The Neverending Story
Fairytale Opera based on the Story by Michael Ende
2002 26 soloists – choir: SATB – 3.2.cor ang.2.B-clar.2.dble bsn – 4.3.3.1 – timp.perc(3) – hp.cel – str
Description
Bastian Balthasar Bux is often mocked by his classmates: he is overweight, wears glasses, is unathletic and not particularly brave. It is hardly surprising that he repeatedly has to run away from them. During one such escape he ends up in an antiquarian bookshop. A strange place – and yet there is a book that attracts him irresistibly. One quick grab, out through the door – and he has stolen it. He cannot go home like this. A thief? Impossible! So he hides in the school attic and begins to read …
Michael Ende (1929–1995) is among the best-known German writers and at the same time one of the most versatile. The Neverending Story (1979), alongside Jim Button and Momo, is one of his most widely read works. The composer Siegfried Matthus (*1934) had a particular passion for music theatre: “For me, the ideal lies in the overall diversity of the theatrical experience. I want to offer the audience something in this direction that reflects our present time,” he once said, a statement impressively borne out by his more than a dozen operas.
(Source: Trier Theatre)
“The magical realm of the imaginary is Phantásien, a place one must visit from time to time in order to learn to see. One can then return to outer reality with a changed awareness, and transform that reality – or at least perceive and experience it anew.”
(Michael Ende)
MM 2638413
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Description
Description
Bastian Balthasar Bux is often mocked by his classmates: he is overweight, wears glasses, is unathletic and not particularly brave. It is hardly surprising that he repeatedly has to run away from them. During one such escape he ends up in an antiquarian bookshop. A strange place – and yet there is a book that attracts him irresistibly. One quick grab, out through the door – and he has stolen it. He cannot go home like this. A thief? Impossible! So he hides in the school attic and begins to read …
Michael Ende (1929–1995) is among the best-known German writers and at the same time one of the most versatile. The Neverending Story (1979), alongside Jim Button and Momo, is one of his most widely read works. The composer Siegfried Matthus (*1934) had a particular passion for music theatre: “For me, the ideal lies in the overall diversity of the theatrical experience. I want to offer the audience something in this direction that reflects our present time,” he once said, a statement impressively borne out by his more than a dozen operas.
(Source: Trier Theatre)
“The magical realm of the imaginary is Phantásien, a place one must visit from time to time in order to learn to see. One can then return to outer reality with a changed awareness, and transform that reality – or at least perceive and experience it anew.”
(Michael Ende)
World premiere
World premiere: Weimar, April 10, 2004