Jonathan Dove Working on Opera About Communist Thinker Karl Marx

By David Salazar

Karl Marx is one of the essential figures in all of history influencing numerous movements.

Now this prominent German thinker, the author of “The Communist Manifesto” will get his turn on the operatic stage. The new work, which will be written by Jonathan Dove and commissioned by the Theater Bonn, will look at the Communist Thinker’s home life. Reports indicate that the opera will be a satire.

“I am currently writing an opera about Karl Marx, which is supposed to be a comedy,” Dove stated in an interview earlier this year.

Dove, of course, is one of modern opera’s prolific composers, having created a number of major works that are slowly making their way into the standard repertoire. His work “Flight” is arguably his most popular, but he has also written “The Adventures of Pinocchio,” “Swanhunter,” “Mansfield Park” and “Life is a Dream,” among others.

Karl Marx’s theories on society, economics and politics have come under a massive umbrella known as Marxism. Regarding his private life, it is known that he had seven children with Jenny von Westphalen but only three managed to survive until adulthood. He went by numerous different nicknames and was afflicted by poor health that few have been able to explain with clarity.

The new opera will premiere to match his 200th birthday in 2018.

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