Article: () Russian German Polish English, among others
Semi-staged in the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music with musicians of the Stanislavsky Theatre2010: staged at Bregenz Festival
The Passenger () is a 1968 opera by Mieczysław Weinberg to a Russian libretto by . Medvedev's libretto is based on the 1959 Polish radio play Pasażerka z kabiny 45 (Passenger from Cabin Number 45) by concentration-camp survivor Zofia Posmysz. The opera, scheduled for the Bolshoi Theatre in 1968, was not premiered until 2006, when musicians of the Stanislavsky Theatre presented a semi-staging conducted by Wolf Gorelik in the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music on 25 December. Medvedev's libretto was reworked in 2010 for the first staged performance of the opera at the Bregenzer Festspiele into German, English, Polish, Yiddish, French, Russian and Czech. It has then been performed internationally.
History
Mieczysław Weinberg composed The Passenger in 1968 to a Russian libretto by .() Medvedev's libretto is based on the 1959 Polish radio play Pasażerka z kabiny 45 (Passenger from Cabin Number 45) by concentration-camp survivor Zofia Posmysz. The play was rewritten in 1962 by its author as a novel, Pasażerka. Posmysz also worked with Andrzej Munk on the screenplay for his related, posthumously finished 1963 film Pasażerka. Medvedev's libretto was reworked in 2010 for the first staged performance of the opera at the Bregenzer Festspiele into German, English, Polish, Yiddish, French, Russian and Czech.
Performance history
Originally scheduled to be performed at the Bolshoi in 1968, the opera was not premiered until 25 December 2006, when it received a semi-staging by musicians of the Stanislavsky Theater in Moscow. It was premiered by musicians of the Stanislavsky Theatre in the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music on 25 December 2006, in a semi-staging conducted by Wolf Gorelik. The cast included Anastasia Bakastova as Katya, Natalia Muradimova as Marta, Natalia Vladimirskaya as Liza, Alexey Dolgov as Valter and Dmitry Kondratkov as Tadeush.
The first full staging took place in 2010 at the Bregenzer Festspiele, directed by David Pountney, with a set design by Johan Engels. Teodor Currentzis conducted the Wiener Symphoniker and the Prague Philharmonic Choir. The July 31 performance was filmed and released on DVD and Blu-ray. The same production was presented in Warsaw by Polish National Opera in 2010 and received its UK première on 19 September 2011 at the English National Opera (broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 on 15 October). In 2013, it was performed in Germany for the first time at Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe. The Passenger received its American premiere on 18 January 2014, at Houston Grand Opera. The opera has also been produced at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and at the Oper Frankfurt (Germany), both in early 2015. It was produced by Florida Grand Opera in 2016, by The Israeli Opera in 2019, and in 2020 by Madrid's Teatro Real.
Roles
Role Voice type Character nationality Katya (Катя) soprano Russian Marta (Марта) soprano Polish Liza (Лиза) mezzo-soprano German Valter (Вальтер/Walter) tenor German Tadeush (Тадеуш/Tadeusz) baritone PolishSmaller roles: Krystina mezzo-soprano Polish Vlasta mezzo-soprano Czech Hannah contralto Greek (identified in the piano/vocal score as a "Jewess") Yvette soprano French Alte soprano German Bronka contralto Polish First SS-Man bass German Second SS-Man bass German Third SS-Man tenor German Another Passenger bass Female Supervisor spoken German Kapo spoken German Steward spoken Prisoners in Auschwitz, passengers and crew of the ship
Instrumentation Orchestra:
3 flutes (the third flute doubles a piccolo)
3 oboes (the third oboe doubles an English horn)
3 Clarinets (The second doubles a piccolo clarinet, the third doubles a bass clarinet)
Alto saxophone
3 bassoons (The third bassoon doubles a contrabassoon)
6 horns, baritone horn
4 trumpets 3 trombones tuba
Timpani, triangle, tambourine, small side drum, military drum, tenor drum, whip, cymbals, bass drum, tam-tam, marimba, vibraphone, xylophone, tubular bells, glockenspiel
Celesta Piano Harp Guitar String section Banda: Accordion Guitar Piano Jazz percussion Solo double bass Synopsis
The opera is set on two levels: the upper level depicts the deck of an ocean liner after the Second World War where a German couple, Lisa and Walter (a West German diplomat on his way with his new wife to a new diplomatic posting), are sailing to Brazil. The wife, Lisa, thinks she recognises a Polish woman on board, Marta, as a former inmate of Auschwitz concentration camp where she, unknown to her husband, was a camp guard. The second lower level develops below the liner deck, depicting the concentration camp. The opera is an interplay between the two levels.
