The Emperor of Atlantis
(Picture: Mark Allan)The final concert in the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Total Immersion day of music, entitled Music for the End of Time, offered both the Messiaen quartet of the same name and a rare performance of the one-act opera The Emperor of Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann. The latter was written in the Theresienstadt transit camp, from where tens of thousands, including Ullmann himself, were transported to Auschwitz and other extermination centres. Other pieces emanating from the ghetto were performed earlier in the day by the BBC Singers and students from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
The juxtaposition of the Ullmann and the Messiaen brought into focus the contrasting responses of the two composers to the horrific events of their time in which they were both caught up.
