Richard Meale’s grand opera Voss (1986) is ultimately about ‘a stranger in a strange land.’ Based on the German explorer Ludwig Leichardt (après Patrick White’s magnificent 1957 novel), Johann Ulrich Voss is a man trapped in a personal fog, misguided and removed by and from the practicalities of life due to his ego and intransigence. He is a man lacking in personal and interpersonal skills and these ultimately bring about his demise in the harsh Outback environment. White’s dense modernist style is transformed into a highly poetic yet succinct libretto by acclaimed poet and novelist David Malouf, creating the perfect foil to Meale’s ingenious score.

State Opera South Australia's production of Richard Meale's Voss, 7 May 2022.

State Opera South Australia’s production of Richard Meale’s Voss, 7 May 2022. Photo © Soda Street Productions.

Premiering at the 1986 Adelaide Festival, the work was a great success, even leading to an internationally released recording, and yet, by 1990, it would vanish from performance until now. For Meale, Voss is a pivotal work. It deviates from his earlier astrigent neo-Boulezian serialism, moving towards his later embrace of a cool, yet attractive impressionistic...