Larsson Gothe, Mats
The Promise - Study score
13762In stock
The Promise - Piano excerpt
13763In stock
Photo: Royal Opera House
The opera The Promise is the story of Ava who is separated from her husband, Teo, in a concentration camp. Determined to reunite with her husband after the war, she travels through the ruins of a traumatized Europe in search of him. We accompany her on a journey between dream and reality, hope and despair.
January 27 is the international Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the work commissioned by the Royal Opera paid tribute to the victims in 2022 with this commissioned work by composer Mats Larsson Gothe and librettist Susanne Marko. The world premiere took place on this day and was broadcast live on OperaVision. It is a story about the invincible power of love seventy-six years after the liberation of Auschwitz. "We are in a time outside of time, when the victims of war take their first uncertain steps towards reclaiming their humanity," says librettist Susanne Marko, who was inspired by her own family history.
Susanne Marko writes in the introduction to the libretto:
I imagine that the opera takes place on an empty stage where the different environments, the trains, the platforms, the tracks are part of a dreamscape. The entire drama is a journey between reality and dream, between hope and despair, between sadness and paradoxical joy, between love and hate.
We are in a time outside of time. As the victims of war take their first stumbling steps to try to reclaim their humanity.
The choirs are always present. Thus, this desperate love story rises out of a sea of other destinies - every now and then...
Because in many ways The Promise is first and foremost a story about the power of love. "Omnia vincit amor". Love conquers everything!
The drama is inspired by a real event.
Follow the opera in more detail in the libretto.
CAST
Main characters
AVA 24 years: opera heroine
TEO 27 years: her husband, missing in the war
ROSA 8 years: orphan, familyless
Important other roles
GUSTAV 31 years: a homecoming
MARIA 43 years: confused, almost uncontactable. On the run, without goal or meaning
FRITZ 50 years: a guard on the railway. Brings to mind SS
DAVID 26 years: recently liberated camp prisoner
SARA 21 years: David's sister
JOSEF 18 years: Rosa's older brother
ELISABETH 38 years: Rosa's mother
Choir of the Survivors
Chorus of the Dead
Individual running fates
Isac 60 years: tailor
Ester 30 years: new mother
Ivan 6 months: her baby (can possibly be done with a doll and a soprano voice in the chorus)
Judith 55 years: original woman of culture
Miriam 43 years: mother of 2 sons
Samuel 10 years: loves to play football
Rebecca age 17: rabbi's daughter
Basia 22 years: dark beauty
Ballet
