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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 months

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Dave Maass and Patrick Lay’s “Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis”

Berliners: Otherland has added a second date (Jan 28) for my book-talk after the first one sold out - book now!

"The Emperor of Atlantis," is an opera written by two Nazi concentration camp inmates, the librettist Peter Kien and the composer Viktor Ullmann, while they were interned in Terezin, a show-camp in Czechoslovakia that housed numerous Jewish artists, who were encouraged to make and display their work as a way of proving to the rest of the world that Nazi camps were humane places.

Of course, it was all a sham. Like nearly all of Terezin's inmates, Kein and Ullmann were eventually shipped to Auschwitz to be murdered. "The Emperor" was never performed during their life, but the manuscript, written on scrounged paper (including the backs of other inmates Auschwitz transfer papers) survived.

In the decades since, "The Emperor" has been mounted a few times, with varying degrees of faithfulness. But those live performances were limited to the people who could attend them during their limited run. Now, a new graphic novel called Death Strikes: The Emperor of Atlantis, brings the work to us all:

https://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/3726/berger-books-and-dark-horse-comics-present-death-s

Death Strikes was adapted by my EFF colleague Dave Maass, an investigator and muckraker and brilliant writer, who teamed up with illustrator Patrick Lay and character designer Ezra Rose (who worked from the Kein and Ullmann's original designs, which survived along with the score and libretto).

The tale is set in the mythical kingdom of Atlantis, where the reclusive emperor has been holed up in an armored tower for decades, directing a forever war, greeting each battlefield report with fresh orders, all the while carefully scheming to maintain his grip on power by prolonging the war footing among his people.

But the Emperor has a problem: he's won the war. Every enemy has fallen. Without endless war, his system of social control will shrivel and he will be vulnerable to his people. So the Emperor declares a new war of all against all, announcing that it is every citizen's duty to make war on their neighbors. Problem solved!

But the Emperor goes too far. In announcing his new war, he directs his messengers – drum-beating automata who march through the streets of Atlantic rapping out his edicts – to claim that Death himself has blessed this new war, and "when the final drum sounds, our old friend DEATH, our flag-bearer, will raise his sword in salute to our great future!"

For Death – a swordbearing skeleton in a soldier's greatcoat and shako – this is too much. The Emperor's endless wars have already tried Death's patience. Death brings mercy, not vengeance, and the endless killing has dismayed him. The Emperor's co-option drives him past the brink, and Death declares a strike, breaking his sword and announcing that henceforth, no one will die.

Needless to say, this puts a crimp in the Emperor's all-out war plan. People get shot and stabbed and drowned and poisoned, but they don't die. They just hang around, embarrassingly alive (there's a great comic subplot of the inability of the Emperor's executioners to kill a captured assassin).

The Emperor will not be denied. He embarks upon a war of wills with Death, to see who will give in first. The surreal tale plays out among the people of Atlantis, the living and the undead, as they struggle to fight a war where no one can die. The tale cuts between these people, the Emperor, and Death, who is in company with Life, a sad harlequin who is even more demoralized than Death by the Emperor's long war.

What follows is a tale of revolution and love and hope snatched from despair.

Maass discovered "The Emperor" through a bargain bin CD of "degenerate music" he found in a suburban Best Buy in the 1990s, which was accompanied by illustrations by Art Spiegelman:

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-music-survives%21-degenerate-music-music-suppressed-by-the-third-reich-mw0000711660

Maass found a six-panel cartoon Kein drew "expressing his frustration with the evolution of his libretto." Over the years, Maass turned this little strip over and over in his head, until he found himself travelling to Prague with Lay, where they were able to handle the surviving manuscript pages. After consulting with experts all over the world, Maass and Lay and their collaborators created this extraordinary graphic novel, updating it, queering it, and lavishly illustrating it.

While this is clearly an adaptation, Kein and Ullmann's spirit of creativity, courage, and bittersweet creative foment shines through. It's a beautiful book, snatched from death itself.

I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/23/peter-kien-viktor-ullmann/#terezín

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esteemed-excellency · 9 months

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Some libretti from my collection:

Le Roi de Lahore by Jules Massenet, printed in 1885

Carmen by Georges Bizet, printed in 1887

Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini, printed in 1914 (reprint of the 1904 premiere edition)

Loreley by Alfredo Catalani, printed in 1917 (reprint of the 1890 premiere edition)

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boaezui3rh2m · 1 year

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bqvzk0nu5jbfq · 1 year

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rhianna · 2 years

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Bibliographic Record

Author

Gilbert, W. S. (William Schwenck), 1836-1911

Author

Sullivan, Arthur, 1842-1900

Title: The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan

ContentsThe gondoliers -- The grand duke -- H.M.S. Pinafore -- Iolanthe -- The Mikado -- The pirates of Penzance -- Princess Ida -- Ruddigore -- The sorcerer -- Thespis -- Trial by jury -- Utopia, Limited -- The yeomen of the guard -- Patience.

