The super formula for a cosmic world theater
Le Balcon stages Donnerstag aus Licht in Paris (*****)
Author : Jos Hermans
Is Stockhausen's Licht cycle the Ring of the 20th century? Conductor Titus Engel claimed so at the most recent integral performance of "Donnerstag aus Licht" in Basel (2016). There is no doubt that Karlheinz Stockhausen wanted to surpass his example Richard Wagner with his monumental work consisting of 7 parts (one for each day of the week) and with its 29 hours of music. But rather than the Ring, it was Parsifal that most inspired the spiritual cosmos of Light. Light, says biographer Michael Kurtz, is Stockhausen's attempt to create a cosmic world theater that summarizes and intensifies his lifelong concern : the unity of music and religion, allied to a vision of an essentially musical mankind. A Wagnerian idea, indeed.
Like Wagner, Stockhausen fabricated his libretti himself. To do so, he relied primarily on the Urantia Book (1955), a religious-scientistic writing created through channeling that sought to update the Judeo-Christian lore tradition for the 20th century. Further sources include the theosophical writings of Helena Blavatsky and theorems of Buddhist philosophy. At the center of the cycle are three figures : Michael (the heavenly principle), Eve (the earthly-feminine principle) and Luzifer (the demonic principle). The colossal work is constructed from a "super formula". It fits on 1 sheet of paper: it is the three tone sequences that connect with the main characters, 12 tones for Eva, 11 tones for the imperfect Luzifer and 13 tones for the hero Michael.
Donnerstag is the first composed part of the heptalogy. Stockhausen wrote it from 1978 to 1980. It reveals the youth of Michael, the composer's doppelganger, an angel incarnate among men. The first act shows the tormented youth of young Michael, the tragic disappearance of his parents, his entrance examination to the conservatory. The second act presents his journey around the world, where he meets many different cultures and really falls in love with the people. In the third act he returns to his home planet Sirius, and while he is greeted by a great cosmic feast in his honor, Michael melancholically thinks back to the episodes of his earthly life. Musically, the three acts are very different: the first is a chamber opera, the second is exclusively for orchestra with a starring role for the trumpet, and the third is an oratorio with a substantial choral part.
The work starts with a prologue ("Gruss") that was deleted in Paris. The first part of the first act ("Michaels Jugend") is autobiographical: Stockhausen's father was a member of the NSDAP and died on the battlefield in WWII, his mother was admitted to psychiatry and murdered by the National Socialists as part of their eugenics program. One can try to imagine what Stunde Null must have felt like for the 17-year-old composer. In the background is a fantastic soundscape of repetitive, garbled bass clarinets, mixed with choral voices ("Unsichtbare Chöre") and clacking tongues like a clattering rainstorm. At least, that's how it sounded in Basel. The sound direction was then in the expert hands of Stockhausen's muse Kathinka Pasveer. The audience was surrounded by an 8-channel speaker system. The distinction between electronic voices and voices on stage was barely distinguishable, and the spaciousness of the sound was constantly fascinating. In this relay from the Paris Philharmonic, all this sounds much simpler, the bass clarinets seem wrapped in a blanket of muted trumpets.
Le Balcon is the ensemble, led by the young charismatic conductor Maxime Pascal, that has committed itself to performing the entire cycle. Dienstag and Samstag have already seen the "light" of day. Of the latter, we especially remember the fascinating spiritual trip in the basilica of Saint Denis during the third act, "Luzifers Abschied" (2016). Benjamin Lazar's direction is again very sparse; it is rather a semi-scenic performance.
The voices on stage (Damien Bigourdan as Michael, Pia Davila as Eva, Damien Pass as Luzifer) sing, declamate, vocalize or produce hissing sounds. Fantastic and funny at the same time. Anti-opera at its best therefore, in the sense of Ligeti's "Le Grand Macabre" and therefore already completely opera! Here no pretentious nonsense or cerebral blabbering but a massive tonal painting of a surprising sensuality. After all, wasn't Stockhausen the most sensual of all Darmstadt's tonal artists? The text is not always easy to follow since the characters often sing simultaneously. The three main characters are doubled into a dancer and an instrumentalist: Michael by a trumpeter (Henri Deléger), Eva by a basset horn player (Iris Zerdoud), Luzifer by a trombonist (Matthieu Adam).
If the first act made a stronger impression in Basel under Lydia Steier's direction, the purely instrumental second act , "Michael's Reise um die Welt," conceived as a concerto for trumpet and orchestra and written for Stockhausen's son Markus, sounds more engaging in Paris. Starts the orchestra with a wall of sound, mainly dominated by the brass and written with the density of Zimmermann's "Die Soldaten" then the music gradually evolves into a more jazzy sound with, among other things, a fine solo part for the double bassist. In each of the acts, there will be moments where a symbiosis will be established between two sound worlds: that of serialism and that of free jazz. Very special. For trumpeter Henri Deléger, it means a tour de force. He wears the mutes for his trumpet around his waist like grenades on a sort of bomb belt. In doing so, he delivers two battles with the trombone and with the tuba. The harsh tone of the trumpet is toned down by the duo of "clownish swallows" on clarinet. The music is complicated, but at the same time flows like a river, like waves of energy through space.
Unfortunately, the third act ("Michael's Heimkehr"), with its wonderful heavenly choir, was dropped because of the corona measures of november 2021. Finally, five trumpeters blew an "Abschied" from the roof of the Philharmonie.
Watch the performance on Medici TV or Opera on Video. Relay from November 15, 2021.