Der Diktator

Der Diktator (The Dictator) is a tragic opera in one act with words and music by Ernst Krenek, his Op.

The title character is loosely based on Benito Mussolini, although the story is not deliberately political; Krenek later described it as "an anecdote from the private life of the 'strong man'.

"[3] The music is Puccinian in idiom, particularly in its use of the voice, and makes extensive use of leitmotives such as the alternating minor third triplet first heard in the bass as the war telegram is mentioned, which becomes the sole accompaniment to the officer's narrative.

Maria is admiring the summer evening from the hospital, when the Dictator walks a courier out of the hotel, instructing him to deliver a declaration of war.

The Dictator offers to lower his mask, having found a companion capable of understanding him and expounds his philosophy of victory of the strongest.