Paradise reloaded – Lilith (Eötvös Péter) Budapest 2014 Annette Schönmüller, Rebecca Nelsen, Eric Stoklossa, Holger Falk
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Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Paradise reloaded (Lilith)
- Composer: Eötvös Péter
- Libretto: Albert Ostermaier Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, müpa, Budapest, Hungary, Neue Oper wien
- Recorded: January 23, 2014
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Annette Schönmüller, Rebecca Nelsen, Eric Stoklossa, Holger Falk
- Conductor: Gregory Vajda
- Orchestra: Magyar Rádió Szimfonikus Zenekara
Information about the Recording
- Published by: müpa
- Date Published: 2014
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- This Recording is NOT AVAILABLE from a proper commercial or public source
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
The work is based on an adaptation of a drama by the young German Albert Ostermaier. The original story, from which Péter Eötvös wrote his opera The Tragedy of the Devil, premiered in 2010, features Lucifer as the main character. Paradise Reloaded, however, places Lilith at the center, and on a fantasy level, it deals with the question of what would have happened if our Bible-based culture had not considered Eve as the mother, but Adam’s first wife, Lilith.
At the beginning of the opera, Lilith is expelled from Paradise and must live in the desert as a demon mother as punishment. She returns to give birth to a child by Adam, who will free her from demonic existence. However, Eve, Adam’s second wife, stands in her way in achieving her goal – the conflict between the two women weaves through the play. Lilith was created by God in the same way as Adam, equal in rank, while Eve was created from Adam’s rib. Lilith represents independent will, strength, conspiracy, Eve represents femininity, purity, self-sacrifice.
The structure of the opera is similar to Madách’s drama, The Tragedy of Man: the pair of people expelled from Paradise travel through the past, present and future under the leadership of Lucifer. However, events are shaped according to Lilith’s will, who ultimately achieves her goal, but at the end of the story, Adam does not choose her as his companion. Here, Adam does not have to choose between death and life, as in Madách, but between two women with different views on life; his choice determines the following generations. The end of the play means a new beginning in the lives of all the characters – hence the word reloaded in the title – which may be a new Paradise, but it will no longer be the same as the one they started from.