Blitzstein gets a belated world premiere when the MDR Sinfonieorchester performs his ballet score Cain (1930) at the Brucknerhaus Linz 28 February. Eugene Tzigane conducts and baritone Adrian Eröd sings the role of Jehovah. The work was all but forgotten before the discovery of a second holograph piano score in 2016 spurred fresh interest, and a newly engraved orchestral score and parts, prepared by Arno Lücker from Blitzstein’s manuscript, will be unveiled for the premiere and available for future performances.
Cain was conceived as a thirty-minute “tragic ballet” based on the biblical story of Cain and Abel. In a letter to his sister, Blitzstein described it as “the best thing I have written in my career.” Yet his own high expectations—and praise from the likes of Copland, Nadia Boulanger, and Alfredo Casella—were not enough to bring about a performance; to this day, only excerpts have been given, and only with piano accompaniment. Nearly ninety years later, the work will be heard in full for the first time.