Luciano Berio
Un re in ascolto
Short instrumentation: 3 3 4 3 - 3 3 3 1 - perc(2), acc, pno(2 players), t.sax, keyb, str
Duration: 90'
Dichter der Textvorlage: Wystan Hugh Auden, William Shakespeare, F. W. Gotter
Libretto von: Italo Calvino
Übersetzer: Burkhart Kroeber
Dedication: A Margherita Kalmus
Choir: SATB
Solos:
soprano
mezzo-soprano
tenor
Bassbariton
Roles:
Prospero
bass-baritone
Regisseur
tenor
Freitag
actor
Protagonist
soprano
Soprano I and II
Mezzo-soprano
3 Singers: tenor
baritone
bass
some small parts
ballet
Instrumentation details:
1st flute
2nd flute
3rd flute (+picc)
1st oboe
2nd oboe
cor anglais
clarinet in Eb
1st clarinet in Bb
2nd clarinet in Bb
bass clarinet in Bb (+3rdcl(Bb))
tenor saxophone in Bb
1st bassoon
2nd bassoon
contrabassoon
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
3rd horn in F
1st trumpet in C
2nd trumpet in C
3rd trumpet in C
1st trombone
2nd trombone
3rd trombone
bass tuba
percussion(2)
accordion
piano on stage (2 players)
keyboard/celesta (1 player)
violin I
violin II
viola
violoncello
contrabass
Berio - Un re in ascolto
Printed/Digital
Translation, reprints and more
Luciano Berio
Berio: Un Re In Ascolto - A King is ListeningType: Libretto/Textbuch
Language: Deutsch | Italienisch
Luciano Berio
Berio: Un re in ascolto (ital.)
Available digitally
Type: Dirigierpartitur (Sonderanfertigung)
Language: Italienisch
Luciano Berio
Berio: Un re in ascolto (ital./dt.)Type: Klavierauszug
Language: Deutsch | Italienisch
Sample pages
Audio preview
Work introduction
Un re in ascolto is not an opera; it is a phase in Berio’s long farewell to the genre. He describes it in a talk with himself as follows: “The story depicts the experiences of a king who attentively learned of the calamity building up all around him and who powerlessly witnessed the progressive disintegration of his kingdom and his might.”
The king bears the name Prospero; he is distantly related to the hero of Shakespeare’s last tragedy The Tempest. The music seems to be constantly at an emotional peak, the characters singing and crying out their desperation and loneliness into the world. Only at the end does the music become calmer, resigned and bereft of illusions.