GerMANIA by composer Alexander Raskatov – commissioned and premiered by the Opéra de Lyon – has all the marks of a major event on the international opera scene. Drawn from two texts by the playwright Heiner Müller, this dramatic and satirical opera plunges the audience into a critical period of the 20th century, and the clash between Nazism and Communism. Against the backdrop of Germany from the first world war to reunification after the destruction of the wall, thirty-seven characters follow one another across the stage, amongst them Hitler, Stalin and Goebbels.

Russian composer Alexander Raskatov, a witness of the barbarism of that time (he was born in Moscow in 1953), knows perfectly how to mix drama with comedy. Here, he writes music that is very expressive, humorous and illustrative but often also more personal, solemn and moving. GerMANIA is a vast historical fresco that is at once ironic and piercing, a tragedy that deals with questions of power, its embodiment, its purpose and its consequences for our collective history.

«In the textual-musical architecture of my opera, I wanted to find the equivalent of a meticulous autopsy, like those performed for atrocious crimes. How would I find the language to express both the immense negligence, cowardice and utter destitution of the doers and, on the other hand, the sadism, brutal force and infamy turned crime on a global scale? Forbidding myself all chatter and commentary, I laboured a great deal on this dual conflicting twist to bring out the ragged humanity, drained and destroyed. The macramé fabric, made of holes like those from bullets fired, indicates sentences and words to be cut, chopped, as one finds with the mechanical robotisation of the systematic and excessive destructions of war machines.»

Alexander Raskatov

Commissioned by Opéra National de Lyon

Concert dates : 

From 19 May to 4 June 2018 - Opéra National de Lyon, Lyon

Photo © Corentin Fohlen