Die Opferung des Gefangenen (The Sacrifice of the Prisoner) is a 1926 opera-ballet by Egon Wellesz based on a scenario by Eduard Stucken after the Mayan play Rabinal Achi which relates through drama and dance the story of conflict between Quiché and Rabinal in the early fifteenth century.Michael Haas Forbidden Music: The Jewish Composers Banned by the Nazis 2013 p 170 "In discussions with the choreographer Kurt Iooss, Wellesz developed the opera-ballet Opferung des Gefangenen (Sacrifice of the Prisoner) in 1924—5, based on a scenario by Eduard Stucken. It was to be the third part of Wellesz'5 'Heroic Trilogy' which already consisted of two works to texts by Hofmannsthal: the short opera Alkestis and the ballet Achilles auf Skyros. Opferung des Gefangenen was a further hybrid of theatrical genres in that each character was accorded both a dancing and a singing persona, a device employed nearly a decade later by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht in The Seven Deadly Sins" The premiere was 2 April 1926, Cologne under the baton of Eugen Szenkar.Elisabeth Bauchhenß · Eugen Szenkar (1891–1977): Ein ungarisch-jüdischer Dirigent 2016 69 "Die Opferung des Gefangenen von Egon Wellesz -- Nach aufreibender Probenarbeit brachte Szenkar im April 1926 wieder Werke von Egon Wellesz auf die Bühne: die Oper Alkestis und die Uraufführung des Tanzdramas Die Opferung des Gefangenen.
Recording The field commander - Wolfgang Koch, Prince's shield bearer - Robert Brooks, head of the council - Ivan Urbas, Hoe-Seung Hwang, Patricia Dewey, Wiener Konzertchor, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Friedrich Cerha Live recording 1995, issued Capriccio 2020
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