Act 1
Scene 1 : Walter and his wife Lisa are on their way to a new life in Brazil where Walter will take up a diplomatic post. During the journey, Lisa is struck by the appearance of a passenger she sees indistinctly. The passenger reminds her of an inmate in Auschwitz who was under her orders and who she knows for certain is dead. In shock, she reveals her hitherto undisclosed wartime past to her husband.
Scene 2 : In the concentration camp, Lisa and her superior overseer discuss the need to manipulate prisoners and find one amongst each group who can be manipulated to lead the others easily. The male officers drink and sing about how there is nothing to do but how they are less likely to die than fighting on the front against the Russians.
Scene 3 : The women of the camp are introduced and each tells of their background and origins. A Russian woman is brought in having been beaten and tortured and the Kapo in charge discovers a note which may cost her her life. Marta is selected by Lisa to translate it, but deliberately makes it out to be a love letter from her partner Tadeusz, with whom she had been deported to the camp, but who she has not seen these past two years. Lisa believes the subterfuge. As the scene closes Lisa and Walter are seen on the boat in the present time trying to come to terms with Lisa's uncovered past.
Act 2
Scene 1 : Belongings of murdered prisoners are being sorted by the women when an officer arrives to demand a violin so that the Kommandant may have his favourite waltz rendered to him by a prisoner. The prisoner Tadeusz is sent to collect the violin and arrives to discover his fiancée Marta there. Their reunion is overseen by Lisa who decides to try and manipulate their relationship so that she may more easily control Marta for her own purposes so as to extend control over all the women prisoners.
Scene 2: Tadeusz is in his prison workshop fashioning jewellery for the officers' private demands. In a pile of his sketches, Lisa recognises the face of Marta. Lisa tries to get Tadeusz to do her bidding also, but seeing that this would leave him indebted to Lisa, he declines, although this will now cost him his life.
Scene 3 : It is Marta's birthday and she sings a lengthy aria to Death itself. Lisa tells Marta that Tadeusz refused her offer and that it will cost him dear, but Marta understands Tadeusz's stance. The women prisoners sing about what they will do when they return home after the war, although it is clear that this will not happen. There is a death-house selection, and the women are all led away as their numbers are called. Marta resignedly follows although she has not been selected for death. Lisa stops her from joining the others and taunts her that her time will come shortly so there is no need to hurry.Lisa's final taunt is that she will live to see Tadeusz's final concert before he is too sent to the death-house as a result of her report.
Scene 4 : In the present time on the boat, Walter and Lisa are still unsure as to whether the mystery woman whose appearance has so upset Lisa is really Marta. The porter Lisa bribed earlier to discover the woman's identity only revealed that she was British. He now returns to add that although she is travelling on a British passport, she is not English and is on deck reading a Polish book. Walter offers to confront the mystery woman to set Lisa's mind at rest before they both decide they are letting their minds run away with themselves. They both resolve to join the dancing in the salon. Lisa dances whilst her husband talks to another passenger. The mystery woman is seen passing a play-request to the band leader. The band then play the same tune that was once the camp Kommandant's favourite waltz. This musical coincidence and the still unknown identity of the passenger further convinces Lisa that Marta is somehow alive and on the boat. Lisa is reduced to terror and shrinks from sight of the mystery passenger retreating from her down the stairs of the liner into the horrors of Tadeusz's final moments.
Scene 5 : Tadeusz is dragged before the Kommandant to provide him with his favourite waltz music. Instead he plays the Chaconne from Bach's Partita for Violin No. 2, making a defiant purely musical protest. Thus he deprives Lisa of her plan to have him executed via her report and deprives the Kommandant of his illusion that he can force people to play him his favourite music under pain of death. Tadeusz seals his own fate and, his violin being smashed, he is dragged off to his death. All the while, Lisa observes the scene whilst still in her ballgown.
