Agata Zubel

Aria From The Opera Bildbescheibung

The musical axis of the opera Bildbeschreibung consists of the relations between the soloistically treated instruments, the parts of which are based on the realisation by the performers of layers of sound - understood not just as the exploration of their own instrument, but above all the presentation or representation in sound of the text. Each of the parts forges an area of 'pictorial description', so it is designed to lead the listener to ask what came before and how this came about. The multiplicity and ambiguity of such speculation gives us an open catalogue of representa-tions. As it is open, it is impossible to indicate the number of associations that would be appropriate - too few or too many. Quite simply, the greater whole perceived from the perspective of a single soloist or through the prism of a single aria entitles us to highlight the idea of Bildbeschreibung in the same way that we can begin to see or analyse any picture, starting with a single detail, motif or figure. So such an aria is not an excerpt like the hits from the history of classical opera. It is a lens that - as occurs throughout the opera Bildbeschreibung - focusses attention on a selected detail, and the soloists themselves, without the comfort of showing themselves against the background of the whole event, are tempted from the outset to divine the origins of Bildbeschreibung.