In the 21st century, this opera-improvisation is speaking of the universality of the story, as if trying to state that human yearning – for love or transcendence – always remains the same, no matter the circumstances. In the libretto one can find fragments from Rilke’s works of literature and letters, there are also bits from Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke. This reading of the Cornet’s story is further embellished by quotes takes from the writings of other authors, such as Homer, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Charles Baudelaire, Oscar Milosz, Georg Trakl, Paul Celan, Jacques Prévert and Oskar Kokoschka. Through such use of quotes new subtexts and associations are born, introducing associative documentary aspects that accompany the literary prototype, and Cornet Christoph Rilke, wandering on the roads of war and tormented by painful yearning, turns into a generalized image of a Poet that connects all lands and times. R. M. Rilke’s poetic storyline is reflected in the opera, however, it serves more as a pretext, starting point and inspiration to a personal vision.

Composer Onutė Narbutaitė