Luigi Nono Intolleranza 1960 opera to a libretto by the composer (based on texts from Henri Alleg, Bertolt Brecht, Paul Éluard, Julius Fučík, Wladimir Majakowski, Angelo Maria Ripellino, and Jean-Paul Sartre). Directed 2021 by Jan Lauwers at the Felseignriteschule as part of the Salzburg Festival. Stars Sean Panikker (A Migrant), Sarah Maria Sen (A Woman), Antonio Yang (An Algerian), Musa Ngqungwana (A Torture Victim), and Victor Afung Lauwters (The Blind Poet). Also features performers from Lauwers’ NEEDCOMPANY, dancers from the BODHI PROJECT, and members of the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance. Ingo Metzmacher conducts the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Konzertvereinigung of the Wiener Staatsopernchor (Chorus Master Huw Rhys James), Soprano Leah Manning, and Anna-Maria Birnbauer (A Laughing Woman). Set and design by Jan Lauwers, costumes by Lot Lemm, lighting and video designs by Ken Hioco; sound design by Paul Juekendrup; dramatury by Elke Janssens and Kasia Tórz. Directed for TV by Tiziano Mancini. Sung in Italian. Released in 2022, disc has PCM Stereo sound. Grade: NA
Nono was a life-long Italian communist who wrote electronic, serial, and aleatory (improvised or chance) music. Intolleranza is a musical and political statement. It has only been staged a few times, and at least two productions resulted in actual vandalism during performances by neo-nazis (in Italy) and members of the John Birch Society (in Boston). Here is a quote from Nono describing this:
Intolleranza 1960 is the awakening of human awareness in a man who has rebelled against the demands of necessity – an emigrant miner – and searches for a reason and a "human" base for life. After several experiences of intolerance and domination, he is beginning to rediscover human relations, between himself and others, when he is swept away in a flood with other people. Symbol? Report? Fantasy? All three, in a story of our time.
Music this abstract can never be popular . . . but it also resists becoming dated. The title was changed to just Intolleranza by publisher Schott. Subject production could well have been called Intolleranza 2021. Something this radical would be beyond the scope of most opera directors. Here Lauwers, a Dutch theater-of-the-absurd specialist, got the job. If you are into contemporary opera or theater, you probably have to get this title. For the rest of us, the question is whether one has the courage to tackle this.
Here’s a trailer, complete with timestamp tool:
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