Epilogue : The stage becomes completely empty apart from Lisa still in her ballgown who slumps down sitting to the rear silently. Marta enters. She is observed to be wearing non-prisoncamp clothing and with her hair unshaven. She sings that the dead should never be forgotten and they can never forgive. Lisa can only observe, unable to have Marta change her attitude and provide her the closure she craves. The scene fades away musically as does the light and the opera ends very quietly in total darkness.
At no point in the opera is the mystery woman on the boat confirmed as Marta nor does Lisa or anyone ever interact with her on the boat. Lisa's certainty that Marta died in the camp is never contradicted. The final scene, which is designed to be ambiguous, gives no indication as to whether or not Marta survives.
Recordings
Weinberg: The Passenger Wiener Symphoniker; Prague Philharmonic Choir, Teodor Currentzis ARTHAUS: BLU RAY
The Passenger, The Ekaterinburg State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, Oliver von Dohnányi DVD
Mieczysław Weinberg: Die Passagierin. Graz Philharmonic Orchestra, Graz Opera Chorus, Roland Kluttig. 2021, Capriccio, CD
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Mieczyslaw Weinberg "The Passenger" Opera in two acts
World famous Bolshoi Ballet and Opera theatre (established 1776) - Small Stage
Schedule for Mieczyslaw Weinberg "The Passenger" Opera in two acts 2022
Orchestra:
Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra
Opera in 2 acts
Premiere of this production:
15 September 2016
Libretto by Alexander Medvedev
based on the novella by Zofia Posmysz
Music Director OLIVER VON DOHNÁNYI
Direcror and Designer THADDEUS STRASSBERGER
Costume Designer MATTIE ULLRICH
The Ekaterinburg Opera premiere
will take place on 15 September 2016.
The Passenger is an opera by Mieczysław Weinberg to a libretto by Alexander Medvedev.
The libretto is based on the Polish radio play Pasażerka z kabiny 45 (Passenger from Cabin Number 45) (1959) by concentration camp survivor Zofia Posmysz. Zofia Posmysz's play was rewritten into a novel Pasażerka in 1962. She also worked with Andrzej Munk on the screenplay of his posthumously finished film Pasażerka (1963). The original libretto by Alexander Medvedev is in Russian. The worldwide première in 2010 featured a reworked libretto in German, English, Polish, Yiddish, French, Russian, and Czech.
Originally scheduled to be performed at the Bolshoi in 1968, the opera was not premièred, and then only in a concert version, until 2006 in Moscow. The full staged première was in 2010 at the Bregenzer Festspiele, directed by David Pountney, with a set design by Johan Engels. The same production was presented in Warsaw by Polish National Opera in 2010 and received its UK première on the 19th of September 2011 at the English National Opera (broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 on the 15th of October). In 2013, it was presented by Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe. The Passenger received its American premiere on January 18, 2014 at Houston Grand Opera. The opera has also premiered at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and in Frankfurt (Germany), both in early 2015
Synopsis
The opera is set on two levels: the upper level depicts the deck of an ocean liner after the Second World War where a German couple, Liese and Walter (a West German diplomat on his way with his new wife to a new diplomatic posting), are sailing to Brazil. The wife, Liese, thinks she recognises a Polish woman on board, Marta, as a former inmate of Auschwitz where she, unknown to her husband, was a camp guard. The second lower level develops below the liner deck, depicting the concentration camp. The opera is an interplay between the two levels.
Act 1
Scene 1 : Walter and his wife Liese are on their way to a new life in Brazil where Walter will take up a diplomatic post. During the journey, Liese is struck by the appearance of a passenger she sees indistinctly. The passenger reminds her of an inmate in Auschwitz over whom she once presided and knows for certain to be dead. In shock, she reveals her hitherto undisclosed wartime past to her husband.
Scene 2 : In the concentration camp, Liese and her superior overseer discuss the need to manipulate prisoners and find one amongst each group who can be manipulated to lead the others easily. The male officers drink and sing about how there is nothing to do but how they are less likely to die than fighting on the front against the Russians.
