About the work
Benzin is a light-fantastical opera by Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek to his own libretto, which freely transposes the Odysseus myth, mixed with motifs from Calderón's play "Over All Magic, Love", into the year 1929. Reznicek completed the score in 1929 but found no opera house willing to stage it; the work's stage premiere did not take place until 28 November 2010, at Theater Chemnitz, 65 years after his death.
Plot
Airship commander Ulysses Eisenhardt has to interrupt his round-the-world flight for lack of fuel and lands on a remote island. There he meets Gladys, a woman with supernatural powers who bewitches men and turns them into animals – only Ulysses proves immune to her spell. The ensuing contest of wills develops into a love story that ends with the pair's joint escape in the refuelled airship.
Cultural significance
After the 1937 "Hindenburg" disaster, a lighthearted take on airship travel lost its innocence, and the work fell into obscurity. Only the rediscovery of the handwritten score at the Austrian National Library made the belated 2010 premiere in Chemnitz possible.