Language English

LoC Class

ML: Music: Literature of music

Subject

Operas -- Librettos

Category Text

EBook-No.808

Release Date Feb 1, 1997

Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.

#project gutenberg #music #literature #librettos

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flea-palace · 1 month

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you can't just say perchance erik

#reading the y/k libretto rn bc im on a cherik kick and it's so silly #the closest poto will ever get to a feel-good watch #phantom of the opera #poto #erik #erik the phantom

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machiavellli · 6 months

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Lorenzo is a certified passenger princess.

#basically he saying tha for getting around in Rome you only need a 🛵 that’s why he doesn’t have a driver license #I love that for him #I have the same mentality JAHAJAJHA #also the “fast glasses”#he wears them to the club and “it’s true! you become fast”#silly goofy man #shoutout to my friend for sending me this pearl😭#comunque non ci credo che va in giro con il libretto della patente #CHI VUOI PIGLIAR PER IL CULO AMO HAHAHAH #lorenzo zurzolo #theodore nott #theo nott #slytherin boys

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commodorez · 2 years

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Toshiba Libretto 70CT running Windows 95

#windows 95 #toshiba #libretto #libretto 70ct #toshiba libretto

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doggolol · 1 month

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HE ALMOST SURRENDERS TO THE KISS

HE WAS SUPPOSED TO SURRENDER TO THE KISS

IM SOBBING

#did I post abt this yet #I've had this in my mind for over a year now but ig I forgot to mention it here lol #no but I'm actually sobbing the way he did want to give in and kiss alice but decided against it to save her ☹️☹️#its not that obvious in the vid bc it all happens so quickly but u could see him soften up a bit after alice's line like :(#also semi side note I read a fic once years ago where alfred wasnt able to stop alice from kissing him in time and so they just wait the #sickness out together and it absolutely BROKE ME #give them their happy ending PLEASE #also for some reason a bunch of my abh libretto posts are getting traction again after almost a year #and out of all of em the stoned post is the most popular lmao #I love that there's still active members in this fandom #hi guys this is for yall <3 #I should post abt abh more #alice spencer #alfred hallam #abh #alice by heart #doggo rambles

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nablah · 1 month

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#orfeo ed euridice #'i forgor' was in the libretto ok #opera #orpheus and eurydice

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lucy-ghoul · 3 months

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i love the magic flute's music more than any other opera's i've watched/listened to so far, it's absolutely beautiful. but oh god, the values dissonance + mysoginy/racism combo are something else

#i forgot that it was *that* bad lol #i love the setting and i already mentioned the fabulous music (mozart was really a genius)#but the only characters with rights are papageno the queen of the night herself and maybe pamina #(i can't remember the ending quite well even though i can easily guess it. so i'll save my final judgement for later)#i want the others to die a horrible death tyvm :)))))#also... the whole thing makes more sense when you keep in mind that mozart was a freemason ig. even tho he didn't write the libretto himsel #die zauberflöte #the magic flute #opera tag #wolfgang amadeus mozart #val speaks #txt

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captainflorenxe · 23 days

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Started my libretto for a horror themed 20,000 leagues under the sea opera!!

This scene is when one of the crew mates gets his head exploded by a broken lever (due to Nemo’s secret ramming adventures)!

#opera #2kluts #20000 leagues under the sea #classical composer #composer #original art #libretto #script

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esteemed-excellency · 9 months

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I saved some pictures for the latest moodboard and I need you all to see how pretty these libretti covers are

#edizioni ricordi my beloved <3 #as a libretti collector I NEED all of these #opera booklet #opera libretto #opera #opera theatre #la traviata #italian opera #booklet illustration #illustration #giuseppe verdi #verdi opera #opera music #classical music #my posts #opera tag

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lunarhobbits · 4 months

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so do we have a canon explanation of where toby was hiding in the bakehouse or

#sweeney todd #i mean lovett has a line about 'stairs leading down to old cellars' but when i first heard that i thought she WAS talking about th bakehous #but the libretto seems to imply that's another location??? and that's where he is???#this is gonna bother me i can tell

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regicidal-defenestration · 1 year

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[ID: Nathan closes his bag as if tucking his children into bed. End ID]

Insane stage direction to write what the fuck

#(from the repo libretto script archived from the repo site on the wayback machine)#repo! the genetic opera

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tuttocenere · 24 days

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opera stream alert!

What: Rossini: Il Turco in Italia, Madrid 2023

When: Sunday, April 28, at 19:00 CEST (18:00 in London, 13:00 in New York)

Where: Kosmi – https://app.kosmi.io/room/5z1ws1

Who: everyone is welcome!

Extra info: A Rossini comedy about a poet who orchestrates quite a complex romantic situation as inspiration for his next play. In this staging, it's imagined as an old-fashioned photo romance.

#rossini #opera streams #two hours from now #I have had this post in drafts since january :)#there is some mild orientalism in the libretto but I think it's extremely self-aware for its time

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