‚…da das Wirkliche konstant in Schwebe bleibt…‘. Klang- und Bilddramaturgien des Suspense in Olga Neuwirths ‚Lost Highway‘
21 years have passed since the world premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Lost Highway at steirischer herbst in 2003. Musicologist and theatre scholar Elisabeth van Treeck has now published the first comprehensive study of the Austrian composer’s work. Starting with the music theatre piece that is based on the film of the same name by David Lynch and a libretto by Elfriede Jelinek, the book takes a closer look at the artistic and compositional process. This book presentation will give insights into the dramaturgy of ‘Suspense’ as well as into the source-critical examination of material from the creative process, which can be found in the archives of the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz.
21 Jahre sind vergangen, seit Olga Neuwirths Lost Highway beim steirischen herbst 2003 zur Uraufführung kam. Die Musik- und Theaterwissenschaftlerin Elisabeth van Treeck hat dazu nun ein Buch vorgelegt – es ist die erste umfassende Einzelstudie, die sich dem Schaffen der österreichischen Komponistin widmet. Ausgehend von diesem Musiktheater, das auf dem gleichnamigen Film von David Lynch und einem Libretto von Elfriede Jelinek basiert, nimmt das Buch künstlerische Verfahrensweisen tiefergehend in den Blick. Im Diskursformat wird die beschriebene Dramaturgie des „Suspense“ vorgestellt und zum Gespräch eingeladen. Dabei wird Einblick in die quellenkritische Auseinandersetzung mit Materialien aus dem Entstehungsprozess, die sich im Archiv der Kunstuniversität Graz befinden, gegeben.
Elisabeth van Treeck
Musicology
Elisabeth van Treeck has been a Senior Scientist Postdoc at the Centre for Gender Research and Diversity at KUG since 2024. Previously, from March to December 2023, she was a postdoc at the DFG Research Training Group “The Documentary. Excess and Withdrawal” at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and was a research assistant at the Institute for Theatre Studies there from 2014 to 2023. Elisabeth studied musicology in Graz and Bern (Mag.phil.), completed a study visit at Yale University and holds an M.A. in Theatre Studies from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. She completed her doctorate in 2021 at the Department of Musicology at the University of Bayreuth. Her dissertation „‘...da das Wirkliche konstant in Schwebe bleibt. Klang- und Bilddramaturgien in Olga Neuwirth’s Lost Highway“ was awarded the Hermann Abert Prize of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung in 2023. The book was published by utz verlag, Munich, with the help of a printing grant from the Mariann Steegmann Foundation. She has published on Olga Neuwirth, e.g. focusing on the countertenor roles, Le Encantadas and American Lulu, as well as on (contemporary) opera and media and Michel van der Aa’ multimedia works (co-editor of Michel van der Aas Musiktheater an den Schnittstellen der Künste, forthcoming Wolke Verlag, Hofheim 2024). Currently, her research focuses on the threshold as topos in contemporary music theatre and on opera as a documentary practice. She is the co-spokesperson for the music theatre section (FG Musiktheater) of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung.