PREMIERED
SEMMELWEIS
From the 2018 world-premiere production by Budapest Operetta Theater and Bartók Plusz Opera Festival, directed by Martin Boross
SEMMELWEIS
Composed by Raymond J. Lustig
libretto by Matthew Doherty
SEMMELWEIS is a new 75-minute music-theater work inspired by the tragic story of nineteenth-century Hungarian obstetrician Ignác Semmelweis (1818-1865), who discovered the cure for a devastating epidemic but could not convince the world of the simple solution, and died alone in an asylum. Dr. Semmelweis had been the first to see an unthinkable truth: that the deadly disease was passing from the bodies of the dead to healthy mothers on the unwashed hands of the doctors themselves.
SEMMELWEIS explores the theme that everything we think we know can be overturned violently, and asks what is it like to be the first to see into a terrible blind spot and perceive a truth too awful to believe? To be an “outsider”—a “foreign” doctor, Hungarian, but living and working in Vienna’s top hospital in a xenophobic era—and to fear that no one heard you, that the answer may die with you? To hold an earth-shattering insight, and yet be haunted by all the mothers that would not be saved.
Though the year 2018 marked the 200th birth year of Ignác Semmelweis, our world seems still not to have absorbed the powerful lessons of this story. There has never been a more urgent moment in history to reflect on the mystery of insight, the tension between truth and hubris, our cultural myopia, and the clear truth that we, as individuals and as a society, need our “outsiders,” our fresh and brave ideas, literally to survive.
CREATORS
Composer Raymond J. Lustig’s ever-evolving work ranges from symphonic, to chamber, technological, multimedia, and, most lately, theatrical. Commissions, performances, and support have come from Grand Rapids Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Budapest Operetta Theater, the Bartok Plusz Opera Festival, American Opera Projects, Town Hall Seattle, The Academy (A Program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute), Metropolis Ensemble, TENET Vocal Ensemble, Copland House, LyricFest, the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, tenor Nicholas Phan, cellist Joshua Roman’s Town Music, Duo Noire, Flutronix, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute, American Music Center’s Live Music for Dance Project, Da Capo Chamber Players, Avian Music, Orchestra Insonica, the Juilliard Orchestra, the New Juilliard Ensemble, Bowling Green Philharmonia, Blind Ear, Opera Grows in Brooklyn, Opera on Tap, counter)induction, the Norfolk Festival, the St. Louis Guitar Festival, New York Festival of Song, the Caramoor Music Festival, the Juilliard Beyond the Machine Festival, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, and numerous colleges and universities worldwide. He has served as Composer in Residence with the Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, the Imagine Science Film Festival, and Copland House’s Compose Yourself project.
PRESS
“…in ‘Semmelweis’, New York-based composer Raymond J. Lustig tells his story as a musical “death dream” of sorts, with compelling beauty and eerie prescience.” — The Washington Post, USA
“a gripping and unique experience…spectacular…a performance that provoked multiple catharses…one of the best theatrical productions of recent years” — Magyar Midök, Hungary
“No sentimental story in the romantic style, no concession to mythologies or stories of the supernatural, nothing like a hero story…an opera quite distinct from the genre of operetta or musical…stunning performances that allowed the work to masterfully realize the universal sound world conceived for this work by a particularly inspired Ray Lustig.” — operaclick.com, Italy
“ethereal…mysterious…a colorful and rich musical composition.” — Csillagpont Radio, Hungary
“powerfully resonant…gripping” — New York Music Daily, USA
“alternately austere and lustrous…otherworldly” — Lucid Culture, USA
“unusual, convincing and imaginative piece…floating…exciting and powerful” — Fidelio, Hungary
Information
Duration 75' / no intermission
Commission Semmelweis received development support in AOP’s First Chance and Composers & the Voice programs. Additional support from The Sloan Foundation Science and Technology Project, Ensemble Studio Theater, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Warren Widmann and Ana Berlin.
Premiere September 28, 2018; Budapest Operetta-Theater, Budapest, Hungary; co-production of Budapest Operetta-Theater and Bartók Plusz Opera Festival; Dániel Dinyés, conductor; Martin Boross, director.
New English Language Version December 5, 2023; New York Academy of Medicine; Mila Henry, conductor; Matt Gray, director.
Roles Chorus of women (minimum 8, SSS MMM AA), baritone, 2 sopranos, mezzo.
Instrumentation Total 7 players: piano/organ, percussion (vibraphone, hand bells, music boxes), string quintet. Accordion may be added where available.
Publisher Staged performances of this work require licensing through the creators - raylustig@gmail.com.
