“A King, Riding” by Klaas de Vries as an Artwork of the 20th Century

Abstract

Considers the scenic oratorium “A King, Riding” by contemporary Dutch composer Klaas de Vries. It was composed after his own libretto based on the “Waves” novel by Virginia Woolf, which is a classic example of the stream of consciousness literature. The libretto and the opera work are studied as a part of rich and powerful mixture of different contemporary styles, manners, techniques and retrospections, such as impressionism, expressionism, neoclassicism. Its performance of 1996 in Brussels directed by Christoph Marthaler is also analysed.