OPERA AND SCIENCE FICTION A Blog

August 18, 2024

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Opera and Science Fiction have much more in common than you would think first. Both are fantasy based on more or less reality.
Science fiction stories are often modern sagas, or almost fairy tales. Just think of the Star Wars saga, or E.T. a classic fairy tale.
Science fiction films often have an operatic story/libretto. I guess it was therefore the term Space Opera was coined (already 1941).
A space opera is melodramatic and includes romance, same as a classic opera.

Surprisingly there is little opera music and few opera scenes in Sci-Fi films. The most famous occurs in The Fifth Element:

But in many Sci-Fi films there are great classical music soundtracks.
Just think of the beginning of 2001 A Space Odessey playing Richard Strauss Also sprach Zarathustra

Opera composers on the other hand were greatly inspired by Science Fiction and created many memorable works:

This is a partial list of science fiction operas – with links to performances on Opera on Video

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) Il mondo della luna (The World of the Moon), 1777 and Paisiello
Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) Le voyage dans la lune (based on the book De la terre à la lune by Jules Verne), premiered 1875.
Karl-Birger Blomdahl (1916–1968): Aniara (based on the poem of that name by Harry Martinson)
Gian Carlo Menotti (1911–2007) A Bride from Pluto (1982) and Help, Help, the Globolinks! (1968)
Lorin Maazel (1930–2014) 1984 (based on the book by George Orwell)
Viktor Ullmann (1898–1944): The Emperor of Atlantis or Der Kaiser von Atlantis
Eef van Breen (born 1978) ’u’, the first opera in Klingon
Gavin Bryars (born 1943): Doctor Ox’s Experiment (based on the book by Jules Verne)
Philip Glass (born 1937): The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 and The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (based on the books by Doris Lessing), 1000 Airplanes on the Roof, and The Voyage
Leoš Janáček (1854–1928): The Makropulos Affair (based on the play by Karel Čapek), premiered 1926; and The Excursions of Mr. Brouček to the Moon and to the 15th Century (1920)
Karel Janovický (b 1930): The Utmost Sail (1958) a one act opera inspired by the launch of the satellite Sputnik in 1957. It concerns the crew of a space ship flying into space and watching the Earth being consumed in a nuclear holocaust.[
Tod Machover (born 1953) Valis (1987) (based on the novel VALIS by Philip K. Dick)
Poul Ruders (born 1949) The Handmaid’s Tale (based on the book of that name by Margaret Atwood)
Howard Shore (born 1946): The Fly (based on David Cronenberg’s 1986 film)
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007) Licht (based on The Urantia Book)
Steven Andrew Taylor’s Paradises Lost after a short story from Ursula K. Le Guin’s collection The Birthday of the World
Michael Tippett’s New Year (1989), which features a spaceship and time travelers from the future.
Mikael Karlsson Melancholia (2023)The planet Melancholia is on a collision course with Earth
Aleksander Nowak Space Opera (2015) tells the story of the first manned expedition to Mars
Mark Grey Frankenstein (2016)

Lets look on few of these

IL MONDO DELLA LUNA by Haydn 1777
Is an opera buffa.
The imaginary world on the moon and its inhabitants are enacted as a farce by the younger people to lure the old man.

ANIARA by Karl-Birger Blomdahl (created 1959)
is based on the poem Aniara by Harry Martinson

Controlled by the computer Mima, the space ship Aniara leaves the poisoned Earth, heading for Mars. Through Mimaroben, who is the operator of Mima, the emigrants learn of the evil of mankind.

During the celebration of midsummer, the vessel is thrown off course, causing panic, and forcing a journey to the constellation Lyra which commander Chefone says will last for the rest of the lives of the crew and passengers. When the Earth is destroyed, Mima cannot continue, and Sandon makes jokes about the safety on board, but when the mute describes in signs the end of the world he becomes silent. Chefone blames Mimaroben, who, with the pilot Isagel, is taken away.

The commander deals as best he can with the increased despair and moral deterioration among those aboard, depicted in a scene in a hall of mirrors, where Daisy Dodd, her lesbian partner, and the passengers dance, and the blind poetess speaks of her cult of Light, which has replaced Mima. The body of the dead chief technician is shot into outer space in the direction of the star Rigel. The 20th anniversary of the voyage is celebrated, and the blind poetess ecstatically sees the city of heaven, but is taken away.

The final scene shows the last night onboard where Isagel dances and the blind poetess sings of the joy of death. A light beam sweeps over the dead passengers and Mimaroben prepares for the end. Finally darkness descends over the occupants of the space ship, and the audience in the theatre.
Quoted from Wikipedia

THE EXCURSION OF MR.BROUCEK TO THE MOON AND THE 15th CENTURY by Janacek (1920)
A two part satirical opera in which Mr. Brouček (translated as “Mr. Beetle” (literally little beetle)) is a Philistine landlord in Prague who experiences a series of fantastic events as he is swept away (due in large part to excessive drinking) first to the Moon and then to 15th-century Prague. In both excursions, Brouček encounters characters who are transformed versions of his earthly acquaintances.

THE HANDMAIDS TALE by Poul Ruders (born 1949)
based on the book of that name by Margaret Atwood

In a dystopian future, women are forced into childbearing servitude by an extremist theocratic regime.
Escape is nearly impossible—but Offred, a handmaid, is determined to find a way back to her child, no matter the cost.

The Handmaid’s Tale will be performed at San Francisco Opera September 14-October 1, 2024

In addition to original works, opera directors have been inspired by Science Fiction to restage an opera and move it into space.

One of the most (in)famous examples is the “Space” La Boheme, Paris 2012:
Staging by Claus Guth

You can watch the full performance on medici.tv https://www.medici.tv/en/operas/puccini-la-boheme-opera-de-paris

Benvenuto Cellini by Berlioz, staged in Salzburg 2007 by Philipp Stölzl
‘A mix of futurism à la “Metropolis”, fantasy à la “Batman” and quotes from Piranesis “Carceri”, juxtaposed in the form of photo montages, enhanced with…robots, a helicopter, a shark and the winged vehicle of a pop star Pope,’ was how the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung” described this astonishing Salzburg Festival production of Berlioz’s “Benvenuto Cellini.”