Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Thomas Morse
Frau Schindler (2016)
- Music Sales Corporation (World)
Commissioned by Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, Munich, Germany
Opera in Three Acts
Unavailable for performance.
- 1(pic).1(ca).1(bcl).1(cbn)/0.3.0.0/2perc(timp)/cel.hp.pf/str
- chorus
- S, Mz, Bar, additional voices (26 roles total)
- (English, German) by Kenneth Cazan with Thomas Morse. Russian transaltion by Vladimir Alenikov
- English, German
Programme Note
Cast:
EMILIE SCHINDLER: Mezzo-soprano
OSKAR SCHINDLER: Lyric baritone
MARTHE MARKER: Lyric soprano
NAZI OFFICER 1: Tenor
NAZI OFFICER 2 (also ADOLF GRÜNHALT): Tenor
NAZI OFFICER 3 (also KLEIN'S ASSISTANT): Tenor
NAZI OFFICER'S WIFE 1 (also HILDE): Soprano
NAZI OFFICER'S WIFE 2 (also ESTHER RECHEN): Soprano
NAZI OFFICER'S WIFE 3 (also SALI HIRSCHBIRG): Mezzo-soprano
QUARTERMASTER SCHNEEFELD (also TRAIN ENGINEER): Bass-baritone
YOUNG WOMAN: Lyric soprano
GUARD 1 (also COMMANDER KLEIN): Baritone
GUARD 2 (also TRAIN CONDUCTOR): Baritone
GUARD 3 (also PETER GORLINSKY): Baritone
FRAU VON DAUBEK: Dramatic soprano
RICHARD RECHEN: Baritone (Chorus)
SZYMON HIRSCHBIRG: Baritone (Chorus)
RADIO ANNOUNCER: Speaker
CANTOR: Speaker
Chorus
Interview with Thomas Morse, March 2017Composer note:
About a decade ago, I relocated from Los Angeles to Berlin, with the primary goal of researching and composing an opera that would portray Oskar Schindler’s heroic actions during the holocaust. It was a beginning of a journey that would involve reading countless books and interviews, visiting sites in multiple countries, learning German, and speaking with people who experienced the second world war first-hand.
In deciding on a narrative approach to the Schindler story, it became increasingly apparent that an opera that would essentially retell the same story as Steven Spielberg’s iconic cinematic masterpiece, "Schindler’s List," was not the best idea. However, in the course of research I had run across the story of Oskar’s wife, Emilie Schindler. The story from her perspective provides a window into the psychology of the times — how step by step, an advanced society was slowly seduced into the unthinkable. How people were conditioned to compartmentalize absolutes, in order to rationalize and live with what was happening around them. It was a society that felt that it had been victimized, and in turn used this to justify rage toward an entire people.
Through Emilie’s eyes, we also see a complex and paradoxical portrait of Oskar. He was a man who was initially able to severely set aside his moral conscience, in favor of his personal ambition. But he changed his mind about the exploitation of his workers, and actively fought and maneuvered to save them. What level of redemption did he achieve? Based upon scholarly writings and personal accounts, Frau Schindler portrays Oskar as historically accurate as possible.
It should be noted that some of the scenes in the opera are a bit surprising, and they may even seem unbelievable. But we have grounded Frau Schindler in actual events, with very little dramatic license. It goes without saying that this is not a story suitable to any form of sensationalism. I have viewed its telling as a privilege, with a moral and artistic duty to seek impeccable standards of honesty. In creating the music, I have relied solely on my own intense emotional connection to the story, and have had no interest in contrived intellectualism.
We hope that as you get to know Emilie, you will hear her voice, and remember her as we have.
— Thomas Morse
Librettist note:
The libretto is fashioned as a script that can be read as a play. It is about two living, breathing human beings and their functional/dysfunctional relationship. Tom Morse was amazingly supportive and after tweaks, additions, and more tweaks and additions, and finally, all tied together with his insightful, beautiful music, the rest is about-to-be history. It has been a personally momentous journey and I am humbled to be telling the story of this woman's survival during the darkest period in the history of humanity. It always boils down to women holding the world together, doesn't it?
— Kenneth Cazan
Synopsis:
As an ordinary couple who became increasingly immersed in extraordinary circumstances, Emilie and Oskar Schindler found themselves faced with the ultimate moral decision. Told from Emilie Schindler’s perspective, Frau Schindler examines how two living, breathing human beings who essentially endure the same daily wartime experiences can see them from two very different points of view. It is the story of a woman’s survival and heroism in the heart of one of the darkest periods in human history. The story from her perspective provides a window into the psychology of the times — how step by step, an advanced society was slowly seduced into the unthinkable.
