About the work
"Sleepless" is an opera by Péter Eötvös after Jon Fosse's novel "Trilogy" (2014); Mari Mezei wrote the libretto, with an English version by Judith Sollosy. It premiered on 28 November 2021 at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin.
Plot
The underage lovers Alida and Asle are shunned by those around them; the pregnant Alida and Asle desperately seek shelter, for which Asle commits several murders and is lynched as a result. Alida then lives for decades with their son, until at the end she walks into the sea.
Cultural significance
Eötvös described the work, composed in twelve scenes built on the twelve chromatic pitches, as an "opera ballad"; critics named the premiere the premiere of the year, and further productions followed in Geneva, Budapest, and Graz, among others.