Freud/Jung (2016)

Part I (presented at AOP’s Six Scenes) springs from a famous confrontation between Sigmund Freud and his former protégé Carl Jung, at a conference in Munich. The opera opens as Freud’s new star pupil (The Female Doctor) concludes her paper, to Freud’s proud approval. As she departs, Jung and Freud begin to argue; their disagreement is not merely academic, but deeply personal. Jung coldly dismisses Freud’s life’s work; horrified by the betrayal and terrified by what he has heard, Freud faints. As Jung goes for help, the Female Doctor reappears in Freud’s dreaming mind as Schoenberg’s nameless Woman, Freud’s unconscious body becomes Schoenberg’s Corpse, and we melt into Freud’s dream-world – Erwartung. (Part II) In Part III, Freud’s dream changes, and he re-enacts an earlier confrontation with Jung, now cast in a new and unsettling light. The opera ends as Freud regains consciousness at the Munich conference, his relationship with Jung forever changed.

American Opera Projects, 2016

Artists:

• Music Director - Kelly Horsted
• Doctor/Frau - Jennifer Goode Cooper, soprano
• Jung - Blake Friedman, tenor
• Freud - Jonathan Woody, bass-baritone