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20
BURT
Great loneliness
Francis Burt wrote Unter der
blanken Hacke des Mondes in 1974.
The work, for baritone and orchestra
is based on five poems by the
poet Peter Huchel, who emigrated
from East Germany in 1972. The
composer was moved by the “expression
of great loneliness” in the
text. The Orchester der Kunstuniversität
Graz performs the work
under Martin Sieghart on 27 Oct in
the Stefaniensaal in Graz/A. The
baritone is David Park.
Francis Burt is currently completing
his full-length opera Mahan.
Francis Burt
GURLITT
The other
Wozzeck
burt / gurlitt
Several unfortunate circumstances
caused the opera Wozzeck by Manfred
Gurlitt, who was born in Berlin
in 1890, to be almost forgotten. The
world première – in Bremen, 1926 –
was preceded by the première of
Alban Berg’s identically-named
opera a year earlier. Without this
overwhelming competition, there
is no doubt that Gurlitt’s scoring
would have won a fixed place in
the repertoire as a major contribution
to expressionist music theatre.
There are several astonishing parallels
between Berg and Gurlitt’s
works, such as the first “Marie”
scene, where both composers employ
a march and a lullaby. In his
Wozzeck, Gurlitt dispensed with
traditional structures, instead aiming
to match Büchner’s text with
his sequences, which often only
last a few minutes. The Lucerne
Theatre will open its season with
this masterpiece on 6 Sep.
www.bit.ly/gurlitt1