德紹: 歌劇(蘭斯洛) 多米尼克.貝基爾 指揮 威瑪國家管弦樂團 Staatskapelle Weimar / Paul Dessau: Lanzelot (2CD)

(2CD)保羅.德紹: 歌劇(蘭斯洛)
多米尼克.貝基爾 指揮
德國國家劇院歌劇合唱團
威瑪國家管弦樂團

Music history encompasses masterpieces which are simply forgotten for a while before being rediscovered in a later era when they act as a mirror of current sensitivities: prominent examples include Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony" or Erich Wolfgang Korngold's opera Die tote Stadt. The reasons for such oblivion are manifold - in the case of Paul Dessau's fairy-tale opera Lanzelot, they are almost certainly political. This also has to do with the fact that Dessau (1894-1979), the son of a Jewish tobacconist from Hamburg, settled in the Soviet occupation zone after exile during the Second World War and lived until his death as a politically loyal but also thoroughly dissident citizen of the GDR.
Through his collaboration with Bertolt Brecht, at the age of sixty Dessau discovered music theatre for himself, whose sole raison d'être, according to him, was to fulfil a political didactic role. Twice he set texts by Brecht to music; for his third opera he turned to the fairy tale The Dragon by the Soviet author Evgeny Schwartz, which the playwright Heiner Muller, alongside Ginka Tcholakova, adapted for him, creating the libretto for Lanzelot. The plot is so controversial that even the original was banned under Stalin. A dragon who liberated the people from cholera a very long time ago now heads up a totalitarian regime, but is loved by his people as he guarantees them order and materialistic wellbeing. The appearance of the self-proclaimed libertarian hero Lancelot triggers resistance among the citizens; in the end, the question emerges as to whether the people are really ready for revolution.

Surprisingly, the material did not meet with resistance from the GDR authorities at the premiere at the (East) Berlin State Opera in December 1969; the production by Ruth Berghaus, Dessau's wife, was restrained in its political statement. Yet Dessau's music was among the most modern and provocative that was permitted in the GDR at the time. The demands on the soloists, chorus and orchestra are colossal, a richly equipped percussion section provides punch, and the composer also makes use of recordings to be played in the auditorium. Nowhere in his oeuvre does Dessau offer up a greater variety of musical styles; from baroque concerto grosso and romantic parodies to agitprop music and modern sounds, he pulls out all the stops. With its plurality of musical styles and its appeal to muster enough courage for true freedom, Lanzelot is the East German counterpart to the equally ambitious "total theatre" piece Die Soldaten by Bernd Alois Zimmermann.

Lanzelot only saw three productions during Dessau's lifetime, then the piece disappeared from the stage, and a recording was never made. Only fifty years after the premiere did the Deutsches Nationaltheater and the Staatskapelle Weimar as well as the Theater Erfurt dare to take on the challenges of this opera once again. In late 2019, Lanzelot was performed in Weimar in a production by Peter Konwitschny and directed by Dominik Beykirch; unfortunately, the planned subsequent run at Erfurt was thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This edited live recording proves the power of Paul Dessau's music and message, which still makes it burningly relevant today, three decades after the end of the Cold War.