Der Diktator

Der Diktator
Opera by Ernst Krenek
LibrettistKrenek
LanguageGerman
Based onBenito Mussolini
Premiere
6 May 1928 (1928-05-06)
Festspiele Wiesbaden

Der Diktator (The Dictator) is a tragic opera in one act with words and music by Ernst Krenek, his Op. 49 and the first of three one-acters (with Das geheime Königreich and Schwergewicht, oder Die Ehre der Nation) which premiered on 6 May 1928 at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden as part of the Festspiele Wiesbaden.[1] The score is inscribed with the date of completion, 28 August 1926.

The title character is loosely based on Benito Mussolini, although the story is not deliberately political; Krenek later described it as "an anecdote from the private life of the 'strong man'.[2] "Only from the irrational does he retreat, not so much out of fear but because he can do nothing with it, he cannot dominate it."[3]

The music is Puccinian in idiom, particularly in its use of the voice, and makes extensive use of leitmotives such as the alternating minor third triplet first heard in the bass as the war telegram is mentioned, which becomes the sole accompaniment to the officer's narrative.

  1. ^ Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Der Diktator, 6 May 1928". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
  2. ^ Krenek, Ernst (1974). Horizons Circled: Reflections on My Music. Will Ogdon, John Lincoln Stewart. University of California Press. p. 40. ISBN 9780520023383.
  3. ^ 1928 program note, quoted in Stewart, John Lincoln (1991). Ernst Krenek: The Man and His Music. University of California Press. p. 90. ISBN 9780520070141.