Karl V. (opera)

For other uses, see Charles V.
Karl V.
Opera by Ernst Krenek
Titian's Last Judgment, owned by the emperor (depicted in a white robe at the upper right), and called for as a stage backdrop (El Prado)
DescriptionBühnenwerk mit Musik
LibrettistKrenek
LanguageGerman
Based onCharles V
Premiere
22 June 1938 (1938-06-22)
Neues Deutsches Theater, Prague

Karl V. is an opera, described as a Bühnenwerk mit Musik (stage work with music) by Ernst Krenek, his opus 73. The German libretto is by the composer. His student Virginia Seay collaborated with him on the English translation of the libretto.[1]

The first completed full-length twelve-tone opera[2] tells the story of Emperor Charles V's life in a series of flashbacks on a split stage, devices which the composer only much later recognized as "cinematic" in style;[3] there is also some use of Sprechstimme.

  1. ^ Stewart, John Lincoln (1991-01-01). Ernst Krenek: The Man and His Music. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-07014-1.
  2. ^ Schoenberg's Von heute auf morgen (1928) is in one act.
  3. ^ Ogdon 1972, 104, reprinted in Krenek 1974, 145.