Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Erkki-Sven Tüür
Wallenberg (2001)
(Opera in two acts )- Henry Litolff’s Verlag GmbH & Co. KG (World)
Characters: Wallenberg, baritone; Eichmann, bass; Wallenberg 2, tenors; German Officer (also Ronald Reagan), baritone; First Survivor (also First Rescued Person), mezzo soprano; Second Survivor (also Second Rescued Person), tenor; Third Survivor (also Third Rescued Person), bass; First Guest (also Jacob Wallenberg in No. 19), tenor; Second Guest (also American General), baritone; Third Guest (also American Soldier in No. 19), baritone; three diplomats, mezzo soprano; A Lady, low mezzo soprano; The Woman, high soprano; First Russian Officer, tenor; Second Russian Officer, tenor; Third Russian Officer, dumb role; three gulag prisoners, baritone (generally speaking roles); employees, speaking roles; chorus
- 2speaker,S,2Mz,5T,4Bar,2B + ch; 2.2.3.2/4.3.3.1/timp.4perc/syn.hp/str
- ch
- Speaker, Speaker, Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Tenor, Tenor, Tenor, Tenor, Tenor, Baritone, Baritone, Baritone, Baritone, Bass, Bass
- 1 hr 30 min
- Lutz Huebner
Programme Note
In his opera Wallenberg, Tüür describes the deeds of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg and the myths surrounding his person that subsequently emerged. At the instruction of the American embassy, he had issued Swedish protective passports to around 100,000 Jews in Budapest during the years 1944 and 1945, thus saving them from deportation. On the grounds of suspected espionage, Wallenberg was arrested and interrogated by the Soviet secret service in 1945 and committed to the Lubjanka prison in Moscow. He was supposedly shot in 1947, but some witnesses claim to have seen him alive after that year. Wallenberg became a myth.
In part two of their opera, Erkki-Sven Tüür and Lutz Hübner show how Wallenberg the hero becomes detached from the real-life man. The situation is increasingly surreal, effectively turning into a “Wallenberg charade”.