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Kaspar Hauser: Child of Europe

This is an example of an original composition sharing new insights. Kaspar Hauser: Child of Europe is a 90-minute 14-scene opera, performed without interval and based on the story of a young man believed to have ‘spent most of his childhood and early adolescence locked in a dungeon, fed on bread and water and constrained’ (from the synopsis given in the score).

It was made possible by a Creative Scotland award from the Scottish Arts Council, and was premiered at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in March 2010, receiving repeat performances in April 2012 at the HeiligGiest Saal, Nuremburg, the Park Theater, Augsburg, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Hub, Edinburgh, with singers from the Nuremberg Hochschüle.

The composer explains (in interview with Michael Tumelty, Herald music critic): ‘I’ve tried to make the music quite lyrical … because of the darkness and bleakness and tragedy of it, making the music lyrical and understated should actually support the drama. It is very intimate. There are no big gestures in the piece and no chorus, despite the fact that there are about 20 roles and 17 singers, with some doubling … I’m not just interested in the subject … I was also very keen to write an opera that we could do in the RSAMD. There are not many tailor-made operas written for emerging voices: for voices on the cusp of a career; for voices coming out of a conservatoire such as this, or opera schools.’

The researcher won the Stage Category of the 2010 BASCA British Composer Awards with Kaspar Hauser, the jury describing it as ‘a very accomplished score: a powerful and disturbing story told with theatrical flair, dramatic pacing and excellent characterisation.’

For the purposes of this submission, the 'co-author' is Dilys Rose, librettist.