Parallel musical worlds at the Gare du Nord

The question of a fifth dimension outside of space and time is addressed by the American Harvard physicist Lisa Randall in her book Warped Passages (Hidden universesS. Fischer, Frankfurt 2006). Hèctor Parra, himself the son of a physicist, was inspired by this bestseller to create a stage work and also asked the author to write the libretto. The result is the one-hour chamber opera Hypermusic Prologue (2009) for two singers, eight instrumentalists and electronics about hidden universes, the existential urge to explore and the limits of understanding.

Hypermusic Prologue was commissioned by the Ensemble Intercontemporain and the IRCAM-Centre Pompidou and premiered in June 2009 with a video projection and spatial design at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. The staged world premiere in the English original was secured by the Gare du Nord in a co-production with the "Sophiensäle" Berlin. There were three performances in Berlin from October 4. Basel followed on October 16, 17 and 18. The Zafraan Ensemble, Berlin, performed under the direction of Manuel Nawri. Benjamin Schad directed; the writer attended the performance on October 17.

Take off and stand still
Soprano Johanna Greulich gives an impressive portrait of a scientist caught between her love for her partner and her passion for theoretical physics. In the course of the opera, the protagonist enters the fifth dimension, while her partner (Robert Koller, baritone) remains bound to normal space-time. The stage is symbolically divided into microcosm and hyperspace by a wide-meshed net. Below, gravity pulls the man increasingly closer to the ground - Koller does this convincingly both vocally and dramatically - while above, the soprano takes off and has new, mind-expanding, sensual experiences. The net allows certain signals between the two worlds, which, however, cannot always be interpreted conclusively by earthlings. The woman returns to the old world with a new awareness: "The sources lie deeper". But the man also begins to understand: "We have only begun to comprehend".

The dialog consists of scraps, incomplete sentences, formulas and scientific terms. Pleasing vocal lines are embedded in a highly complex instrumental composition, dense, shimmering, intensifying, hardly allowing for a relaxation phase - except in the recitation of physical formulas and equations, rendered very charmingly by Johanna Greulich in an onomatopoeic, gurgling and yipping manner.

The scientific metaphor is the inspiration for what is in itself an everyday story of relationships. The speculative physical theory provides an illuminating pattern for explaining the complexity of human experience and development. While the female partner leaves the relationship and sets off for new horizons, the man remains stuck in his traditional patterns. "Physics is romance," says Parra. He wanted to convey this understanding. His music cannot be called romantic in the conventional sense, but in its restless style it conveys the time- and space-bound world of human experience.