Dr Jane Forner (Teaching Fellow in Music) has published an article in the 10th issue of ACT zeitschrift für musik und performance, on the 2013 opera Paradise Reloaded (Lilith)
Dr Jane Forner (Teaching Fellow in Music) has published an article in the 10th issue of ACT zeitschrift für musik und performance, on the 2013 opera Paradise Reloaded (Lilith) by Peter Eötvös and Albert Ostermaier. The opera, following on from the earlier work Die Tragödie des Teufels by the same duo, is based on the celebrated work of 19th-century Hungarian literature 'The Tragedy of Man' (Az ember tragédiája) by Imre Madách, as well as on Milton's Paradise Lost. To this is added the extraordinary mythology of Lilith, Adam's "first wife", a demonic goddess with bewitching powers of seduction and destruction. As warring guides, Lucifer and Lilith take Adam and Eve on a whirlwind tour through human history, meeting mostly war and despair, but always seeking a better Paradise... until only Lilith is left.
This article explores the intertwining of mythology, Romantic epics, and dystopian fiction as a provocation to question humanity's origins and development, focusing on Eötvös's use of pastiche and satirical musical techniques. Building on the role of Lilith as a feminist icon, it interrogates the suggestion that Lilith represents a utopian force.