Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini’s music traces human feelings highly precisely. It is full of emotion, strength, vibrancy and clarity. This is truly a music for the theatre. The Sandman is a ten-act opera based on a story of the same name by E.T.A. Hoffmann. The libretto is by Thomas Jonigk. Scartazzini writes a direct, appealing music. He has the phenomenal sense of timing that is so essential for the stage. In this work, the composer is much like a painter who adds a tiny bit to his canvas then takes steps back to observe the impact on the overall picture. “With music, you can file away at a text until it becomes raw and fragile; you can make it shine, you can expand verses through the music or you can prune them; you can hide them in whispers or have them shouted out; in this manner, you can convey your own reading of it.” (Scartazzini)