Lulu

History

Sources

Berg was familiar with Wedekind's Erdgeist by 1903, when he was 19. He also saw Die Büchse der Pandora in 1905 in a production by Karl Kraus on 29 May, and was inspired by the introductory speech that Kraus delivered on that occasion. In Wedekind's two Lulu plays, now often performed together under that title, Erdgeist forms the basis for the act 1 and act 2, scene 1, of the opera culminating in her shooting Dr. Schön, while Die Büchse der Pandora forms the basis for the rest of act 2 and act 3, Lulu's imprisonment, escape and subsequent decline and murder.

Composition

Berg did not begin work on Lulu until 1929, after he had completed his other opera, Wozzeck. Thanks to Wozzeck's success Berg had economic security that enabled him to embark on a second opera. But life in the musical world was becoming increasingly difficult in the 1930s in both Vienna and Germany due to rising antisemitism and the Nazi cultural ideology that denounced the music of Berg, Webern, and others. Even to have an association with someone Jewish could lead to denunciation, and Berg had studied with the Jewish composer Arnold Schoenberg. Wozzeck's success was short-lived, as theatre after theatre succumbed to political pressure and refused to produce it, Erich Kleiber's 30 November 1932 production being the last, while sets and scenery were systematically destroyed. Wozzeck was also banned in the Soviet Union as "bourgeois". Berg found that opportunities for his work to be performed in Germany were growing scarce, and in September 1935 his music was proscribed as Entartete Musik (degenerate music) under the label Kulturbolschewismus (Cultural Bolshevism).

Despite these conditions, Berg worked on Lulu in seclusion at his lodge, the Waldhaus (house in the woods), in Carinthia. In the spring of 1934 he learned from Wilhelm Furtwängler that production of Lulu in Berlin would be impossible with the current cultural and political situation. It was at this point that he set the work on the opera aside to prepare a concert suite, in the event that the opera could never be performed, and also considered expanding it into a Lulu Symphony. This was his Symphonische Stücke aus der Oper "Lulu" (Lulu Suite) for soprano and orchestra. Kleiber performed the piece at the Berlin State Opera on 30 November, and despite an enthusiastic reception by some sections of the audience, condemnation by the authorities prompted Kleiber's resignation four days later and departure from Germany. The reaction of periodicals such as Die Musik and Zeitschrift für Musik was particularly hostile. On December 7, Goebbels made a speech equating atonality with "the Jewish intellectual infection," while the January 1935 issue of Die Musik suggested that any reviewer who had written anything favourable about the suite should be dismissed.

In January 1935, the Russian-born American violinist Louis Krasner, who had championed Berg's work in the United States, approached Berg to commission a violin concerto. Berg was reluctant to set aside Lulu for this, but the money ($1,500) was welcomed, as Berg was in financial difficulties, financially and artistically ruined by the Reichskulturkammer (Nazi cultural committee). At first there was only a tentative agreement, but at the end of March he told Krasner he would compose it and had started some preliminary work. But it was the tragic death of 18-year-old Manon Gropius (the daughter of Walter Gropius and Alma Mahler, whom the Bergs treated as their own daughter) on April 22 that prompted Berg to set aside Lulu for the concerto, which he dedicated to her. The concerto was completed swiftly, between April and August of that year, but the time he spent on it prevented him from completing the opera before his sudden death on December 24.

Roles

Berg specified that a number of cast members should take more than one role. Thus, the singers of Lulu's three husbands return as her clients while a prostitute: one performer each appears as the Doctor and the Professor, as the Painter and the Negro, and as Dr. Schön and Jack the Ripper. Other specified combinations are one mezzo-soprano as the Dresser, the Schoolboy, and the Groom; one tenor as the Prince, the Manservant, and the Marquis; one bass as the Animal Tamer and the Athlete, and another bass as the Theatre Manager and the Banker. Another aspect of the cast list that differs from Wedekind's original is that all characters in the two plays receive a proper name. Berg removed these names except for the five leading roles of Lulu, Schön, Alwa, Geschwitz and Schigolch. Some of Wedekind's other names have sometimes been applied to Berg's characters; for example, the Athlete is often called "Rodrigo Quast", but this name is not in the score.

