Valuska - Valuska

The thirteenth opera by Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös (and the first he has written in Hungarian), Valuska is defined as "a tragicomedy in music or a grotesque opera" in one act and twelve tableaux, with a libretto by Mari Mezei and Kinga Keszthelyi, who adapted the novel The Melancholy of Resistance by László Krasznahorkai - already adapted for the cinema in Béla Tarr's film Werckmeister Harmonies.

The world premiere of Valuska will take place on 2 December 2023 at the Hungarian National Opera in Budapest (the work's commissioner, thus commemorating the composer's 80th birthday) before being revived in Regensburg in Germany in February 2024. The title role is created by Hungarian baritone Zsolt Haja.

According to Peter Eötvös, Valuska is the story of "a pure-hearted young man, Janos Valuska, who becomes the victim of a manipulative society that unfolds in the shadow of a gigantic stuffed whale".

Libretto of the opera Valuska

The inhabitants of a small town are terrified by increasing signs of an impending catastrophe and the growing piles of uncollected rubbish on the streets. The confusion is further exacerbated by the late-night arrival of a travelling circus boasting the world’s largest stuffed giant whale and the presence of an expanding crowd of strangers waiting around them in silence. The small circus troupe – at first seeming to consist only of the owner, who styles himself “the director”, and his assistant – also turns out to include a mysterious deformed dwarf named Prince.

At the centre of events is the innocent and well-meaning half-wit János Valuska, who delivers newspapers for the post office. Naively fascinated by the majestic order of the universe, he enthusiastically relates the incredible wonders he has glimpsed to the congregation of apathetic workers who frequent the local pub.

Valuska brings lunch every day to retired Professor, for whom he also runs other errands with tender care and touching delicacy.

The teacher’s estranged wife, Ms. Tünde, the mayor of the city throws herself into organising the “A Tidy Yard, An Orderly House” movement she has launched. To increase her influence, she summons the circus, whose star, the demonic dwarf Prince, urges the disgruntled barbarian mob to destroy, waiting in increasing impatience, ready to jump.

The mayhem begins with relentless acts of looting, arson and murder committed solely for their own sake. Swept up in this crowd as it spreads senseless devastation everywhere is Valuska, who unwillingly becomes a member of the violent throng.

The chaos is eventually stopped by the military, but the restoration of order is followed by a new and more sophisticated form of terror, when the town comes under the control of a deceitful political regime led by Ms Tünde.

After Valuska is captured in a manhunt, he is only saved when Ms Tünde comes to his defence, declaring him a fool. The Professor comes every day to visit Valuska in the mental asylum where he has been committed, only to find each time that his former helper refuses to utter a word, having lost both the faith in the cosmic order that sustained him and his belief in the world’s magic.

The opera is based on László Krasznahorkai’s novel The Melancholy of Resistance, which also served as the inspiration for Béla Tarr’s film Werckmeister Harmonies.

Kinga Keszthelyi, Mari Mezei 2022