Nymphomania. An anaglyphic shadow opera in 9 scenes (2022) This commissioned work for the Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum in Braunschweig is an artistic response to the collection of this 'Louvre of the North' and critically examines gender images in classical works of art. The result of this reflection was presented in the form of a specially created large-scale projection measuring 4.50 by 8 metres on the park side of the museum. Characters from Ovid's Metamorphoses appear there as oversized shadow figures. Daphne and Apollo, borrowed from a bronze sculpture in the collection, move with Cupid, sometimes extremely slowly, to the polyphonic sounds of up to five Italian voices, which lament the fate of the sexually harassed nymph Daphne with the cry Piangete, calling out for tears.

ⓘ video 1080p, 10:06 min., 2-channel sound

Sexual assault in the works of the old masters The ambivalent, deliberately impersonal title Nymphomania refers to a chapter in music and art history that literally jumped out at Tim Otto Roth when he first visited HAUM. Not only in certain paintings, but also in sculptures in the collection, it becomes apparent that classical art history is not exclusively, but repeatedly, a history of the aestheticisation and glorification of sexual assault.

Bronze torment The bronze sculpture Daphne and Apollo from the collection of the Herzog August Ulrich-Museum, attributed to the French artist François Lespignola (1644–1705), can also be seen in this tradition. In ancient mythology, Apollo is struck by a golden arrow after a quarrel with Cupid. The bronze depicts Apollo, driven by sexual desire, pursuing the scantily clad nymph, whose hands are already beginning to turn into branches. Her father, the river god Peneios, sees no other way to protect his daughter from assault than to transform her into a laurel tree. Parallel to the projection in the park, the original sculpture was staged in the Foyer of Apollo with a red and blue lighting concept.

Premiere at the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig. Thanks to Tim Otto Roth's intervention, a projection surface was created here for the first time as a connection to the park.

In the 'Foyer des Apoll', Tim Otto Roth illuminated the bronze sculpture and replica of the 'Apollo Belvedere' anaglyphically with red and blue light.

Impressions from the production: Tim Otto Roth works on the dance scenes together with former Munich State Ballet solo dancer Zuzana Zahradníková.

Daphne escaping from Apollo is one of the central scenes of the shadow opera.

First scene of the shadow metamorphosis: the nymph Syrinx in the reeds.

Apollo's battle with the monster Python not only makes him the protector of shepherds, but also triggers a momentous dispute with Cupid.

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A whirling shadow choreography Nymphomania formally works with two central stylistic elements on the spatial and temporal level: rotation and deceleration. Based on the first completely preserved opera – Marco da Gagliano's La Dafne (premiered in 1608) – Tim Otto Roth creates a sequence of scenes that presents the story as a shadow choreography with extremely slow movements. The slow movements were made possible by doubling the playback speed of the music during the choreography of the dance and then slowingdown the movements recorded by tracking suits by half. The dancer Zuzana Zahradníková dances both Daphne and the corresponding Apollo with a modern and partly baroque repertoire of movements.
Most of the action takes place on a rotating virtual stage. In this way, the spatial constellations of the performers and thus also the perspective shadow play created by spotlights or an artificial sun change continuously. Only the intermezzos show Daphne fleeing, running towards the projection screen from a great distance.

Playing with musical metre Roth also uses slowdowns as a retardative moment in the music. A madrigal-like section from the sixth scene of Marco da Gagliano's score was arranged by Roth and recorded at a slow tempo of 48 beats per minute with singers and a string instrumentalist, among others. The playback speed varies in the individual scenes and is slowed down by up to 25 per cent. The slowing down of the playback speed creates a slight vibration in the polyphonically layered voices. In addition to the edited original score, Roth works with an electroacoustic element: in the extremely slowed-down recording from the woodworking industry in the Black Forest, which is reminiscent of deep, rasping breathing, he finds an equivalent for Daphne, who has been saved but robbed of her appearance.

Team

Idea, musical arrangement and artistic realisation: Tim Otto Roth
dance: Zuzana Zahradníková (Syrinx, Daphne, Apollo), Lowen Größle (Amor)
vocals: Svea Schildknecht (Sopran), Neal Banerjee (Tenor)
Instrumentation: viola da gamba, theorbo (both electronic), 'violin bass' by Jonah Größle
ⓘ video 1080p, 10:06 min., 2-channel sound