Berg perhaps modeled the Geschwitz role on his lesbian sister Smaragda, Dr. Schön on Arnold Schoenberg, the Painter on Richard Gerstl, Schigolch on his wife Helene's biological father (perhaps Franz Joseph I of Austria), and Alwa on himself, among other semiautobiographical and allegorical elements, according to Olaf Winnecke. The physician Dr. Goll, as in Wozzeck, may represent society.

Plot overview

A circus animal tamer introduces Lulu symbolically as a serpent and the other roles likewise as various "domesticated" animals ("Hereinspaziert in die Menagerie!").

Lulu is being painted in a late 19th-century studio in a city like Vienna. Dr. Schön and his son Alwa, a composer and admirer, are visiting. When they leave, the Painter ravishes her. Dr. Goll, her physician husband, finds them and dies of stroke. Lulu inherits his wealth. Later, the Painter has happily married her, but news of Schön's engagement angers her. The asthmatic Schigolch visits as a beggar. From a young age, she was "rescued" and "loved" by the elder Schön, who is trying to discard her. Schön tells the Painter Lulu's background so she may be properly "handled". Realizing he does not know who Lulu—or "Nelly", "Eva", or "Mignon"—is, the Painter reaches his breaking point and dies by suicide. Schön blames Lulu and tries to manage her by making her a dancer, but a prince plans to marry her and take her to Africa. She persuades Schön to marry her instead.

Schön is jealous of Lulu's admirers, including the lesbian Geschwitz. He experiences paranoid delusions and hallucinations, and tries to kill Lulu. But she manages to kill him instead. Lulu is tried, convicted, and imprisoned, but Geschwitz helps her contract cholera and escape from the isolation ward. Though free, Lulu is a shadow of her former self. Alwa still idealizes her as his muse. They flee to Paris, and her admirers follow. Some of Lulu's admirers blackmail or try to sex traffick her, perhaps to Africa (Lied des Mädchenhändlers, quoting Wedekind's lute song). She arranges to have one murdered with Geschwitz's help and flees again, followed by loyal admirers, as the stock market crashes.

In London, Lulu is reduced to prostitution as perhaps before in her childhood. Seeking money, Schigolch finds only a book of homilies in the coat of Lulu's first client, the Professor (the mirror, in a dual role, of her first husband Dr. Goll), who has discreetly paid Lulu in advance. Her second client, an African Prince (the Painter's double), refuses to pay, attacks Lulu, and bludgeons Alwa. Geschwitz, feeling lost and unloved, contemplates suicide. Lulu is so captivated by (or afraid of) her third client, Jack the Ripper (Schön's double), that she accedes to his demand to waive payment. He murders Lulu and then Geschwitz, who dies mourning Lulu.

Musicodramatic synopsis

Prologue

The Animal Tamer introduces the menagerie's creatures, including the serpent (Lulu motif).

Act 1

Studio

She poses as Pierrot with a shepherd's crook. After news editor Dr. Schön and his son Alwa visit, the Painter chases and ravishes her (canon), calling her Gnädige Frau, Nelly, and Eva. Her husband, Dr. Goll, breaks down the door and drops dead. After some coy denial (canzonetta), she says she's rich, horrifying the Painter, who questions her (duet). She repeats "I don't know" (Ich weiss es nicht, echoing Parsifal). The Painter tells Goll's corpse he'd trade places if he could (arioso).

Verwandlungsmusik (Transformation Music)

Apartment drawing room

Lulu's portrait sold profitably, the Painter gushes. Schön's engagement notice stings her. The Painter says she's ravishing (love duettino). The asthmatic beggar Schigolch rings and visits "Lulu" covertly (wind nonet).

Schön enters, renouncing her. They argue (sonata). "I belong to you", she cries (coda: love theme, monoritmica). Schön insists. Furious, she withdraws.

