Byron & Schumann – Manfred

A dramatic scandal

Manfred is a Faustian nobleman living in the Bernese Alps. He is tormented by a mysterious guilt inside him, which has to do with the death of his beloved, Astarte. He uses his mastery of language and enchantment to summon seven spirits, from whom he desires oblivion. However, the spirits cannot control past events, and are therefore unable to fulfill Manfred's request. Suicide is the only option left for him .....

Published in 1817, Byron's Manfred was both a scandal and an overnight sensation. In verses of sublime poetry inspired by Goethe's Faust, Byron tells the story of a doomed magician defiantly challenging the authority of both God and the devil. With Manfred, he created the model for the romantic anti-hero, the so-called 'Byronic hero': a daemonic, brooding and wounded character who causes physical and emotional suffering to everyone around him, while suffering even more greatly himself.

Throughout the 19th century, Manfred was performed in Britain and the United States of America as a one-man show. Using elaborate gestures and melodious declamation, a single actor read Byron's verses, using his voice to create and animate all of the different characters. The intermittent musical accompaniment sometimes interrupted and sometimes coincided with the declamation, creating melodramatic moments of great intensity by uniting and contrasting music with text. Inspired by accounts of this lost performance tradition, the musicians of Postscript and historical actor Jedidiah Wentz have created a new, intimate chamber version of Manfred. The incidental music is made up of pieces by Robert and Clara Schumann interpolated into a revised and shortened version of Byron's original English text.

Rather, following Byron's original, it is up to the listener to decide if Manfred has descended into eternal hell-fire, or if he has finally found the oblivion he seeks.