Das Nusch-Nuschi is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in one act by Paul Hindemith

Paul Hindemith

Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...

, with a German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Franz Blei

Franz Blei

Franz Blei was an essayist, playwright and translator from Vienna...

.

Subtitled A Play for Burmese Marionettes it is in fact a fully staged work with both singers and dancers, the second in a triptych of expressionist influenced one-act operas, the others being Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen

Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen

Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen is an opera in one act by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Oskar Kokoschka based on his play written in 1907....

op. 12 (1921), and Sancta Susanna

Sancta Susanna

Sancta Susanna is an early opera by Paul Hindemith in one act, with a German libretto by August Stramm. Composed over a two week period in January/February 1921, its premiere was on 26 March 1922, at Opernhaus, Frankfurt....

op. 20 (1922).

Performance history

It was first performed on 4 June 1921, at the Landestheater, Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

 under the baton of Fritz Busch

Fritz Busch

Fritz Busch was a German conductor.Busch was born in Siegen, Province of Westphalia. He held posts conducting opera at Aachen, Stuttgart and Dresden. In 1933 he was dismissed from his post at Dresden because of his opposition to the new Nazi government of Germany...

; Oskar Schlemmer

Oskar Schlemmer

Oskar Schlemmer was a German painter, sculptor, designer and choreographer associated with the Bauhaus school. In 1923 he was hired as Master of Form at the Bauhaus theatre workshop, after working some time at the workshop of sculpture...

 was the director.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 4 June 1921 (Conductor: Fritz Busch Fritz Busch Fritz Busch was a German conductor.Busch was born in Siegen, Province of Westphalia. He held posts conducting opera at Aachen, Stuttgart and Dresden. In 1933 he was dismissed from his post at Dresden because of his opposition to the new Nazi government of Germany... )
Rag-weng	reciter
the Nusch-Nuschi, a mythological beast	mime
Zatwai, seducer of the emperor's 4 wives	mime
Tum Tum, Zatwai's servant	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...  buffo
Mung Tha Bya	bass	Albin Swoboda, Jr. Albin Swoboda, Jr. Albin Swoboda, Jr. was a German operatic bass-baritone. Born in Dresden, he was the son of tenor and actor Albin Swoboda, Sr. and soprano Friederike Fischer; both of whom were luminaries of the "Golden Age" of Viennese operetta. His grandfather Joseph Wilhelm Swoboda also had an important career...
Kyce Waing, an army chief	bass
Bangsa	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Erna Ellmenreich
Osasa	soprano
Ratasata	soprano
Twaise	contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
Susulü	tenor	Felix Decken
Kamadewa	tenor
Master of ceremonies	bass
Executioner	bass
Beggar	bass
First dancer	soprano
Second dancer	soprano
First maiden	soprano
Second maiden	soprano
Third maiden	contralto
First poet	tenor
Second poet	bass
First herald	bass
Second herald	tenor
First monkey	tenor
Second monkey	tenor