Intendant Roland Geyer General sponsor The Theater an der Wien receives subsidies A Wien Holding Company from the Cultural Department of the City of Vienna “BeautIFUL MUSIc…” To look for the greatest triumphs of opera means applying the epithets Igor Stravinsky set Hogarth’s series of pictures, The Rake’s Progress, to “genius” and “originality” to a musical event. Such triumphs often came music as the opera of the same name which created a furore and proved about by chance or were not recognised as such until favourable cir- a huge success when it was staged at the Theater an der Wien in 2008 cumstances arose centuries later that revealed their true quality. Take by Martin Kušej under the musical direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Mendelssohn’s revival of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in the mid-nine- When the moralistic and strict judge John Gonson began a campaign teenth century, for example. Add to this the fact that before Mozart and against prostitution in the City of London, Hogarth was inspired to cre- Beethoven the creators of works of such specific evocative power were ate a second series, A Harlot’s Progress. The Theater an der Wien has not unanimously regarded as geniuses by their audiences. George Frid- now commissioned the renowned English dramatist Peter Ackroyd and eric Handel, for instance, still had to contend with derision, envy and the young English composer Iain Bell to write a new opera about the bankruptcy for years after his ground-breaking masterpiece, Messiah. story of a naïve country girl who falls into the clutches of a procuress Only at the end of his life was he feted as the nation’s composer, a sta- and is forced into prostitution. With the revival of Stravinsky’s superb tus he still enjoys today. With the advent of the philosophical concept of The Rake’s Progress and the premiere of A Harlot’s Progress, the Theater genius that originated in England and swept across the European con- an der Wien starts the season with its first ever opera dilogy. In Don- tinent shortly after Mozart’s death, artists began to regard themselves, ald Runnicles, an acknowledged expert in British music will take the “Prometheus-like”, as stars in the firmament of music. Originality and rostrum for the premiere. disdain for parody and, worse still, plagiarism, as required by philoso- phy, were the sine qua non for an artistic triumph. In his Heiligenstadt 2. IDOMENEO AND DA PONTE Testament of 1802, Beethoven described himself as “on a lonely pedes- The Theater an der Wien still exudes the spirit of Mozart to this day. tal” and claimed, as an artist of genius, to be able to make the laws In this season, four of his greatest triumphs are on the programme of the universe appreciable to the senses of Man through art. In the and feature two of the world’s leading maestri into the bargain: René autumn of 2013, Rudolf Buchbinder will attempt an approach to this Jacobs will conduct Mozart’s Idomeneo while the young Italian director musical genius through his piano concertos and sonatas on two eve- Damiano Michieletto will direct Mozart’s opera seria and try to repeat nings, while Klaus Maria Brandauer sends “Wagner on a pilgrimage to the sensational success he achieved last year with Il trittico. We have the creator of Fidelio”. succeeded in securing the services of Nikolaus Harnoncourt to conduct Musical theatre emerged approximately four hundred years ago from the concert performances of all three of Mozart’s Da Ponte operas (Figaro, euphoric desire to tell stories and portray events with music and im- Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte) in the order in which they were composed ages. From the outset, opera liked to reflect the dark sides of life. By and in the space of three weeks. It will be the first time that Harnon- using “beautiful music” it was possible to tackle provocative and polit- court conducts his Concentus Musicus playing this trilogy. ically sensitive topics critically and unambiguously. Eros and Thanatos There is a popular tale that Mozart once met the young Beethoven, were there all the time, and everywhere. As Aristotle said, “Life con- but there is no evidence to support the story. While it is true that the sists of movement”. young Ludwig van Beethoven spent some time in Vienna in Mozart’s In the 13/14 season, the Theater an der Wien presents thirteen opera day, diligently studying the piano and composition under Haydn and premieres in the building on Naschmarkt and at the Kammeroper. Musi- Salieri, any meeting with the great Mozart is more than likely the stuff cal triumphs from Handel to Verdi, from Mozart to Kagel – plus Stravin- of romantic legend. A similarly “utopian” meeting between Beethoven sky, Rossini, Rameau, Wagner and above all Mozart’s Da Ponte cycle. and Richard Wagner, forty-three years his junior, that was written by Wagner, forms the basis of Klaus Maria Brandauer’s musical reading, 1. Rake’s and HaRlot’s PROGRESS “Wagners Pilgerfahrt zu Beethoven” (“Wagner’s Pilgrimage to Beetho- The painter and social critic William Hogarth portrayed the conditions ven”) with which the Theater an der Wien opens the new 2013/14 sea- prevalent in London society in his famous engravings. Two centuries later, son on 11 September. 