EMILIE SCHINDLER: Mezzo-soprano
OSKAR SCHINDLER: Lyric baritone
MARTHE MARKER: Lyric soprano
NAZI OFFICER 1: Tenor
NAZI OFFICER 2 (also ADOLF GRÜNHALT): Tenor
NAZI OFFICER 3 (also KLEIN'S ASSISTANT): Tenor
NAZI OFFICER'S WIFE 1 (also HILDE): Soprano
NAZI OFFICER'S WIFE 2 (also ESTHER RECHEN): Soprano
NAZI OFFICER'S WIFE 3 (also SALI HIRSCHBIRG): Mezzo-soprano
QUARTERMASTER SCHNEEFELD (also TRAIN ENGINEER): Bass-baritone
YOUNG WOMAN: Lyric soprano
GUARD 1 (also COMMANDER KLEIN): Baritone
GUARD 2 (also TRAIN CONDUCTOR): Baritone
GUARD 3 (also PETER GORLINSKY): Baritone
FRAU VON DAUBEK: Dramatic soprano
RICHARD RECHEN: Baritone (Chorus)
SZYMON HIRSCHBIRG: Baritone (Chorus)
RADIO ANNOUNCER: Speaker
CANTOR: Speaker
Chorus
Interview with Thomas Morse, March 2017Composer note:
About a decade ago, I relocated from Los Angeles to Berlin, with the primary goal of researching and composing an opera that would portray Oskar Schindler’s heroic actions during the holocaust. It was a beginning of a journey that would involve reading countless books and interviews, visiting sites in multiple countries, learning German, and speaking with people who experienced the second world war first-hand.
In deciding on a narrative approach to the Schindler story, it became increasingly apparent that an opera that would essentially retell the same story as Steven Spielberg’s iconic cinematic masterpiece, "Schindler’s List," was not the best idea. However, in the course of research I had run across the story of Oskar’s wife, Emilie Schindler. The story from her perspective provides a window into the psychology of the times — how step by step, an advanced society was slowly seduced into the unthinkable. How people were conditioned to compartmentalize absolutes, in order to rationalize and live with what was happening around them. It was a society that felt that it had been victimized, and in turn used this to justify rage toward an entire people.
Through Emilie’s eyes, we also see a complex and paradoxical portrait of Oskar. He was a man who was initially able to severely set aside his moral conscience, in favor of his personal ambition. But he changed his mind about the exploitation of his workers, and actively fought and maneuvered to save them. What level of redemption did he achieve? Based upon scholarly writings and personal accounts, Frau Schindler portrays Oskar as historically accurate as possible.
It should be noted that some of the scenes in the opera are a bit surprising, and they may even seem unbelievable. But we have grounded Frau Schindler in actual events, with very little dramatic license. It goes without saying that this is not a story suitable to any form of sensationalism. I have viewed its telling as a privilege, with a moral and artistic duty to seek impeccable standards of honesty. In creating the music, I have relied solely on my own intense emotional connection to the story, and have had no interest in contrived intellectualism.
We hope that as you get to know Emilie, you will hear her voice, and remember her as we have.
— Thomas Morse
Librettist note:
The libretto is fashioned as a script that can be read as a play. It is about two living, breathing human beings and their functional/dysfunctional relationship. Tom Morse was amazingly supportive and after tweaks, additions, and more tweaks and additions, and finally, all tied together with his insightful, beautiful music, the rest is about-to-be history. It has been a personally momentous journey and I am humbled to be telling the story of this woman's survival during the darkest period in the history of humanity. It always boils down to women holding the world together, doesn't it?
— Kenneth Cazan
Synopsis:
As an ordinary couple who became increasingly immersed in extraordinary circumstances, Emilie and Oskar Schindler found themselves faced with the ultimate moral decision. Told from Emilie Schindler’s perspective, Frau Schindler examines how two living, breathing human beings who essentially endure the same daily wartime experiences can see them from two very different points of view. It is the story of a woman’s survival and heroism in the heart of one of the darkest periods in human history. The story from her perspective provides a window into the psychology of the times — how step by step, an advanced society was slowly seduced into the unthinkable.