The Opera Utopianism of Alois Hába
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | This “Essays” is one of the chapters of the book “New Paths in Opera: Martinů—Burian—Hába— Schulhoff—Ullmann”. Hába authored three operas, each different from one another in terms of the themes and the musical techniques, nevertheless with a connection between them. They present the results of an attempt at something completely new through the use of various tonal systems. His Matka (Mother, 1929) is a quarter-tone opera; Nová země (The New Country, 1936) semi-tone; and Přijď království Tvé (Thy Kingdom Come, 1942), sixth-tone. Hába was the first in the world who dared to make use of a micro- tonal system in the genre of opera. In Nová země, he created the first Czech opera on an explicitly political theme, which was provided to him by the novel of a con- temporary Soviet author. His Přijď království Tvé is, along with Ullmann’s opera Der Sturz des Antichrist (The Fall of the Antichrist), a unique attempt at the time to make extensive artistic use of the postulates of anthroposophic teachings in the form of opera. It was only finally staged more than twenty years after Der Sturz des Antichrist and is the only evening-long opera in the sixth-tone system. |