2 | | 3 3. LAZARUS, MESSIAH AND PLATÉE Wien’s. The theatre founded on Schikaneder’s initiative has seen many Among Beethoven’s admirers was a young Viennese composer: Franz changes and has forged close associations with great names more than Schubert loved the theatre. Unfortunately though, none of his many almost any other theatre. But let us not be deceived by all this history: stage works was destined to be a success, and his melodrama Die every period of greatness began as a turbulent present. At the begin- Zauberharfe, premiered in 1820 at the Theater an der Wien, suffered ning of 2013 we took the daring step of presenting a performance of the same fate. That same year, Schubert composed the religious vocal excerpts from Richard Wagner’s The Rhine Gold and The Valkyrie played, work Lazarus based on the episode in the Gospel of John. Claus Guth, for the first time, on original instruments – and despite the unfamiliarity who has already successfully brought Handel’s oratorio Messiah to the of a historical sound that takes some getting used to we will continue stage, will now turn the mystery of Lazarus, which Schubert left as a this venture in the season after next with a staged Wagner opera. Un- fragment, into a complete work for the stage. As a result, we have al- derstandably we want to prepare for that in this season, and have invit- so decided to put Guth’s internationally acclaimed Messiah production ed the “word and sound magician” Stefan Mickisch to spend four eve- up for discussion again at Easter 2014, thereby confirming the status nings dissecting The Ring of the Nibelung into fascinating details for you of our opera house as Vienna’s centre for the outstanding cultivation and then reassembling them as a most enlightening overall experience. of Handel’s music. We contrast this with Rameau’s exceptional “musi- We embarked on a second venture last year too, by adding the Kam- cal satire” Platée. Under the musical direction of William Christie this meroper as a secondary location and by founding the Young Ensemble French baroque opera will unfold into a brilliant eighteenth century mas- of the Theater an der Wien (JET). This ensemble proved its quality to terpiece. Director Robert Carsen guarantees a treatment that is both hu- Viennese audiences in the very first year of its existence with outstand- morous and elegant. ing singing prowess and intense dramatic power. In its second season, the JET presents operas by Handel (Semiramide), Rossini (La Ceneren- 4. VERDI, CHOPIN AND DUMAS tola), Mozart (La clemenza di Tito) and Kagel (Mare Nostrum), there- Giuseppe Verdi was one of those nineteenth-century artists who saw by making the Kammeroper on Fleischmarkt the Theater an der Wien’s their art as a contrast to normal everyday life. In the same way that he important second stage. spent his entire life playing to the gallery, his death and funeral were Dear visitors, it is my hope and my wish that you will appreciate the also a huge spectacle with eight hundred singers performing the cho- many directions and perspectives we are offering you in this new sea- rus “Va, pensiero” from Nabucco, conducted by Toscanini. The high re- son. We do this partly to enable you to experience the diversity of mu- gard in which we hold Verdi – and not just in anniversary year 2013 – sical theatre and partly to give you the opportunity for lively debate and is shown on the one hand by our presentation of the “unknown” Due fascinating encounters. Foscari with Plácido Domingo in the role of the Father, and on the other by Peter Konwitschny’s acclaimed “Graz” production of La traviata with I look forward to welcoming many of you during the season and hope Marlis Petersen as the courtesan. In addition, the Theater an der Wien you will renew your subscriptions. is also bringing John Neumeier’s Hamburg Ballet to Vienna to perform his choreographic interpretation of The Lady of the Camellias with a score Best wishes by Frédéric Chopin to mark the bicentenary of the composer’s birth. 5. FROM WAGNER TO JET Contemporary musical theatre is not a complement to life, but reflects human problems, artistically elevating them and putting them up for discussion in the present.