De temporum fine comoedia (Latin for A Play on the End of Time) is a choral opera-oratorio by 20th-century German composer Carl Orff. His last large work, and a personal one, it took ten years to compile the text (1960 to 1970) and another two years to compose (1969 to 1971); he revised it in 1979 and again in 1981. Orff presents a mystery play summarizing his view of the end of time sung in Ancient Greek, Latin, and a German translation by Wolfgang Schadewaldt. De temporum fine comoedia was recorded before it was premiered. Herbert von Karajan conducted sessions from 16 to 21 July 1973 in a studio in Leverkusen-Wiesdorf, employing three choruses (the Tölzer Knabenchor, the RIAS Kammerchor and the Kölner Rundfunkchor) and the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra. The public and stage premiere took place at the Salzburg Festival a month later, on 20 August, with the same forces and stage direction by August Everding.

Roles

Music

Summary/dramatis personae

The opera is in 3 parts, with each part having its own characters. Part 1 involves 9 Sibyls, represented by female singers. Part 2 involves 9 anchorites, represented by male singers There is also a children's choir, along with a tenor section that is heard on a magnetic tape. Part 3 involves the following roles: There is also a double chorus of sopranos and altos used near the end, as well as two soloists, tenor and contralto, to represent the "Vox Mundana". A children's choir is also used to represent the "Voces caelestes".

1. Die Sibyllen (The Sibyls)

2. Die Anachoreten (The Anchorites)

1. "Upote, maepote, maepu, maedépote… ignis eterni immensa tormenta" (Never, never, in no place, at no time the measureless torment of the eternal fire)
2. "Unus solus Deus ab aeterno in aeternum" (God is One alone from eternity to eternity)
3. "Nicht Satanas... nicht Lucifer... damnatus nunquam condemnatus in aeternum" (Not Satan... not Lucifer... the damned are not condemned for eternity)
4. "Mundus terrenus volvitur" (The terrestrial world revolves)
5. "Wann endet die Zeit?" (When will time end?)
6. "Gott, schenk uns Wahrsagung, Weissagung, Hellsicht im Traum. Gott, schenk uns den Traum" (God, grant us the gifts of prophecy, sagacity, clairvoyance in dreaming. God, grant us the dream.)

3. Dies illa (That Day)

1. "Wo irren wir ihn, verloren, verlassen" (Whither do we stray, lost, abandoned)
2. "Kyrie! Serva nos, salva nos, eripe nos!" (Lord! Help us, save us, take us away!)
3. "Angor, timor, horror, terror ac pavor invadit omnes" (Dread, fear, horror, terror and dismay seize us all)
4. "Omne genus daemoniorum caecorum, claudorum sive confusorum, attendite iussum meorum et vocationem verborum" (Every type of demon, blind, lame or mad, mark the command and the call of my words.)
5. "Vae, Portae Inferi oculus aspicit nos tenebrarius tenebris" (Woe, the eye, the dark eye looks upon us, with darkness, at the gates of the underworld)
6. "Pater peccavi" (Father, I have sinned)
7. "Con sublima spiritualità" (With highest spirituality)

Orchestration

The music requires a very unusual, and possibly symmetrical orchestra: The percussion section, requiring about 25 to 30 players, consists of: The total forces used for the taped sections are There is also one spoken part, an echo of one of the sibyls' spoken dialogue, accompanied by wind machine.

Tape sections

The music on the magnetic tape is used in four different places, most notably at the end when Lucifer appears. The first section is used in part 1, and requires the following instruments: The second section, also used in part 1 utilizes the following: The third section is used in part 2: The fourth and final section is used towards the end of part 3. In Orff's final revision in 1981, this taped section was omitted and instead given to players in the orchestra:

1979 revision

Orff later made extensive revisions to De temporum fine comoedia with many changes in orchestration. In his 1981 revision the following instruments were added: The following instruments were eliminated: The modifications to the pre-recorded music consist of the addition of the following: The omissions consisted of: In addition to loud percussive passages, there are also as periods of calm piano and straight dialogue. In this culmination of his stage works, Orff almost abandons his diatonicism to chromaticism, which enriches and thickens the musical texture, and octatonicism. As the play is about to finish, after the destruction of all worldly material, Satan asks for forgiveness and is restored to Angel Lucifer, thus forgiven. The unsettling chromaticism here ends and Bach's Before Thy Throne (Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit, BWV 668) strikes up in a canon from the four viols. This canon is pandiatonic and upon its completion, its mirror image is stated (that is the identical material played backward).