The Premiere of Kauder's Opera Merlin
Merlin - a fantastical opera. World premiere on Sunday, June 9, 5 pm,
at Trinity Lutheran Church, 292 Orange Street, New Haven, CT.
Click here to support the Merlin production and receive wonderful rewards!
The Hugo Kauder Society is thrilled to announce the forthcoming premiere of Kauder's only opera, Merlin. The performance date of the opera, June 9th, 2013, marks its world premiere on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the composer's birth.
Buy tickets now!
Merlin is the result of a collaboration in the 1960's between Kauder and German poet, philosopher, and writer Rudolf Pannwitz. Its fantastical themes are reminiscent of the mythology that inspired the music dramas of Richard Wagner.
In the story, Merlin comes from the Orient to the Western world in order to fight its lust for power and violence. Over the course of the drama, far-eastern wisdom is combined with the western cultural tradition, the mythical past merges with the future, and earthly hedonism unites with the will to the sublime. Merlin comes to realize that it is only in the perpetuity of love and death that his work can find a higher purpose.
The opera's harmonic language, like its story, certainly owes much to the romanticism of Wagner. Its unique, enhanced tonality, however, incorporates the modernism of the 20th century while simultaneously evoking the music of Renaissance composers such as Ockeghem, Obrecht, and Josquin de Prez.
For updates on the production, please visit us here, at www.hugokauder.org, or at www.facebook.com/HugoKauder.
The Hugo Kauder Society is grateful for the generous support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, The Victor Herbert Foundation, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, Pearce Real Estate, and Friends of the Hugo Kauder Society.