Scene 3 : The women of the camp are introduced and each tells of their background and origins. A Russian woman is bought in having been beaten and tortured and the Kapo in charge discovers a note which may cost her her life. Marta is selected by Liese to translate to Liese but deliberately makes it out to be a love letter from her partner Tadeusz, with whom she arrived into incarceration, but has not seen these past two years. Liese believes the subterfuge. As the scene closes Liese and Walter are seen on the boat in the present time trying to come to terms with Liese's newly uncovered past.
Act 2
Scene 1 : Belongings of murdered prisoners are being sorted by the women when an officer arrives to demand a violin so that the Kommandant may have his favourite waltz rendered to him by a prisoner. The prisoner Tadeusz is sent to collect the violin and arrives to discover his fiancée Marta there. Their reunion is overseen by Liese who decides to try and manipulate their relationship so that she may more easily control Marta for her own purposes in more readily exerting control over all the women.
Scene 2: Tadeusz is in his prison workshop fashioning jewellery for the officers' private demands. In a pile of his sketches, Liese recognises the face of Marta. Liese tries to get Tadeusz to do her bidding also, but seeing that this would leave him indebted to Liese, he declines although essentially this will cost him his life now.
Scene 3 : It is Marta's birthday and she sings a lengthy aria to Death itself. Liese tells Marta that Tadeusz refused her offer and that it will cost him dear, but Marta understands Tadeusz's stance. The women sing more about what they will do when they return home after the war, although it is obvious to most that they will never return alive. There is a death-house selection, and the women are all led away as their numbers are called. Marta resignedly follows although she has not been selected for death. Liese stops her from joining the others and taunts her that her time will come shortly so there is no need to hurry. Liese's final taunt is that she will live to see Tadeusz's final concert before he is too sent to the death-house as a result of her report.
Scene 4 : In the present time on the boat, Walter and Liese are still unsure as to whether the mystery woman whose appearance has so upset Liese is really Marta. The porter Liese earlier bribed to discover the woman's identity only revealed that she was British. He now returns to add that although she is travelling on a British passport, she is not English and is on deck reading a Polish book. Walter offers to confront the mystery woman to set Liese's mind at rest before they both decide they are letting their minds run away with themselves. They both resolve to ascend to the salon to join the dancing. Liese dances whilst her husband talks to another passenger. The mystery woman is seen passing a play-request to the band leader. The band then play the same tune that was once the camp Kommandant's favourite waltz. This musical coincidence and the still unknown identity of the passenger further convinces Liese that Marta is somehow alive and on the boat. Liese is reduced to terror and shrinks from sight of the still unrevealed mystery passenger retreating from her backwards down the stairs of the liner into the horrors of Tadeusz's final moments.
Scene 5 : Tadeusz is dragged before the Kommandant to provide him with his favourite waltz music. Instead he plays the Chaconne from Bach's Partita for Violin No. 2, making a defiant purely musical protest at the Kommandant about the descent from culture into depravity the camp represents. Thus he deprives Liese of her plan to have him executed via her report and deprives the Kommandant of his illusion that he can force people to play him his favourite music under pain of death. Tadeusz seals his own fate and, his violin being smashed, he is dragged off to his death. All the while, Liese observes the scene whilst still in her ballgown.
Epilogue : The stage becomes completely empty apart from Liese still in her ballgown who slumps down sitting to the rear silently. Marta enters. She is observed to be wearing non-prisoncamp clothing and with her hair unshaven. She sings that the dead should never be forgotten and they can never forgive. Liese can only observe, unable to have Marta change her attitude and provide her the closure she selfishly craves. The scene fades away musically as does the light and the opera ends very quietly in total darkness.
At no point in the opera is the mystery woman on the boat confirmed as Marta nor does Liese or anyone ever interact with her on the boat and discover her to be Marta. Liese's vehement certainty that Marta died in the camp is never contradicted. Even in the final scene which is designed to seem ambiguous, there is nothing at all to confirm that Marta was anything apart from dead, with Liese craving deliverance from her past with the dead unable to provide it.
Schedule for Mieczyslaw Weinberg "The Passenger" Opera in two acts 2022
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