Muziektheater Transparant - Dirk Roofthooft

'A soundtrack without a film,' is how the musicologist John Pritchett described Richard Strauss' monodrama 'Enoch Arden'. Strauss' forgotten gem dates from 1897 and was written for the spoken voice and piano. A symphonically conceived piano part, with a rhythmical 'Leitmotiv', accompanies Alfred Tennyson's story. The story is set on the wild and rocky English coast and starts as follows: two friends, Enoch Arden and Philip Ray, both love Annie Lee; when Annie chooses Enoch, Philip suffers in silence; but then Enoch leaves on a long sea voyage and Philip is concerned about the fatherless family… In a certain sense, Strauss' musical version of this story of love and sacrifice forms a bridge between the idiom of his symphonic poems and his later operas. The instrumental characterisation of the three people goes hand in hand with a writing style oriented towards textual expression. Eric de Kuyper has selected excerpts from films that might be considered variations on 'Enoch Arden'. They enter into a captivating dialogue with both the music and the narration.