphone; jazz drums (3 players), banjo, piano, 3 violins with jazz horns; double bass. In Cerha's edition of act III.i he uses a smaller ensemble on stage including 1 piccolo, 1 flute, 3 clarinets and 1 bass clarinet;... contrabassoon...

It was this opera that introduced the orchestra of Western art music to the vibraphone, an instrument previously associated only with jazz.

The large-scale structure of Lulu is often said to be mirror-like. Lulu's popularity in Act 1 is reflected in the squalor she lives in during Act 3, and this is accentuated by Lulu's husbands in Act 1 being performed by the same singers who will be her clients in Act 3.

Shape

This mirror-like structure is further emphasized by the opera's interlude that takes place in the second act, at the very center of the play. The events presented in that part are a miniature version of the mirror structure of the opera as a whole. Lulu goes into jail and then comes out again. On the other hand, the music that accompanies such a fragment is an exact palindrome, that is, it reads the same forwards as backwards. The center point of this palindrome is indicated by an arpeggio played on the piano, which appears first ascending and then descending as shown below at the top of the staff (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Palindrome structure in Lulu.

Series

Cell z is the basic cell of Lulu and generates Trope I:

Figure 2. Two forms of Tropo I, each generated from all the pair or odd forms of cell z.

The z cell is also one of the basic cells in Béla Bartók's String Quartet No. 4.

Although part of the opera is freely composed, Berg also makes use of the twelve-tone technique of his teacher Arnold Schoenberg. Instead of using a twelve-tone series for the entire work, he gives each character their own series, which means that the series act more like the leitmotif in Richard Wagner's operas.

Figure 3. Basic series of opera Lulu in Do.

From this series, Berg derives series for many of the characters. For example, the series associated with Lulu herself is as follows: Fa, Sol, La♭, Si♭, Do, Re, Fa♯, Re ♯, Mi, La, Si, Do♯. This series is built by extracting a note (F) from the first trichord of the basic series; then take the next note (G) of the second trichord of the basic series; then take the third note (La♭) of the third trichord of the basic series; and so on, repeating the cycle three times over the basic series.

Figure 4. Series Alwa of the opera Lulu in Do.

The series associated with Alwa is obtained by repeating the basic series over and over again taking all the seventh notes, this gives rise to the following series: Si♭, Fa♯, Mi♭, Sol♯, Fa, Si, Mi, Re, La, Do, Do♯, Sol.

Figure 5. Series Dr. Schön of the opera Lulu in Do.

Similarly, the series associated with Dr. Schön is obtained by repeating the basic series (as in the example above) and taking the first note, leaving one note, and taking the next note, leaving two, taking the next, leaving three, taking the next, leaving three, taking the next, leaving two, taking the next, leaving one, taking the next, leaving one, taking the next, leaving two, taking the next and so on. The resulting string is as follows: Si♭, Mi♭, Sol, Sol♯, Re, Fa, Mi, La, Si, Do, Fa♯ span>, Do♯.

Figure 6. Series College of the opera Lulu in Do.

Selected discography

A series of recordings of this opera have been made, among which the following stand out.