Category: Symphonic / Orchestral , Chamber Music
DRACULA - BIRTH OF A LEGEND focuses primarily on the historical Dracula, the cruel prince Vlad Tzepesch (Vlad the Impaler).
1: VLAD TEPEZ, Introduction and Allegro Furioso
2: WHEN EVEN THE MOON TREMBLES IN FEAR is an Adagio in eerie pianissimo and conveys the nightly silent screams of the impaled.
3: TRANSYLVANIAN BANQUET refers to Vlad's devious kindness in welcoming beggars and the sick to a feast, during which they were then killed. A vampirically saccharine Valse Lento that unexpectedly turns again and again into an aggressive metre.
4: IMMORTAL DRACULA celebrates in an aristocratic neo-baroque vivace the blood-kissing of those gruesome undead we know from the long series of "Dracula" films.
Movements: 1: VLAD TEPEZ
2: WHEN EVEN THE MOON TREMBLES IN FEAR
3: TRANSYLVANIAN BANQUET
4: IMMORTAL DRACULA
Duration: 20 Minutes
Publisher of notes/sheet music: Ries & Erler Musikverlag , 2022
Instrumentation: SoloViolin, Solo-Violoncello
String Orchestra (Vl. 1+2, Vla 1+2, Vc 1+2, Bass)
Playback with Audiofiles
Introduction: The double concerto focuses primarily on the historical Dracula, the cruel prince Vlad Tzepesh (Vlad the Impaler), who lived in present-day Romania from 1431 to 1476 and was the model for Bram Stoker's famous Gothic novel of 1897. Vlad III Draculea was given as a hostage to Sultan Murad by his father Vlad II Dracul, where as a boy he experienced years of torture by his tormentors (forced to perform sexual services and eat excrement and human flesh). This left such an indelible mark on the boyish Vlad that he became a prince of unparalleled cruelty: his "impalement" (the agonising four-day death of victims impaled on sticks) was notorious - he sometimes had up to 20,000 Turkish soldiers impaled on sticks - which is why he was nicknamed Vlad Tepes (Tzepesh), the "Impaler". Even women and babies were not spared from his sadistic punishments such as tarring, feathering, burning alive, hanging and cannibalistic consumption of flesh and blood. Nevertheless, he is still revered today in Romania as a just ruler and national hero.
To the sentences:
1: VLAD TEPEZ, Introduction and Allegro Furioso
2: WHEN EVEN THE MOON TREMBLES IN FEAR is an Adagio in eerie pianissimo and conveys the nightly silent screams of the impaled who were once found impaled by the thousands around the town of Tirgoviste.
3: TRANSYLVANIAN BANQUET refers to Vlad's devious kindness in welcoming beggars, gypsies and the sick to a feast, during which they were then killed. An original quote was "Let's abolish poverty by abolishing the poor!". Musically, this is done in a vampirically saccharine Valse Lento, which unexpectedly turns into an aggressive metre again and again.
4: IMMORTAL DRACULA bids farewell to the historical Vlad III and celebrates in an aristocratic neo-baroque vivace the blood kiss of those gruesome undead we know from the long series of "Dracula" films. The historically documented grave of Vlad III in Snagov, Romania, was opened in 1931.... and no mortal remains were found. So will Dracula still be with us after all?
Dedication: Dedicated to Indira Koch and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt
World premiere: 27.05.2022, Berlin Philharmonie
Performers at world premiere: 27 of Mai 2022 Berliner Philharmonie with Indira Koch (Violin), Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt (Violoncello), Kammerphilharmonie METAMORPHOSEN
Dietmar Wunder (Narrator)
Electronics & Sound Design by Enjott Schneider
The second performance will take place 12 of June 2022 in Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.
Records: 2022