The Painter returns. Schön says he sent Mignon (Lulu), a 12-year-old flower seller, to an "aunt". He calls Schigolch Lulu's father. Lulu tried supplanting Schön's wife, so he married her off. He helped promote the Painter, who, shaken, agrees to restrain her. She returns.

The Painter groans behind a locked door. Alwa rings and enters, mentioning revolution in Paris. They break down the door: the Painter's dead. She screams. Schön phones police, mentioning the Painter's persecutory delusions. She suggests a newspaper extra to divert attention. The doorbell rings. She tells Schön he'll marry her (Lulu motif).

Interlude (Love theme)

Theater dressing room with her portrait poster

A jazz band plays ragtime, perhaps Alwa's. She and he discuss the Prince taking her to Africa. Alwa envisioned Lulu replacing his late mother. She's dancing in a tutu to bag a rich husband. Alwa's smitten. A bell calls her. Alwa imagines a Lulu opera (Wozzeck quotation). Applause intrudes.

Act 2

Renaissance-style parlor

Countess Geschwitz visits Schön's wife Lulu with a ball invitation and flowers, and offers to paint her portrait, admiring it before leaving. Schön draws a revolver, reflecting on his madness. Lulu asks for his afternoon (cavatina). He claims to have business. They go to the bedroom. Geschwitz covertly reenters.

Schigolch returns "home", he says, with clients: the Athlete and Schoolboy. Lulu reenters in a ball gown and flowers. They fantasize about her, including Schigolch, who denies being her father (canon). Lulu agrees she never had one. They discuss Schön's paranoia.

The Manservant announces "Herr Dr. Schön". The clients hide. Schigolch leaves. It's Alwa. (The elder Schön lurks.) He waxes poetic (hymnal music) and takes her hand, asking if she loves him (Tristan chord). She doesn't know, she says: she poisoned his mother. (Schön draws on the Athlete, who points to Alwa.)

Mentioning revolution, Schön barricades Alwa and hands Lulu the revolver (5-strophe aria), urging suicide to save Alwa. She testfires. Schön retakes it and barricades Geschwitz. Lulu proposes divorce. Schön demands suicide, handing back the gun. She can only live "as what I am" (Lied der Lulu). Schön tries forcing the "murderess" into a staged suicide (5th strophe). The Schoolboy interrupts. Lulu empties five rounds into Schön, killing him.

Alwa seizes Lulu. She offers her fidelity for freedom (arietta). The doorbell rings. "The police are here", says Alwa.

A silent film set to tumultuous, rhythmic music shows her yearlong imprisonment in palindrome: arrest, detention, trial, cell-door closure, reflection in water (emphasizing her eyes), cell-door opening, doctors' rounds, hospitalization, and escape.

The same parlor, darker

Geschwitz, Alwa, and the Athlete discuss the prison escape. The Athlete will elope with Lulu to Paris. Schigolch takes the frail Geschwitz to hospital.

Act 3

Grand drawing room, Paris

The Athlete toasts "Countess Adelaide" (Lulu) at her birthday party. The Marquis eyes a 15-year-old girl. Guests play baccarat and discuss their thriving Jungfrau Railway shares.

The Marquis is blackmailing Lulu (duet). He won't wait for cash proceeds and wants her only for sex trafficking (Lied des Mädchenhändlers). She refuses (Lied der Lulu reprise). A Cairo brothel has outbid her bounty.

The Athlete delivers his own blackmail letter. Geschwitz approaches, saying Lulu has not requited her love. The Athlete menaces Lulu (duet). The Banker is telegrammed: "rail shares crash". Schigolch begs for cash (duet). Lulu cries and confides in him. He'll kill the Athlete.

The Marquis and Athlete argue. She tells the Athlete to sleep with Geschwitz, who'll then lend Lulu money to pay him. She offers herself to Geschwitz if Geschwitz beds the Athlete in a hotel (Schigolch's) that night. Geschwitz hesitantly agrees. Lulu swaps clothes with her valet. The market panic yields antisemitism. She and Alwa run. Police and the Marquis reach the valet, who starts to laugh.

