Works

Auf den Marmorklippen (2000-2001)

Musikalische Visionen nach dem Roman von Ernst Jünger  
Text by Giorgio Van Straten and Giorgio Battistelli 

Ernst Jünger is the most influential author in Giorgio Battistelli’s literary formation. They corresponded and met regularly for over fifteen years. Through the musical representation of a pivotal and problematic opera such as Auf den Marmorklippen – notwithstanding the literary interpretation the Nazi regime read into it – a typical Jüngerian theme is faced: the eternal conflict between good and evil. The two philosopher-horsemen Bruder brothers, Minor and Othos, go into retreat to study plants and contemplate the essence of human thought. They find themselves caught up in a battle between the evil Forestaro army (interpreted by four bass voices that move as one body able to see in all directions, revealing its intricate mental plot in the frequent canons and in areas of interdipendence with the text) and the peaceful forces of the shepherds (led by the natural voices of the two baritone Bruders) fighting to defend their land. While Good succumbs to the devastating powers of the Forestaro warriors who kill without remorse, the horsemen-philosophers escape to the Alta Plana with a small group of survivors and begin, perhaps, a new life. The score transmits tremendous dramatic impact using only male solos, imposing choruses, (the Shepherds’ Chorus, the Men of the Forest’s Chorus, the Invisible Chorus, the Young Monks’ Chorus, the Women’s Chorus, the People’s Chorus), and a stratified orchestration. The tribute to Jünger lives in the dichotomy that also manifests itself in musical terms in a primordial call to the very roots of our extreme emotions.


First performance:
Mannheim, Nationaltheater, 8 March 2002
Orchestra and Choir Nationaltheater
Adam Fischer e Wolfram Koloseus, conductors 
Fura dels Baus, direction 

Characters:
Bruder Minor, baritono
Bruder Otho, baritono
Belovar, basso
Fürst von Sunmyra, tenore
Oberförster, 4 bassi 
Erio, actor
Lampusa, mime 
Stimme der Erinnerung (voice out of stage)
Proiezione video o rec (ad libitum) Coro (sctb)

Instrumentation:
2 (II anche ott).2.3 (I e II cl picc, III cl b).2 (II anche cfg) /4.2.2.1/ 3 perc, tast (camp)/ archi

Duration: 100’

Score number catalogue Ricordi: (138820)