Music Theatre since 1990 - Schott Music

Synopsis
Ubu is greedy for power, money and blood sausage. Spurred on by his wife, he plans an assassination
attempt on the Polish King Wenzel: in his unlimited sense of self-importance, Ubu is
deeply convinced that he is the only one worthy of being king. With the aid of a gang of louts,
the treacherous assassination is successful and Ubu proclaims himself as the new ruler to the
jubilation of the blinded masses. From this point on, his sole occupation is to gain unlimited
wealth. Without further ado, he hurls all major figures of his state – the aristocracy, judges and
financiers – into a highly effective brain-smashing machine and seizes their riches. Ubu’s reign
of terror is however of short duration: when the Russian Tsar deploys his army against the usurper,
Ubu chooses to retreat from the superior military force and escape to safety.
Alfred Jarry’s scandalous work of 1896, Ubu Roi, has not lost any of its original explosiveness.
Jarry depicts the prophetic image of a proletarian Philistine who – as soon as he has seized
power – immediately initiates anarchistic acts of violence. Through parody and caricature, this
primitive, power-hungry individual is however unmasked and revealed as a ridiculous figure –
but in a tone of humour that freezes laughter in the throat. Krzysztof Penderecki chose Jarry’s
timeless text as the basis for his fourth full-length stage work, following The Devils of Loudon,
Paradise Lost and The Black Mask.
Ubu Rex
28.05.2004 Lithuanian National Opera Vilnius
In a radical renunciation of his previous operas, which were characterised by monumental content
and profound tonal sonority, Penderecki’s initial starting point in this work was the image of a
buffoon. The music is determined by a vivid characterisation on the one hand, and on the other by
an informal tone which enables the text to be easily heard and appreciated. The individual figures
are assigned recognisable […] motifs and gestures and the […] orchestra is utilised with an economy
more usually found in chamber music. (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 09.07.1991)
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