Kepler (opera)

{{Short description|2009 opera by Philip Glass}} {{more footnotes|date=January 2020}} {{Infobox opera | name = Kepler | composer = Philip Glass | image = Philip Glass Kepler cover.jpg | image_upright = | caption = Glass in 2007 | librettist = Martina Winkel | language = {{hlist|German|Latin}} | based_on = life of Johannes Kepler | premiere_date = {{Start date|2009|09|20|df=y}} | premiere_location = Landestheater Linz }}

'''''Kepler''''' is an opera by Philip Glass set to a libretto in German and Latin by Martina Winkel. It premiered on 20 September 2009 at the Landestheater in the Austrian city of Linz with Dennis Russell Davies conducting the Bruckner Orchestra. Its libretto is based on the life and work of Johannes Kepler, the 16th and 17th century mathematician and astronomer. The work was commissioned by the Linz Landestheater and Linz09 (a programme celebrating the city's designation as a European Capital of Culture). The opera was performed in the USA for the first time in May 2012 at the Spoleto Festival USA; it was conducted by John Kennedy and directed by Sam Helfrich, featuring an English translation by Saskia M. Wesnigk-Wood.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spoletousa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Kepler.pdf |title=Program notes |date=2008 |website=www.spoletousa.org |access-date=2015-12-14 |archive-date=2015-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222140503/http://www.spoletousa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Kepler.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

This is the third opera by Glass to be inspired by a physicist, after ''Einstein on the Beach'' (1976) and ''Galileo Galilei'' (2002).

== Synopsis== [[File:Opera Kepler.jpg|thumb|A young Kepler looks through a telescope with his mother Katharina, scene from the opera]] "Fragments from the life and ideas of the scientist Johannes Kepler are contrasted with segments from the story of creation and poems by Andreas Gryphius, which portray Europe during the Thirty Years War."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.philipglass.com/music/films/kepler.php |title=Guide: Kepler DVD |website=philipglass.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610200956/http://www.philipglass.com/music/films/kepler.php |archive-date=10 June 2016}}</ref>

=== Act 1 === * Prologue * I. Questions 1 * II. Polyeder * III. Genesis * IV. Gryphius —Auf die Nacht (Upon the Night) * V. Physica Coelestis * VI. Gryphius 2 * VII. Questions 2 * VIII. Gryphius 3—Eyes. Optical Paradox === Act 2 === * I. On Astrology * II. Gryphius 4—To the Stars * III. Hypotheses * IV. Gryphius 5:—Tears of the Fatherland * V. Ephemerides * Epilogue

==References== {{reflist}}

===Sources=== * {{cite web |url=https://www.linz09.at/en/projekt-2106356/kepler.html |title=Kepler |publisher=Linz 2009 – Kulturhauptstadt Europas Organisations GmbH |access-date=5 October 2009}} * {{cite web |url=https://oe1.orf.at/artikel/215624/Kepler |title=Kepler |language=de |publisher=ORF Ö1 |access-date=5 October 2009}} * {{cite journal |last1=Pasachoff |first1=Jay M. |last2=Pasachoff |first2=Naomi |title=Third physics opera for Philip Glass |journal=Nature |volume=462 |issue=7274 |page=724 |doi=10.1038/462724a |date=2009|bibcode=2009Natur.462..724P |doi-access=free }} * {{cite web |url=https://culturepoliticsopinion.blogspot.com/2009/12/kepler-new-philip-glass-opera.html |title=''Kepler'': the new Philip Glass opera |date=29 December 2009 |work=culture.politics.opinion}} * {{cite journal |last=Rosenblum |first=Joshua |title=Recordings: Glass: Kepler |journal=Opera News |volume=75 |issue=12 |date=June 2011 |page=63|id={{ProQuest|881982854}} }}

Category:2009 operas Category:German-language operas Opera Category:Operas in Latin Category:Minimalist operas Category:Operas Category:Operas set in the 17th century Category:Operas based on real people Category:Operas set in Germany Category:Operas by Philip Glass