Music September 1989
Art behind barbed wire
On Viktor Ullmann’s satirical opera The Emperor of Atlantis.
Nazi concentration camp is perhaps the last place in the world where one would expect to find conditions favorable to the creation of art. And yet, in 1944, art did come from one such camp—a musical work of sufficient interest for it to be performed today, if only sporadically. The work is Viktor Ullmann’s satirical opera Der Tod dankt ab, oder Der Kaiser von Atlantis (“Death Abdicates, or the Emperor of Atlantis”). The manuscript of the opera was discovered in 1972 by the British composer Kerry Woodward, who conducted its premiere three years later. A much-touted revival of the work took place in May at the Wiener Kammeroper (the Vienna Chamber Opera).
The Emperor of Atlantis was composed (although never performed) at Theresienstadt, the “showcase” concentration camp forty miles northeast of Prague where large numbers of prominent Jewish artists...
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