Reiko Füting: Mechthild
Through images that reflect the “flowing light of divinity,” librettist Christian Lehnert adapted Mechthild von Magdeburg’s own texts into a narrative that consists of three sections to emphasize the relevance of Mechthild today.
In his expansive liner notes, Lehnert detailed the breakdown of each section, “In the first part, the Beguine, fatally ill, returns to her ‘home.’ In a vision, she experiences erotic unity with divinity. External perspective and internal space confront each other.
"In the second part, Mechthild experiences the opposite: lonesome godlessness. She experiences this state as the abyss of death, as an infinite fall. At the same time, this experience cleanses all thinking and believing; it cleanses herself and any imagination of God. Mechthild experiences a negation of God in order to find God. In a vision of hell, she descends to the deepest abyss.
"In the third part, Mechthild lives in a monastery. She now finds God in the people whom she serves, as a caregiver. Mechthild’s faith moves – metaphorically speaking – through fire: warmth and light were created, and the loss of herself became a deepening of her own existence. Transformed, she now finds God everywhere. She does not find God as thought or faith, but rather as a life force.”
Mechthild Tracklist
Reiko Füting – Mechthild (2022)
Act I: Verwunden, vereint/ Wond, United
1. Scene 1: Ankunft/ Arrival [4:40]
2-5. Scene 2: Die Kranke/ The Invalid [7:53]
6-15. Scene 3: Im Gemach der Gottheit/ In the Room of Divinity [12:53]
Act II: Die Gottesfremde/ The Alienated
16-17. Scene 4: Abgekippt/ Dumped [11:54]
18. Scene 5: Wo bist du dann? Where Will You Then Be? [3:43]
19. Scene 6: Höllenfahrt/ Descent into Hell [8:54]
20. Scene 7: Nichts/ Naught [3:49]
Act III: Nach Gott/ After God
21-22. Scene 8: Im Krankensaal/ In the Ward [10:90]
23. Scene 9: Feuer/ Fire [8:17]
Total Time: 73:15