Ivan Acher, Sternenhoch (2018)

This is based on a 1928 Czech novel by Ladislav Klíma, The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch. The story, such as it is: Sternenhoch is a German noble who marries a younger woman, Helga. She has a child, which she then murders, and the next day she's with her lover, feeling cheery, until Sternenhoch appears and kills her, sort of maybe. His mind fast disintegrating, he visits a witch for help, but she gives him a potion that makes him violently hallucinate, further fracturing his psyche, until at the end he either dies or is locked in an insane asylum and is reunited with his dead wife.

The first thing that will stand out to you upon hearing about this opera is that it's sung in Esperanto Why? According to this,it's because "the author of the libretto wanted the text to be in an incomprehensible language. He wanted his audience to listen to the melody and not decipher the words," but I'm afraid the English subtitles have somewhat undermined this goal. Still, the thing is, the language is actually not the most amazing thing about the opera. First, there's the music: it's kind of a chamber opera, with very limited orchestration: a zither, a contrabassoon, a character onstage with a violin or viola, and various electronic effects. This is NOT your typical opera music. It's not as extreme as Luci mie traditrici, but aside from that, it definitely pushes the boundaries of opera further than anything I've seen. It's also, I hasten to add, pretty great: fractured electronic Eastern European folk and dance music: it's no joke; this may not be what you'd expect, but it's very hypnotic and exciting (if that's not a contradiction). It doesn't exactly call for traditional singers, but everyone is extremely game for what must be the most bizarre roles of their career: in particular Sergey Kostov in the title role, careening back and forth between low and high registers; and Tereza Mare as the menacing violin-wielding demon girl. Then there are the visuals, which I can only describe as German expressionism gone berserk (well, berserk-er). Super-stylized costumes and sets abound, and they perfectly match the music and story.

Is this for everyone? Nope! It's violently alienating, as apparently is the novel, and it if weren't, it wouldn't be what it is. And honestly, at an hour and twenty minutes, I feel like it's about as long as it needs to be. This could get a bit numbing at greater length. Still, I'm just gonna go ahead and say it: this has taken the place as my favorite contemporary opera, and I hope to see more from Acher. Operavision should be commended for bringing us such a pioneering work. I found it thrilling, both for its aesthetics and for its bold willingnesss to take the opera form somewhere new and strange--a willingness that really pays off. This is one I'll be returning to, you can bet on it.

Also, I was accidentally arguing with some guy in the youtube comments who for reasons he was unable or unwilling to articulate, just HATED the idea of an opera in Esperanto.  It was pretty weird, but then I clicked on his profile and saw his favorited videos and realized he was a neo-nazi. Cool. So anyway, obviously being hated by nazis is about the most potent endorsement anyone could ask for.