During the interwar period Germany was familiar with the genre of the 'Zeitoper'. These operas dealt with topical themes from science and culture, often using all kinds of popular music styles. A good example of all this is the short opera "Zeus und Elida" from 1928 by Stefan Wolpe. In this bizarre work, the Greek god Zeus ends up on Potsdamer Platz in search of his beloved Europe. He immediately
… falls in love with an image of a soap advertising poster with the brand name Elida. He then confuses this image with a prostitute, who has no objection to this confusion of names. This 'musical grotesque', in which surrealism, jazz and avant-garde effortlessly merge, has been released on CD in a performance by the Ebony Band and the Cappella Amsterdam conducted by Werner Herbers. This CD also contains the chamber opera "Schöne Geschichten, op.5b" and the short trilogy "Blues Stimmen aus dem Massengrab Marsch". Soloists on this CD include baritone Michael Kraus, soprano Franziska Hirzel and bass Harry van der Kamp. (HJ) _more
