About the work
Karl V. is a full-length stage work with music in two parts by Ernst Krenek, to his own libretto, composed in 1932/33 as the first full-length opera written throughout in twelve-tone technique. Commissioned by the Vienna State Opera, its premiere was cancelled in 1934 under pressure from Nazi-sympathising circles; it was not staged until 22 June 1938, conducted by Karl Rankl at the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague, by which time Krenek had already emigrated.
Plot
In the monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste in 1558, the aged, resigned Emperor Charles V looks back on his life in conversation with a monk. Flashbacks recall the central episodes of his reign – the struggle against the Reformation, his rivalry with Francis I of France, conflicts with the pope and the Ottomans – through which his failure to achieve the hoped-for unity of Christendom emerges. Charles dies as his abdication looms, torn between political duty and personal faith.
Cultural significance
By choosing twelve-tone technique, Krenek deliberately linked the historical subject to a compositional method then still considered radical; the politically driven four-year delay of the premiere also makes the work a document of 1930s cultural politics. Krenek shortened the opera in 1954 from just over three hours to about two, and it has since been regarded as a key work in his output.