Weinberg: The Passenger

Although it was composed in 1968, Mieczyław Weinberg’s opera “The Passenger” was only staged in its entirety for the first time in 2010. The work, which is based on a 1962 novel by concentration camp survivor Zofia Posmysz, quickly became known as one of the most important operas of the second half of the 20th century – with a subject matter that is more important today than ever. David Pountney’s first production has since achieved classic status and is being performed here for the first time at Madrid’s Teatro Real, conducted by Mirga Gražinytè-Tyla, who has been instrumental in the recent Weinberg renaissance.

The cast includes soprano Amanda Majeski (Marta), mezzo-soprano Daveda Karanas (Lisa), tenor Nikolai Schukoff (Walter) and baritone Gyula Orendt (Tadeusz). Violinist Stephen Waarts doubles as Tadeusz for the instrumental solo.

The audio album is set for digital release on 24 January 2025, shortly before International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 January), which marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945, and honours the memory of all victims of Nazism.

The action of the opera switches between the deck of an ocean liner sailing from Europe to Brazil in the early 1960s, and the concentration camp of Auschwitz. On board the ship, Lisa, wife of German diplomat Walter, who is heading to a new posting in Brazil, believes she has recognised a woman she thought was dead. The latter is the “passenger” of the title – Marta, a Polish prisoner at Auschwitz, where Lisa herself was an SS guard, a fact she only now discloses to her husband, who has to decide how to come to terms with this revelation. Wartime flashbacks, meanwhile, depict the horrors of the camp and the doomed relationship between Marta and her violinist fiancé Tadeusz on the second lower level.

01. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 1 Prelude
02. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 1 Das Ufer in der Ferne ist nicht mehr zu sehn
03. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 1 Drei Jahre sind im Nu vorbei
04. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 1 Was ist los mit Ihnen, Aufseherin Franz
05. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 1 Marta Kann das Marta sein
06. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 1 Negro paredón
07. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 1 Das ist alles Unsinn!
08. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 1 Sei still, sei still
09. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 1 Angst hat mir nachts die Kehle zugeschnürt
10. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 1 Für ein schweres Vergehen, da kam sie in den Todesblock
11. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 1 Fort, Gespenster der Vergangenheit!
12. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 2 Appell
13. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 2 Wie langweilig ist’s hier, Hans!
14. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 2 Ty ukryt ot nyeba reshyotkoy
15. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 2 Du hast gut gelernt, mein Kindchen
16. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 2 Ta Niemka patrzy na mnie tak badawczo
17. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 3 Novenkiye, novenkiye, kha, kha, kha!
18. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 3 Prokhodite, ustawaytes, podrugi!
19. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 3 Moi, je m’appelle Yvette
20. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 3 Dal?í den minul, uplynul
21. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 3 Vspomnyat li nas kogda-nibud lyudi
22. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 3 ?wi?ty Bo?e, Jezu Chryste!
23. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 3 Mais pourqoui tant de rage dans ta voix
24. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 3 Skoreye, vody!
25. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 3 ?Geliebter, mein geliebter Tadek!“
26. Weinberg The Passenger, Act I Scene 3 Spasibo… Vyruchila…
27. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 4 Heil! Du kennst dich mit Geigen aus, verdammte Dinger!
28. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 4 Ty ?yjesz
29. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 4 Ach, ihr kennt euch
30. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 4 Beregites!
31. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 5 Twój raport dotar? na czas do Krakowa
32. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 6 Pozdravlyayu, Marta!
33. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 6 Je?liby zawezwa? mnie do siebie Bóg
34. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 6 Du vest lebn, dos iz emes
35. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 6 H?r mal, Marta, wenn du m?chtest, besucht dich morgen hier dein Tadeusz
36. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 6 Tiene razón, Tadeusz tiene razón
37. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 6 Bon, après moi répète je vis
38. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 6 Ty, dolinushka dolina, razdolye shirokoye
39. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 6 Ne zabyvayte nas!
40. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 7 Es ist hier so sch?n, und du bleibst in der Kabine
41. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 7 Walter, du denkst nur voll Sorge an deine Karriere
42. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 7 Your Good Health, Sir
43. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 7 Was ist los, Lisa
44. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 8 Spiel tüchtig auf, Geiger!
45. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 8 J. S. Bach Chaconne in D Minor
46. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Scene 8 Negro paredón
47. Weinberg The Passenger, Act II Epilogue Jak cicho wokó? mnie!