“Quartett, like Powder Her Face, examines the moral debauchery of a decaying nobility. The opera’s libretto is an English translation of a 1980 avant-garde theater piece by East German playwright Heiner Müller, which is itself an adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses. In spite of the title (which includes an extra “T” in reference to the German spelling of Müller’s play), the opera is scored for only two onstage soloists. The Marquise de Merteuil and her former paramour, the Vicomte de Valmont, play a twisted role-playing game in which they act out sexual scenarios involving the lovers Valmont pursues in the original Laclos. For much of the opera, then, the singers engage in an odd ménage à quatre pour deux as the two aristocrats double as various secondary personas (hence the “quartet” of the title).” -Joe Cadagin, SFCV
“Director Elkhanah Pulitzer emphasizes the multiple levels of illusion on display, even as she imparts an air of haunting artificiality to the entire operation.”
-SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
“Given a boldly theatrical staging directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, Quartett was the unequivocal hit of the company’s season…Pulitzer created exquisite tension on Chad Owens’ two-level set, starkly lit by Jim French.”
-OPERA NEWS
