DE MATERIE

More than an opera in any conventional sense, De Materie (Matter, 1988) is a series of episodes, both choreographic and operatic, that unfold with scenic continuity but without a narrative thread. Dutch composer Louis Andriessen moves beyond his familiar language of percussive and minimalist structures, expanding toward sonorities that range from noise-based textures to impressionistic orchestral writing, with influences as eclectic as Bach, Stravinsky, traditional Dutch song, and boogie-woogie. Composed in four parts that can be performed independently, and written for soprano, tenor, two speakers, eight voices, and an unconventional orchestra, De Materie is a reflection on the connections between matter and spirit. Almost all of the texts, both sung and spoken, are drawn from different moments in the last eight hundred years of Dutch history: the 1581 Act of Abjuration, a 1690 treatise on shipbuilding, a 1651 scientific essay, the erotic visions of a thirteenth-century nun, an art-historical manifesto, and a private note about Piet Mondrian, as well as excerpts from Marie Curie’s diaries.

De Materie can be seen as a staged concert in which ideas, rather than characters, occupy the stage; as a symphony with singers; and as an essay on the relationship between precise thought, artistic intuition, and human emotion.

The work premiered in 1989 in a production directed by Bob Wilson and was revived by Heiner Goebbels in an industrial staging for the Ruhrtriennale in 2014. In 2016, the German director created a new version of the work at the Teatro Argentino de La Plata, conceived for the first time for an opera house and focused on exposing a stage completely stripped of scenery.

SECTION III: De Stijl

The third part focuses on Mondrian and the De Stijl (“The Style”) artistic movement. The chorus sings texts by mathematician and theosophist M.H.J. Schoenmaekers on “the pure straight line.” The dancers conjure images of Mondrian, while, to the rhythm of a boogie-woogie sustained by the saxophone quintet, a voice recounts how obsessed Mondrian was with this dance.

Music: Louis Andriessen
Musical Direction: Pablo Druker
Stage Direction: Heiner Goebbels
Choreography: Edgardo Mercado
De Stijl Dancers: Samanta Vibart, Liza Rule Larrea, Victoria Delfino, Daniel Wendler, Nicolás Iturbide Schlanch, Guido Bonacossa and Claudio Alejandro Rabinovich
Choreographic Assistance: Lucía Llopis

Photography: Máximo Parpagnoli
Photography: Cecilia Moledo