Carl Orff, De Temporum Fine Comoedia, Currentzis

Carl Orff, De Temporum Fine Comoedia, Currentzis

Carl Orff (1895 - 1982) - De temporum fine comoedia
The Play of the End of Times — Vigilia (Final version 1981)
Libretto by Carl Orff using passages from the Sibylline Oracles and the Orphic Hymns
In Ancient Greek, Latin and German
Salzbourg, Grosses Festspielhaus — 26th July 2022

Creative Team
Teodor Currentzis Conductor 
Romeo Castellucci Director, Sets, Costumes and Lighting 
Cindy Van Acker Choreography 
Piersandra Di Matteo Dramaturgy 
Theresa Wilson Associate Costume Designer 
Maxi Menja Lehmann Assistant Director 
Alessio Valmori Assistant Set Designer 
Marco Giusti Associate Lighting Designer 

Nadezhda Pavlova Soprano 
Taxiarchoula Kanati, Frances Pappas, Irini Tsirakidis Mezzosoprano
Helena Rasker Contralto 
Gero Nievelstein, Christian Reiner Speakers
Soloists of the musicAeterna Choir

Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester 
musicAeterna Choir 
Vitaly Polonsky Chorus Master 
Salzburg Bach Choir 
Benjamin Hartmann Chorus Master 
Salzburger Festspiele und Theater Kinderchor 
Wolfgang Götz Chorus Master 

The subject of De temporum fine comoedia is the Last Judgement, in a reinterpretation rooted in Carl Orff’s personal religious beliefs. The writing of the text in Ancient Greek, Latin and German took the composer a whole decade, from 1960 to 1970, with the essence of the work being increasingly determined by the apocalyptic vision of the Alexandrian theologian Origen, in which at the end of time even demons will be granted forgiveness and salvation.

In the first part of the Comoedia nine Sibyls announce the imminent end of the world and the eternal damnation of the godless. In the second part these prophecies are countered by an emphatic ‘No’ from nine Anchorites: the learned hermits have come to understand that the final day will dawn not as the triumph of a punitive God but as the absorption of evil into the divine. The redemption of all wrongs and the return of all beings to God reaches its climax in the third part in the retransformation of Lucifer into the ‘bringer of light’ that he once was. The fallen angel couches his plea for forgiveness in words from the parable of the prodigal son: ‘Pater peccavi.’ Brought to the Festival stage by Romeo Castellucci and Teodor Currentzis for the first time since its premiere in Salzburg in 1973, Orff’s opera-oratorio overwhelms the listener with its primeval energy. The latter results not least from persistently iterated rhythmic patterns that involve a host of figures animated by a mechanical principle of motion that will be translated into bodily movement scores by the choreographer Cindy Van Acker. 

DISCLAIMER:
I do not own any of this footage nor do I own the audio. This is for entertainment purposes only and I do not make any profit from this video. All credits go to the respective owners.

Carl Orff, De Temporum Fine Comoedia, Currentzis

Carl Orff (1895 - 1982) - De temporum fine comoedia
The Play of the End of Times — Vigilia (Final version 1981)
Libretto by Carl Orff using passages from the Sibylline Oracles and the Orphic Hymns
In Ancient Greek, Latin and German
Salzbourg, Grosses Festspielhaus — 26th July 2022

Creative Team
Teodor Currentzis Conductor 
Romeo Castellucci Director, Sets, Costumes and Lighting 
Cindy Van Acker Choreography 
Piersandra Di Matteo Dramaturgy 
Theresa Wilson Associate Costume Designer 
Maxi Menja Lehmann Assistant Director 
Alessio Valmori Assistant Set Designer 
Marco Giusti Associate Lighting Designer 

Nadezhda Pavlova Soprano 
Taxiarchoula Kanati, Frances Pappas, Irini Tsirakidis Mezzosoprano
Helena Rasker Contralto 
Gero Nievelstein, Christian Reiner Speakers
Soloists of the musicAeterna Choir

Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester 
musicAeterna Choir 
Vitaly Polonsky Chorus Master 
Salzburg Bach Choir 
Benjamin Hartmann Chorus Master 
Salzburger Festspiele und Theater Kinderchor 
Wolfgang Götz Chorus Master 

The subject of De temporum fine comoedia is the Last Judgement, in a reinterpretation rooted in Carl Orff’s personal religious beliefs. The writing of the text in Ancient Greek, Latin and German took the composer a whole decade, from 1960 to 1970, with the essence of the work being increasingly determined by the apocalyptic vision of the Alexandrian theologian Origen, in which at the end of time even demons will be granted forgiveness and salvation.

In the first part of the Comoedia nine Sibyls announce the imminent end of the world and the eternal damnation of the godless. In the second part these prophecies are countered by an emphatic ‘No’ from nine Anchorites: the learned hermits have come to understand that the final day will dawn not as the triumph of a punitive God but as the absorption of evil into the divine. The redemption of all wrongs and the return of all beings to God reaches its climax in the third part in the retransformation of Lucifer into the ‘bringer of light’ that he once was. The fallen angel couches his plea for forgiveness in words from the parable of the prodigal son: ‘Pater peccavi.’ Brought to the Festival stage by Romeo Castellucci and Teodor Currentzis for the first time since its premiere in Salzburg in 1973, Orff’s opera-oratorio overwhelms the listener with its primeval energy. The latter results not least from persistently iterated rhythmic patterns that involve a host of figures animated by a mechanical principle of motion that will be translated into bodily movement scores by the choreographer Cindy Van Acker. 

DISCLAIMER:
I do not own any of this footage nor do I own the audio. This is for entertainment purposes only and I do not make any profit from this video. All credits go to the respective owners.