Hans Thomalla's Opera DARK FALL Released on Oehms Classics

Hans Thomalla has released his opera DARK FALL, now available on Oehms Classics. The recording documents the work’s 2024 world premiere, performed by the Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim at the Schwetzingen Palace Theatre under the direction of Alan Pierson.

DARK FALL is an opera in 13 scenes and the second installment of Thomalla’s “Diptych of Desire,” following Dark Spring. While the earlier work focused on adolescence, DARK FALL turns to later life, centering on Ellen, a married woman experiencing the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. As her memory begins to fragment, she forms a connection with Owen, an old friend, creating emotional and ethical tension within her family.

The cast features soprano Estelle Kruger as Ellen, baritone Thomas Berau as Owen, tenor Uwe Eikötter as Curtis, and contralto Lila Chrisp as Ilse. The libretto, by Juliana Spahr, draws on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Elective Affinities, documentary accounts of Alzheimer’s, and William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 to construct a shifting emotional landscape.

In his composer’s preface, Thomalla writes that the opera “questions ideas of love and partnership at old age,” asking when autonomy becomes compromised by illness and whether new forms of connection remain possible.

Musically, the score moves between pop-inflected melodic writing and expansive orchestral textures. As Ellen’s condition progresses, tonal structures begin to dissolve, mirroring her destabilized perception of time and memory. Joshua Clover, who also contributed lyrics to Dark Spring, returns to write the opera’s arias and ensembles in a contemporary idiom.

Recorded in February 2024 at the Schwetzingen Palace Theatre, the two-disc release runs just under two hours and is produced by Lennard Schubert, with executive production by Iwen Schmees.

Based in Chicago and Berlin, Thomalla is the Helen A. Regenstein Professor of Composition at the University of Chicago and has written extensively for the stage, with previous operas including Fremd, Kaspar Hauser, and Dark Spring.