Interview with Kurtz Frausun: Composer of 'The Dawn' a New German Opera

Back in the early 1600's the art form we know today as 'opera' was born in Florence, Italy when composers began setting straight theater's dialog to music. As opera spread to other places and through the hands of the eras' prominent composers, it changed and acquired new characteristic. Like any other communicative art forms, the changes and new transformations weren't always warmly received for reasons sound and unsound alike. What remains vital for the health of all arts, though, is that they continue to explore various new ground in order to remain communicative to their changing audience.

And so, I was very thrilled to be able to engage Kurtz of Frausun for a cyber interview. An eclectic composer and performer of experimental/gothic-minimalistic musical style, Kurtz's new German opera - "The Dawn" - is set to have its world premiere at Eisemann Center in Dallas, Texas, on November 5th, 2011. One can accuse Frausun's musical style of many things (check out Frausun's Youtube channel for samples), but it definitely is not afraid of finding its own way to communicate regardless of how unconventional its sound is.

Smorg: What drew you into the performance music business, composing and performing?

Kurtz: I was contemplating suicide after a tragedy in 2009. I decided the only choice I had was to create music or end my life. I put all my soul and pain into creating, giving it my one chance at life again.

Smorg: How would you describe your musical style and what do you hope to achieve with your performances and compositions?

Kurtz: Electronic Classical. I want the audience terrified at the end of a show not knowing what they just witnessed. The greatest compliment I receive after my work is played is "I have NEVER seen anything like THAT!"

Smorg: I have seen your music described as "experimental", "gothic", and "ambient", with usage of very unconventional sound and instrumentation. From the various Youtube clips it sounds closer to a minimalistic version of heavy metal than it does "classical", and yet you have just written an opera. A German opera called "The Dawn". Can you walk us through the process of how you got into this project? What sparked the idea for the work and how it was shaped?

Kurtz: My Slave and Muse, Paloma. In honor of her beauty and my eternal devotion to her, I decided to compose poetry. The poetry grew and I decided to set the works to music. From one very long poem, came the inspiration for my opera, The Dawn. I had always dreamed of being a composer as a child. I felt I finally had the right woman to liberate my heart and set the work to the greatest of all Romantic languages, German. The "Gothic" element comes from utilizing my music as a weapon. Dark, underground, it swells inside of you like ants under your flesh. My opera is no different.

Smorg: You are known for using really unusual musical instruments in your art. The most publicized ones have to be the stringed instrument and the flute that you fashioned out of an antique medical skeleton. Will we be hearing those in the opera?

Kurtz: I used the human bones for my album "1000," as well as the rhythmic patterns of Morse code. After the opera, I created "Victory Garden," which takes more classical and international instruments for inspiration.

Smorg: What was it like working with Jennifer Sowle and John Jones, composing the music around their singing of your libretto? Many classical/opera composers tend to be very protective of their work and most only modify their musical idea of the story to allow their singers to be able to execute it well. With The Dawn it seems that the work is more a collaborative effort between you and the singers (one of the singers wrote online that he sang the libretto the way he wanted and you composed the music around it). How satisfy are you with the way it worked out?

Kurtz: They were both amazing. I'm so proud of their courage to try something fantastic. When I told them the music wasn't written and I wanted them to feel the libretto, to create from their own spirit, I knew I would get the finest of their talents and souls. I asked myself one day when I was working on creating the opera, how can I make something modern, yet has the classical intonations of a man like Wagner? I took a chance in the process of creativity and created the score. I spent 10 years as a painter, so I simply composed the music to their harmonies, as if I were painting with sound.

Smorg: You probably already know that a lot of opera audience are quite keen on convention and get pretty testy about 'modern opera'. This one seems more unconventional than most (though perhaps no more so than Tan Dun's "Tea"). Why did you take such a big leap in term of musical style straight to opera instead of trying for the more intermediate genre like musical or operetta first?

Kurtz: I am disgusted by most modern operas. They have NO harmony, no soul. They sound like tin cans being abused with hammers. We are in such an electronic and industrial age, we have forgotten about soft intonations, about sad, delicate notes like in Franz Schubert's Piano Trio N° 2, D. 929 - E flat. I wanted to create a work with classical soul, but through modern means. If people don't appreciate the harmonies, it's their loss, not mine. Opera fans are so particular because the modern choices they are given are such dreck.

Smorg: Will the singers be electronically amplified during the performance?

Kurtz: Yes they will.

As Wagner commanded his children; "Kinder, schaft Neues! (Kids, do new things!)", Kurtz Frausun is looking to take opera into a new direction. Whether it is the right direction for the genre to progress into or not will have to be decided by the opera audience, I think. If you are planning to be in Dallas in November, why not stop by at Eisemann Center and have a look. I will be interested to hear how The Dawn turns out!

Find out more about Kurtz Frausun at his website www.frausun.com or Youtube channel.

Sources:
- George Buelow. A History of Baroque Music. Indiana University Press 2004. P. 241.
- Mark Ringer. Opera's First Master. Hal Leonard Cooperation 2006.