A new opera, Lili Elbe, tells the story of one of the earliest recipients of gender-affirming surgery in 1930. The opera is a collaboration of Grammy Award-winning composer Tobias Picker and Aryeh Lev Stollman, MD, a neuroradiologist at Mount Sinai, who wrote the story and lyrics. Photos: Edyta Dufaj
“It’s a love story,” says Aryeh Lev Stollman, MD, a neuroradiologist at Mount Sinai, and the librettist for a new opera, Lili Elbe, which tells the story of one of the earliest recipients of gender-affirming surgery, in 1930. The opera, commissioned by the Theater St. Gallen of Switzerland, was named “Best World Premiere of 2023” at the OPER! AWARDS ceremony on January 29 at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam.
Lili Elbe focuses on a successful Danish painter who was married to another painter, Gerda Wegener. Though their marriage was eventually annulled by the King of Denmark and Lili’s name and sex were legally changed, they remained in love with each other. Lili’s case drew international attention, and a semi-autographical account of her story was captured in a book, Man Into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex. Another book, The Danish Girl, was loosely based on her story and has become an important text in LGBQT+ literature and the basis for a film.
“We based our story on historical sources,” emphasizes Dr. Stollman. “The Danish Girl was highly fictionalized. But Lili Elbe was quite famous in her day, so we relied on her own writings and news accounts from the time.”
The opera Lili Elbe, in addition to being acclaimed for its artistry, is a significant milestone. It stars Lucia Lucas, a baritone, in the first grand opera for and about a person with trans experience. The Grammy Award-winning composer Tobias Picker, who is married to Dr. Stollman, befriended Lucia when he cast her in Don Giovanni in a Tulsa Opera production—the first time a transgender singer had played the leading role in an American opera. Mr. Picker, Dr. Stollman, and Lucia wanted to collaborate on an original project, and the story of Lili Elbe was chosen.
Tobias Picker, left, and Aryeh Lev Stollman, MD, taking a bow after a performance of the new opera at the Theater Saint Gallen in Switzerland. “This resonates with our work as physicians, health care workers, and support staff, because behind our work is love for humanity,” says Dr. Stollman. “We serve people, no matter their physical appearance, their background, or gender identity. And we do it through all types of difficult times and situations.”
“Tobias asked me to write the libretto—or the story and lyrics,” Dr. Stollman says. “But I worked very closely with Lucia as the dramaturg, to gain the insight of her experience and authenticity.” This is the second time Mr. Picker and Dr. Stollman have collaborated. The first was the inspiring opera Awakenings, based on the story of Oliver Sacks, MD, and his efforts to treat patients with sleeping sickness. That opera opened in June 2022 at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
“Like Awakenings, we wanted Lili Elbe to have a mythic undercurrent,” Dr. Stollman says. “In Awakenings, we used the story of Sleeping Beauty. In Lili Elbe, the myth of Orpheus leading his lover, Eurydice, out of the underworld is a motif that reoccurs. I believe that myths have a strong emotional truth. In the myth, Orpheus is saying, ‘Don’t look back, you cannot return to your old life, but you are coming into a new life.’ And our characters are always moving to the future, to a new life, a new realization. And that’s the mythological underpinning.”
Lili Elbe discovers her true nature as a woman when her wife, Gerda, asks her to stand in for a female model who was delayed for a painting session. Gerda is entranced with the beauty of her husband, then called Einar Wegener, and it is she who bestows the name Lili. And as Lili embraces her identity, she says, “When you paint me now, I feel I have always been her.” Lili becomes a muse to Gerda, whose paintings of Lili win acclaim. But Gerda wrestles with how much space to allow Lili in their marriage. At first, she insists that Lili transition back to Einar in the evening. But as Lili makes her true identity known among their circle of friends, Lili wants to experience all the feelings of womanhood, including marriage and motherhood. And even though their marriage is annulled and they become involved with other lovers, their love for each other endures.
Lili becomes engaged to Claude LeJeune, a young man whose passion is creating perfumes from flowers through a delicate process called enfleurage. The symbolism of the flowers living on becomes a motif as Lili dies as a result of complications of one of her surgeries. And the life and story of Lili Elbe still resonate today.
“The opera is more than about love with a transgender person,” Dr. Stollman says. “It’s about love and transcending difficulties. It’s about a tragic heroine’s journey that starts with self-knowledge. And it’s about loss, because Gerda loses Lili. But also because Lili dies in the end, as many tragic heroines do.”
The staging and choreography of the opera are innovative, witty, and symbolic. As Gerda exhibits her paintings of Lili, they are symbolized by actors suspended above the stage, swirling in evocative poses. The prominent German newspaper Die Welt gave it an enthusiastic review, calling it “emotionally gripping, a delicate work of musical theater that unfolds as an Art Nouveau arc, amidst a bright, symbolist stage.” A leading Austrian paper, the Voralberger Zeitung, called it “an emotionally charged masterpiece.”
Dr. Stollman related the theme of love transcending all to the mission of Mount Sinai, which was founded to care for underserved people and is home to the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery, a world leader in gender-affirming care. “This resonates with our work as physicians, health care workers, and support staff, because behind our work is love for humanity. We serve people, no matter their physical appearance, their background, or gender identity. And we do it through all types of difficult times and situations.”