Karl V. (opera)

Karl V. is an opera, described as a Bühnenwerk mit Musik (stage work with music) by Ernst Krenek, his opus 73. The German libretto is by the composer. His student Virginia Seay collaborated with him on the English translation of the libretto.

The first completed full-length twelve-tone opera tells the story of Emperor Charles V's life in a series of flashbacks on a split stage, devices which the composer only much later recognized as "cinematic" in style; there is also some use of Sprechstimme.

History
Originally commissioned in 1930 by the Vienna State Opera for performance in 1934, this much anticipated work became a cause célèbre when the production was cancelled after Krenek was blacklisted in Germany by the Nazi government immediately following the German parliamentary elections in March 1933. The composer believed it was its strong emphasis on Christian universality that made Karl V. "utterly intolerable" to the Nazis. A concert suite for soprano (Fragmente aus dem Bühnenwerk Karl V., Op. 73a) was performed in 1936, and the opera was staged for the first time on 22 June 1938 at the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague, by which time Krenek had fled overseas. In 1954 he revised the score for the first revival in Germany. A fully staged production of the opera was performed in the Festspielhaus of the Bregenzer Festspiele in the summer of 2008, and is available on DVD.

Recordings
Krenek: Karl V.  – Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna
 * Conductor: Gerd Albrecht
 * Principal singers: Frank Hoffmann, Hanna Schwarz, Helmut Melchert, Horst Hiestermann, Kristine Ciesinski
 * Recording date: 14 August 1980
 * Label: Philips 6769 084 (2 LPs 106 minutes); later on Orfeo d'Or B00004YLCJ (CD)

Krenek: Karl V.  – Bonn Beethovenhalle Orchestra
 * Conductor: Marc Soustrot
 * Principal singers: Wolf-Dieter Streicher, David Pittman-Jennings, Martina Borst, Tom Sol, Werner Hollweg, Franziska Hirzel, Andreas Conrad, Christoph Bantzer, Anne Gjevang, Axel Medrok, Florian Mock
 * Recording date: 14 October 2000
 * Label: MD&G Records – B00005NSOB (2 CDs 141 minutes)