Verwandlung – Variationen (Transformation – Variations)

Dark, leaky London garret

It rains (barrel-organ tune, tremolo strings). Alwa and Schigolch face their ruin as Lulu tries street prostitution. They hide as she brings a meek Professor (Goll's silent double), who pays upfront and leaves.

Geschwitz brings Lulu's portrait, a rolled-up canvas. Lulu refuses it, nearly shrieking. Schigolch says it'll wow clients (quartet). Enraptured, Alwa nails it to the wall. Stifled and haunted, Lulu returns to the streets, defying Alwa, who's ill. Geschwitz chases.

Lulu's second client, the Negro (the Painter's double), says he's an African prince but attacks her when she tries to arrange payment—and also Alwa, who intervened. Seeing Alwa dead, Lulu flees into the streets. Schigolch drags Alwa away and visits the pub when Geschwitz returns. Geschwitz contemplates suicide, pleading with Lulu's portrait for devoted love.

Analysis

Dramatic

The character of Lulu has been described as embodying both elements of female sexuality's dualism, earth-mother and whore. In the words of Karl Kraus, she is the woman "who became the destroyer of all because everyone destroyed her". Berg's involvement with the lower depths of society in his two dramatic works, Wozzeck and Lulu, surprised even Schoenberg. Like Wozzeck, Lulu is social criticism, a tragedy in which the protagonists are portrayed as victims, gradually becoming enslaved to social forces they are too weak to deal with. Significantly, Lulu is canonically startlingly young, only about 15 years of age when the drama begins, and Schigolch, who may or may not be her father, is implied to have been her first sexual experience. Palindromes in the piece take many forms, such as the rise and fall of Lulu and the recycling of the actors: the three men whose deaths she contributes to become Lulu's three clients, and the man she murdered murders her. Alwa, thought to be the antithesis of Lulu, was changed from Wedekind's dramatist to Berg's composer and is assumed to be a stand-in for Berg himself. In all cases, the music underscores and confirms Berg's dramatic allusions. Berg uses the Tristan chord to symbolize love and death.

Musical

The onstage jazz band in act 1, scene 3 (instrumentalists can be drawn from the pit players) consists of:

In act 3, scene 2, Cerha's edition uses a small onstage ensemble that requires:

piccolo

flute

3 clarinets in B♭

bass clarinet in B♭

contrabassoon

Lulu is arguably the first seminal work of western art music that used the vibraphone, an instrument that had previously been associated with jazz. However, it has been used in smaller works by major composers prior to Lulu, such as Maurice Ravel's orchestrations of Don Quichotte à Dulcinée and Ronsard à son âme [fr] (1933 and 1935 respectively), as well as Darius Milhaud's incidental music to L'annonce faite à Marie (1932).

Berg was obsessed with symmetry in his works and Lulu is no exception, the whole being perceived as a palindrome or mirror. Lulu's popularity in the first act is mirrored by the squalor she lives in during act 3, and this is emphasised by Lulu's husbands in act 1 being played by the same singers as her clients in act 3. The motifs associated with each are repeated.

This mirrorlike structure is further emphasised by the film interlude at act 2 at the midpoint. The events shown in the film are a miniature version of the mirror structure of the opera as a whole (Lulu enters prison and then leaves again) and the music accompanying the film is an exact palindrome – it reads the same forwards as backwards. The centre of this palindrome is indicated by an arpeggio played on the piano, first rising, then falling (shown here on the top staff).

Berg assigns specific vocal styles to each character with descriptive orchestral representation, recapitulative episodes to emphasise psychological significance and pitch-sets. Recapitulation includes having single singers performing multiple roles. The use of pitch includes the use of twelve-tone rows.

