OPERA SEARCH
Die Vertreibung aus dem Paradies
(The Expulsion from Paradise) (1966, rev.1979)Text by Richard Bletschacher (G)
speakers (1-4, male or female)
fl.asax-hn-perc:3bongos/2susp.cym/hi-hat/small cowbell/3tpl.bl/
guiro/wdbl/BD/SD-pft-db
Abbreviations (PDF)
Boosey & Hawkes
Vienna
Company: ORF Österreichischer Rundfunk - Hörfunk
THE ANGEL with the fiery sword | speaker (or recorded on tape or sampler) |
A GUEST | speaker |
A PREACHER | speaker |
A SURVIVOR | speaker |
all four roles can be taken by a single speaker, male or female |
An angel stands at the doorway of the Lost Eden, announcing the end of earthly pleasures with a call of "closing time!". A guest does not want his drinking time to be interrupted and ignores the final trumpet-call. A preacher delivers a sermon, berating humanity for its dereliction of duty towards the world. Man must leave his body behind in earth or flame, and rise up to an ever-distant heaven. There he will find a new garden of beauty. The angel announces the end of the day and the settling of accounts. The guest asks why he should take notice of the call, while music continues and human flesh can be bought? A survivor from earlier days describes what happened when the radios stopped playing, and he was sucked out of the world into the dark blue void. The guest asks the angel his name and his future destination, but the only reply is "wherever you wish, only not back!".
Dramatic