'PENELOPE' OPERA BOWS IN SALZBURG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000400010021-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 26, 2000
• Sequence Number: 21
• Content Type: NSPR

Zi0f0~15/
Approved 1FWVWVMW
BOO IN S
4: CIA-RDP75-00001 ROO
STATINTL
Lielserrttannllork _ied on
Ulysses Legend - C iristl
Coltz Sings Title Role
I I
NRY PL]1ASAV*
pedal to The New'?ork Tlmee. ''P
SALZBURG, Austria, Aug. 17
If intelligence and Ingenuity
'were., l1 that were required to
i compere an effective opera, then
Rolf .iebermann's "Penelope,"
which had its premiere here last
night, might well be considered
a succclWssftll effort.
Howiver, since Inspiration
mary requisite, this conspicuously
)uninspired "Penelope" is unlikely
to enjoy ater success than
that of oth "ecent operas whose
intelligence uottent may have
been inferior.
It it impossible to listen to
"Penelope" and to read the com-
mentaries provided bt the Swiss
composer and his librettist, Hein-
rich Strobel, without sensing that
both have been, more con-
cerned th avoiding the mis
-Vi
-
takes others than with risking
original rxnistakes of their own,
Thus, in order to avoid anti.
quarianisni In the treatmen of.
a Greek theme, and to make their
opera topical, they have'. put the
Penelope-Ulysses legend"'in mod-
ern dress and given it "a new
twist by having Penelope` marry
before Ulysses' ieturn..
Projected Into Future
However, In order to nlIttgai
mediacy of The topic, the uthd
audience} from the conseijue2it
tragedy by having the' Penelope
of the Greek legend present it,
as a projection into the future)
as a sort of bxtension of her in-
genious tapestry. Nor Is this the.
end of defen devices. In orderi
to enliven av eary tale, comic
relief is prodded by three of
Penelope's suitors In commedia
appears at the end''to offer an
edifying sernlGn to the effect tbbt
score. The most frequent criticism
of modern operas is that they
give singers nothing to 0g. r.
Liebermann gives thepi # good
deal. But, since he Is a modern
composer; What he-_ ves them is
usually a UYelve-tofie row. Even
here, however; he is on the defen-
sive. Since it (s the lank of a
tonal foundatio ? which Leo dis-
turbs the laym listening to
twelve-tone m Mr. Lieber-
!mann employs twelve tones)
within easily recognizable tonali-
ties. The result is something about;
as close to the - dern twelve-1
tone technic fstan and
Narnaony
The . i irn ntation
goes further t .79a or the)
Greek scenes c~$ are orusesi
in souped-up odharirypny, For
the modern scenes there Is even
a sequence of boogie g e. For
a minor ?tioloratura ? racter!
there is 4n1 aria it la. erbinetta,
and for ,,$fie comic" charactersi
there oFrowings from the
grotesq " 3'of Stravinsky and)
`i'h!"sti o rs words, not
so mub an o a1 score as a
series of ginupic .s intelligently
toncelve$ end pklll,fiullv.executed,
in - both score-an at-
tempt tc i4 something for
everyone, ending in an opera
with noth nuch for anybody.
"
No one
I tided, but neither
is any Sri: ch pleased.
In aveidi the known pitfalls,
the autho ave provided no
virtues off it own. The opera
will be dlspited by, the mod-
ems for-,ids compromises and by
the. co fives for its. mod-
ernlty. I; ppld .be easy to say
that Mr. hermann is a Jack-
of-all-styles,. d master of none.
The fact is ' that he is master of
a good This is true of
other m 'composers,,. _What
defeats e a it defeats Mr.
Liebe ii the absence of a
reaod . style of thel `own,
wit " $ vocals nary and, syntax
intelligible to both compcPer$ and;
lay lie er-n: ,pZ.. music j
of their own time.
The npw opera bn fq, .superb
productl0 by Oscar Fr Schuh l
and Caspar Neher.' ~t *as excel-
lently conducted by Geprge Szell
and dolinated by the stunning
Penelope of"`, hristl Goltz. it
was received with the polite ap-
plause now customary on suciil
occasions. ~
Approved For Release 2000/05/24: CIA-RDP75-00001 R000400010021-0