Posthumous history

The opera was first performed by the Zürich Opera in an incomplete form on June 2, 1937. Erwin Stein made a vocal score of the whole of act 3 following Berg's death, and Helene Berg, Alban's widow, approached Schoenberg to complete the orchestration. Schoenberg at first accepted, but upon being sent copies of Berg's sketches he changed his mind, saying that it would be a more time-consuming task than he had thought. Helene subsequently forbade anybody else to complete the opera, and for over 40 years only the first two acts could be given complete, usually with the act 3 portions of the Lulu Suite played in place of act 3. The last recording made of the original two-act version—Christoph von Dohnányi conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, with Anja Silja in the title role (Decca/London, recorded 1976 and released 1978)—presented it in this form.

Director Heinz Ruckert shot the silent film featured at the midpoint according to Berg's exacting specifications. The film wordlessly depicts Lulu's arrest, trial, incarceration, and ultimate liberation thanks to the cunning of Countess Geschwitz. Like the music for this sequence (and the opera as a whole), the film has a palindromic structure. The original film is lost save for four stills which remain in the Zürich Stadtarchiv. Each successive production requires a new film to be shot with the stage actors, though many recent productions have omitted the film altogether.

Performance history

After the Zürich premiere, the opera was seen at La Fenice on 4 September 1949 during the Venice Biennale, conducted by Sanzogno. The German premiere was at the Grillo-Theater in Essen on 7 March 1953 with Carla Spletter in the title role, and the Netherlands premiere on July 7 of that year at the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam as part of the Holland Festival, both with Die Bühnen der Stadt Essen conducted by Gustav König and broadcast to the UK on the BBC on 10 August. This was followed by a production at Hamburg in 1957 with Helga Pilarczyk in a Günther Rennert production, conducted by Leopold Ludwig which was also seen at the Paris Opera in 1960 and La Scala in 1963, and Sadler's Wells 1962.

In its two-act form plus sketches of the third act, Lulu made its American debut at the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico during the 1963 season, with the American soprano Joan Carroll in the title role, together with Donald Gramm (Schön), Elaine Bonazzi (Geschwitz), and George Shirley (Alwa), with Robert Craft conducting. The Opera's general director, John Crosby, attempted to negotiate for Santa Fe to stage the American premiere of the full three-act opera, but was not successful. A notable Lulu, Silja, made her debut in a Wieland Wagner production at the Staatsoper Stuttgart in 1966 (which was later filmed, with Carlos Alexander as Schön). In 1967 the Metropolitan Opera presented the Hamburg State Opera production with Ludwig conducting, Toni Blankenheim (Schön), Anneliese Rothenberger (Lulu), Kerstin Meyer (Geschwitz), Gerhard Unger (Alwa), Kim Borg (Schigolch) and Maria von Ilosvay (Theatre dresser). This production was recorded by Electrola the following year. Celebrated Lulus have included Evelyn Lear, Teresa Stratas, Nancy Shade, Karan Armstrong, Julia Migenes, Barbara Hannigan, Christine Schäfer, and Marlis Petersen.

Helene Berg's death in 1976 paved the way for a new completed version of the opera to be made by Friedrich Cerha. There was insufficient time to have the score of this three-act version ready for the first production of the work at the Metropolitan Opera in April 1977 (in a production by John Dexter, with Carole Farley in the title role), so the incomplete version was used. Published in 1979, the Cerha completion premiered on 24 February the same year at the Opera Garnier and was conducted by Pierre Boulez, with Stratas singing the lead role; the production (by Patrice Chéreau) was a sensation and the recording won the Gramophone Award for 1979.

The U.S. premiere of the complete opera was on 28 July 1979 at Santa Fe, with Nancy Shade (Lulu), William Dooley (Schön), Katherine Ciesinski (Geschwitz) and Barry Busse (Alwa). The Metropolitan Opera first presented it in December 1980, a performance later released on DVD. Its 2015 production, with Marlis Petersen in the title role, was broadcast in high definition on 21 November. That production featured projections and animated drawings by William Kentridge. The same production, with a different cast, also played at De Nationale Opera, Amsterdam (2015), the English National Opera, London in 2016, and the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (2017).