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 THEATER, AND HOW ! The number “3” symbolises creativity, diversity and innovation. That del lago and Rachmaninoff’s Francesca da Rimini – between them lie three graces appear in so many works of art as goddesses of beau- Thomas’ Hamlet and Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann. A remarkable ty and watch over the theatre is no coincidence. Past, present and fu- musical journey with outstanding artists such as Kirill Petrenko, Marc ture; body, soul and intellect; birth, life and death: in every culture, re- Minkowski, Christof Loy, “Exorcist” William Friedkin, Kurt Streit, Sai- ligion and legend the Three plays an important and usually positive mir Pirgu, Malena Ernman, Marlis Petersen, Angel Blue and Chris- role. In numerology, three stands for lightness and artistic success. In tine Schäfer. The latter is also responsible for arranging our season’s his Poetics, Aristotle contends that the beauty of literary art is based on opening on 13 September with Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. greatness and order and names three principal parameters: with lan- The programme of Theater an der Wien once again features several guage, rhythm and harmony one can create scenes taken from real life. premieres: we commissioned the young Russian composer Lera Au- The Theater an der Wien often uses the three letters “TAW” as an ab- erbach with the composition of the opera Gogol, which we will unveil breviation of the opera house and, in the programme for this season, to you on 15 November under the direction of Christine Mielitz, with has chosen “trinity” as a central principle. The essence of each opera Vladimir Fedoseyev conducting RSO Vienna and Bo Skovhus in the production is summed up in exactly three words. Illustrations have title role. This will be joined by premieres of two miniature operas in been specially created containing slogans that alternate between the our basement, the “Hölle”, one by the trio of composers Tsepkolenko, poetic and the pithy. Gryllus and Doderer, the other by Hans-Jürgen von Bose. Besides these eleven stage productions, the TAW also offers twelve concert The development of opera as an imitation of the tragedy of the an- performances of operas, the majority of them exquisite rarities. cient world was only possible in times of change. The emotions, rath- er than the intellect, were now the highest authority to which the Mozart, never averse to a game, is said to have often kept scraps of works aimed to appeal. Monteverdi’s life is a perfect example of paper in his pocket on which he played number games to let time these contrasts. On 24 February 1607 his Favola in musica d’Orfeo was pass. Mozart’s love of numbers has now been made the subject of premiered in Mantua. The new art form of opera was born. an installation by the artist Valie Export entitled “Anagrammatische At Theater an der Wien, L’Orfeo marks the start of a new Montever- Komposition mit Würfelspiel (nach W. A. Mozart, Klavier) für Sopran- di trilogy that will be staged over several years under the direction of saxophon” (“Anagrammatic Composition with Dice (after W. A. Mozart, the successful director Claus Guth. But we begin the season with one piano) for Soprano Saxophone”). Together with the new canopy de- of the most important operas of the 20th century, The Turn of the signed by the architect Golmar Kempinger-Khatibi, the new entrance to Screw, the third production in our Benjamin Britten cycle. The work Theater an der Wien is now completed. „reunites“ us with Robert Carsen and introduces the new principle I hope that you, dear visitors, will continue to enjoy passing through conductor of RSO Vienna, Cornelius Meister, on the rostrum. our entrance in future and will remain frequent guests to our new It goes without saying that the TAW once again pays its reference to opera house. the great masters of the baroque, Handel and Gluck. Whereas Serse with its famous “largo” Ombra mai fu made Handel popular far be- Best wishes, yond the confines of classical music, Gluck’s Telemaco is a rarity of the very highest order. And the baroque ensembles are led by two comple- tely contrasting musicians in René Jacobs and Jean-Christophe Spinosi. In addition, we have decided to introduce a new feature in the com- ing season in the shape of a “timeline” of musical theatre that leads Roland Geyer through the 19th century: roughly 85 years separate Rossini’s La donna Intendant 2 | | 3 All the world’s a INHALT OPENING 11/12 7 stage and every MUSIC THEATRE B. Britten: THE TURN OF THE SCREW 9 G. F. Handel: SERSE 13 role is sweet. L. Auerbach: GOGOL 17 C. Monteverdi: L’ORFEO 21 P. I. Tchaikovsky / S. Rachmaninoff: Iolanta / FRANCESCA DA RIMINI 25 Chr. W. Gluck: TELEMACO 29 J. Offenbach: LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN 33 A. Thomas: HAMLET 39 G. Rossini: LA DONNA DEL LAGO 43 MINIATURE OPERAS IN The “Hölle” 47 CONCERTANTE OPERA 51 SPECIAL CONCERTS 64 CABARET IN The “Hölle” 67 Demner, Merlicek & Bergmann Demner, ICH, SCHIKANEDER 69 JUGEND AN DER WIEN 71 Presentation of the Season 78 Guided Tours 79 Prices 104 Seating Plan 105 Information 107 Imprint 124 Booking form 125 Main sponsor of Theater an der Wien. | 5 zu10039_AZ_Kultur_engl_130x205abf.indd 1 23.06.2010 15:33:59 Uhr OPENING 11/12 KLANGFORUM WIEN MICHAEL BODER conductor Igor Strawinski (1882-1971) L’Histoire du Soldat TOBIAS MORETTI speaker KARL MARKOVICS soldier MICHAEL MAERTENS devil (Performance in German) Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951) Pierrot Lunaire CHRISTINE SCHÄFER soprano TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2011, 7.30 P.M. Two parts, one whole. Two THE TURN OF THE SCREW Benjamin Britten 14-27 September 2011 Ghosts kill boy. Benjamin Britten wrote a brilliant musical adaptation of Henry James’ irritating novella The Turn of the Screw (1898) for the English Natio- THE TURN OF THE SCREW nal Opera Group. The opera focuses on themes that were important in Britten’s life: the difficulty of recognising good and evil and judging Opera in a prologue and two acts (1954) them, the loss of innocence and its uncontrollable infiltration by what is commonly known as evil. Britten uses a chamber ensemble of twel- MUSIC BY BENJAMIN BRITTEN ve musicians to achieve the highest possible degree of precise and LIBRETTO BY MYFANWY PIPER gripping harmonic tension. Claustrophobia, seduction and ambivalence AFTER THE NOVELLA BY HENRY JAMES shimmer in the music. Performed in English with German surtitles A young, inexperienced woman takes on a position as governess for two Conductor Cornelius Meister orphans. She is forced to promise the children’s guardian never to bother Director Robert Carsen him with problems. Apprehensive about what awaits her, the governess tra- Set & costume designer Robert Carsen / Luis Carvalho vels to the remote country estate. Initially, she finds her two young charges, Light designer Robert Carsen / Peter van Praet Miles and Flora, delightful. But as time goes by the eerie atmosphere in Video projections Finn Ross the house casts a deeper and deeper spell over her. Ghosts appear to her of Dramatic advisor Ian Burton her deceased predecessor Miss Jessel and the manservant Quint, who is also dead. There seems to be a relationship between the ghosts and the children The Prologue / Quint Nikolai Schukoff that bodes no good. The governess decides to save the children from the The Governess Sally Matthews corrupting influence of the dead. She completely becomes caught up in this Mrs. Grose Ann Murray task until it finally results in a confrontation: when Quint approaches Miles, Miss Jessel Jennifer Larmore the governess tries to restrain the boy, but he dies in her arms. Flora Eleonor Burke / Julia Storm Miles Teddy Favre-Gilly / Stefan Leadbeater What really happens remains unclear, both in James’ novella and in the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien opera. Is the governess hallucinating or do the ghosts really exist? In sixteen scenes, called „variations“, Britten expounds on a basic theme New production Theater an der Wien that is introduced at the beginning, before bringing it to an agonising head in the final collapse. The perfect world at the estate turns out to be a place of dark seduction. Quint, the hell’s messenger, tempts with the silvery music of the spheres of a celesta, while the children, PREmiERE: 14 SEPTEMBER 2011 with their songs that are neither musically nor lyrically innocent, prove Performances: 19 / 21 / 24 / 27 September 2011, 7.30 p.m. that they have long since fallen under the thrall of darkness. The on- Introduction: Sunday, 11 September 2011, 11 a.m. ly innocent at the beginning of the story is the governess who then is confronted by her own dark side and that of the world on the idyllic country estate. MUSIC THEATRE | 11 SERSE Georg Frideric Handel 16-27 October 2011 King seeks love. One of George Frideric Handel’s best-known compositions, the so-cal- led „largo“ Ombra mai fu, is found in Serse. But there it is a larghetto SERSE and the pathos with which it is sung is meant to be comic: a tree is serenaded. Although Serse is commonly described as an opera seria the Dramma per musica in three acts (1738) events it portrays are not meant to be taken entirely seriously. Whether MUSIC BY GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL this work is actually a seria, and as such a forerunner of Mozart’s dram- LIBRETTO AFTER NICCOLÒ Minato ma giocoso, or a late example of Venetian light opera has been the sub- AND Silvio Stampiglia ject of debate for centuries.