Aniara (opera)

Aniara
opera by Karl-Birger Blomdahl
Premiere production at the Royal Swedish Opera, May 1959. Set by Sven Erixson.
LibrettistErik Lindegren
LanguageSwedish
Based onAniara
by Harry Martinson
Premiere
31 May 1959 (1959-05-31)
Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm
Kjerstin Dellert and Olle Sivall in the premiere production.

Aniara is an opera in two acts by Karl-Birger Blomdahl, with a libretto by Erik Lindegren based on the poem Aniara by Harry Martinson, that was premiered on 31 May 1959.[1] The opera was described by the composer with the ambiguous phrase en revy om människan i tid och rum: "a revue about Man in Time and Space".[2]

The score of Aniara is varied and makes full use of a range of musical idioms, including jazz, serial writing and an electronic tape. The narrative is sung primarily by Mimaroben, a bass-baritone, who operates the electronic tape, Mima, the computer, and by the chorus.[1] In essence the opera (and poem) deal with the relationship between the individual and the group through time.

Many representatives of the international press were at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm for the premiere in 1959 at a time when the space age was beginning.[2] Blomdahl said in interview that the opera (in common with his next opera Herr von Hancken) was founded on "modern man's complexity and his basically impossible situation"; Aniara dealt with "the downfall of the group".[3] A production was mounted in Gothenburg in 1994.[4]

  1. ^ a b Wiklund A. Aniara. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London & New York, 1997.
  2. ^ a b Thoor A. Opera in Space and in the Round. In: Swedish music – past and present, special edition of Musikrevy. STIM & Swedish Institute for Cultural Relations Abroad, Stockholm, 1966.
  3. ^ Hambraeus B. Conversation with Karl-Birger Blomdahl. In: Swedish music – past and present, special edition of Musikrevy. STIM & Swedish Institute for Cultural Relations Abroad, Stockholm, 1966.
  4. ^ "Samtliga uppsättningar s134-168" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2019-07-06.