Monday 23 August 2021

The opera that Bach never wrote!

Jan van Leyden
Jan van Leyden

The conventional image of JS Bach is of a devout, serious man with no interest in contemporary opera, yet if you look at his music there is a different picture with many arias having operatic elements, and now recent research is showing that he was an attender at the opera in Hamburg when opportunity allowed.

Now, the Dutch touring opera company OPERA2DAY is creating a work which tries to imagine Bach the opera composer. The company's new production, J.S. Bach – The Apocalypse is the opera that Bach never wrote! A co-production with the Netherlands Bach Society, whose centenary the production celebrates, J.S. Bach – The Apocalypse will tour from January through March 2022.

The opera evokes the sixteenth-century story of the 16th century Anabaptist leader, Jan van Leyden, who claimed that the end of time was near. He convinced his followers that they could be amongst the chosen ones at the Last Judgement. But his utopia soon became a tyranny and ended in bloodshed and death. (Jan ven Leyden is also the title role of Meyerbeer's opera Le Prophete). 

The dramatic and musical scenario was developed by Serge van Veggel, artistic director of OPERA2DAY, with the libretto written by Thomas Höft. Panos Iliopoulos, composer, harpsichordist and baroque specialist, has created the score from Bach's music.

The production debuts in The Hague on 23 January 2021, more information from the company's website.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Popular Posts this month