Ernst Krenek, Karl V (1938)

This is famous (I mean, to the extent that it's famous, so I probably should have said "not famous") as the first full-length twelve-tone opera (it was preceded by this one-act Schoenberg work). So: whoo.

Karl V is Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor from 1519 to 1558. Most of this takes place at the end of his life, as he's remembering incidents from the past via flashback. He's broadly concerned with that ever-popular activity, Uniting Christendom. However--naturally--there are conflicts within that make that difficult. We meet his mother, his wife, Martin Luther, Francis I of France, and really just a whole shit-ton of generals and things who are definitely real people, but not anyone you'd probably know if you're not an expert in this area. Also, this is fun: remember how, in my review of Benvenuto Cellini (of course you remember every detail of every review I've ever written!), I idly wondered whether there were any other operas to features Popes as singing characters? Well, here's one, and even more surprisingly, they both feature the same Pope, Clement VII. How about that?

The present-day world of this 2008 production is framed as being at a school, with Karl himself playing the role of teacher. Seems kind of weird, but it actually works pretty darned well, I thought. Dietrich Henschel is impressive in the title role, which must be a demanding one. I wasn't sure about this at first, but ultimately, I kind of got into it. It repeatedly made me think of Carlos Fuentes' Terra Nostra, which takes place mostly in more or less the same milieu. You know, that novel may be defiantly impenetrable, and I doubt I'll ever summon the wherewithal to reread it, but I must say, I do have basically positive memories of it, more so as time passes. That's neither here nor there, except that I enjoyed the association.

So, the music: I did like it. Kind of. But I remains a twelve-tone skeptic. There's a quote from Schoenberg which I can't find now to the effect that this is a hugely important development in German music that's going to change its course for the next hundred years. But...did it? Its influence may be felt in other composers; I'm probably not sophisticated enough to tell. But it sure hasn't taken over, and it always strikes me as really...limited. Like, okay, this is certainly not unlistenable, and as a novelty it's sort of cool, but where can you go with it? Can you do anything other than the same dern thing over and over? Maybe you can, and maybe I'm just a philistine, but such is my feeling.