About the work
Die Gezeichneten is an opera in three acts by Franz Schreker to his own libretto. Schreker had first drafted the text in 1911 for Alexander von Zemlinsky, who had asked him for "the tragedy of the ugly man" after Frank Wedekind's play Hidalla, but Schreker went on to set the material himself and completed the score in 1915. It premiered on 25 April 1918 at Oper Frankfurt under Ludwig Rottenberg.
Plot
The disfigured Genoese nobleman Alviano Salvago has had the island of Elysium built, a place of beauty he cannot enjoy himself because of his appearance. When he confides in the painter Carlotta, she falls in love with his true self, but she is also desired by the unscrupulous Tamare, who secretly uses Elysium for orgies. The conflict turns deadly as Alviano confronts Tamare.
Cultural significance
The premiere's success briefly made Schreker the most performed opera composer of his time, ahead even of Richard Strauss. After the Nazis banned performances, the work fell into obscurity and was only rediscovered in Frankfurt in 1979.