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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 OF TRAGEDIES AND COMEDIES murder mystery, The Name of the Rose, the shrewd monk William of Bas- Whereas the protagonists in a tragedy are portrayed in tragic, insoluble kerville fights to save Aristotle’s book. According to Baskerville, Aristotle conflicts and, at every moment, fear the hopelessness of their actions, sees the willingness to laugh as a power for good that can also have epis- characters in comedies find themselves in a conflict that can be solved, temological value. Using ingenious puzzles and surprising metaphors – although they themselves do not necessarily know it. They have, in fact, mas- lies, as it were – comedy forces us to take a closer look and reaches the truth tery over their fate, even though the conflicts portrayed seem just as hope- through a distorted portrayal of people and the world. less as those in tragedy. But why is comedy comic if it deals with similar conflicts as tragedy does? Paul Hindemith takes the example of the painter Matthias Grünewald to portray the search for truth as a feat of creative energy. His opera Mathis der For a long time, the serious and the comic were strictly separate genres with- Maler is set during the Reformation and the Peasants’ War is a reflection in musical theatre, though they always influenced each other. The sombre on the role of art and has, two years after the National Socialists seized Don Giovanni is described as a “comic opera” whereas Handel’s much more power in 1935, uncomfortable relevance to current events. “A city always light-hearted Serse is assigned to the genre of serious opera. Søren Kier- renowned for freedom of thought is now expected to burn books,” says kegaard realised that truth and reality can only be evoked by two opposite Mathis’s friend, the Mainz citizen Riedinger in indignation over the order poles that nurture each other: “It belongs to the imperfection of everything to destroy all of Luther’s writings. human that man can only attain his desire by passing through its opposite.” In the 12/13 season, the Theater an der Wien for the first time has come- In his grotesque short story Is It A Comedy? Is It A Tragedy? Thomas Bern- dy as a major theme, even though the programme still consists largely of hard examines the boundaries between the light-hearted and the tragic “tragedies”. Which brings us back to the question of truth and reality, or, both in real life and on the stage. No one was more convinced than Bern- as Arthur Schopenhauer rather drastically put it, “Anyone who expects dev- hard that the awfulness of reality could ultimately never be portrayed as ils to walk the world with horns and fools with bells will always be either a tragedy, but only as a comedy. Tragedy became his comedy and he said, their prey or their plaything.” “Everything is absurd when you contemplate death.” I hope you enjoy reading this programme. Remember that you are spoilt Aristotle, the “father of the genre”, saw in tragedy, to which he applied a def- for choice when it comes to choosing your subscription, and please give inition in his Poetics which is still widely debated today, the representation us the pleasure of visiting often. of events that portray the fall into misfortune of a good person through no fault of his or her own. He ascribed a cathartic effect to this theatrical repre- Best wishes, sentation that purified the soul. The genre of opera emerged from the attempt to combine the theatre of the ancient world with music, and the question of the serious and the comic was a central issue from the very beginning. The first operatic masterpieces were steeped in the tragic before audiences and the ruling classes began Intendant Roland Geyer to expect a happy ending. Aristotle devoted the second part of his Poetics to comedy and an exami- nation of laughter and its effects. Although the book is lost it nevertheless ignited intense debate in the present day. In Umberto Eco’s monastic All the world’s a CONTENT OPENING 12/13 7 stage and every MUSIC THeatre C. Monteverdi: IL RITORNO D’ULISSE IN Patria 9 G. Puccini: IL TRITTICO 13 role is sweet. Chr. W. Gluck: IPHIGÉNIE EN AULIDE 19 P. Hindemith: Mathis DER MALER 23 G. F. Handel: RADAMISTO 27 G. Rossini: LE COMTE ORY 31 L.v. Beethoven: FIDELIO 35 H. Berlioz: BÉatrice ET BÉNÉDICT 39 G. Verdi: ATTILA 43 IN THE “HÖLLE” 47 T. Schulze: PREMIERE (UA) 49 G. Wacks: STRENG VERTRAULICH 51 concertante OPERA 53 SPECIAL PROJECTS 71 Demner, Merlicek & Bergmann Demner, Introduction to the Season 78 Guided Tours 79 JUGEND AN DER WIEN 81 THeater AN DER WIEN IN THE KAMMEROPER 83 Information 84 Prices 88 Seating plan 89 Imprint 92 Booking Form 93 Main sponsor of Theater an der Wien. zu10039_AZ_Kultur_engl_130x205abf.indd 1 23.06.2010 15:33:59 Uhr OPENING 12/13 A MUSICAL READING JAMES JOYCE ULYSSES An odyssey through Dublin on 16/6/1904 with texts and compositions in 18 episodes Special melodramatic version for the Theater an der Wien by Klaus Buhlert and Manfred Hess Music from Bach to Berio to Bush Leopold Bloom KARL MARKOVICS Molly Bloom CORINNA HARFOUCH Stephen Dedalus NICHOLAS OFCZAREK Percussion DAME EVELYN GLENNIE et al. In his epochal Ulysses James Joyce describes one day in the life of Leopold Bloom, drawing parallels to Homer’s Odyssey and presenting a man’s world of thought in striking language. In the process the distance between narrating and reading or listening is removed completely. The evening is a fascinating literary and musical stroll through our streams of consciousness. THURSDAY, 6 SEPTEMBER 2012, 7.30 P.M. IL ritorno D’ULISSE IN Patria Claudio Monteverdi 7 -17 September 2012 IL RITORNO D’ULISSE Thirty years after creating the first masterpiece in the new genre of opera, L’Orfeo in 1607 which was premiered at the court in Mantua, Monteverdi IN Patria wrote two more operas for Venice where public opera houses had existed Dramma per musica in a prologue and three acts (1640) since 1637: Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro after Homer’s Odyssey, first performed in 1639/40, and L’incoronazione di MUSIC BY CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI Poppea, premiered shortly before his death in 1643. LIBRETTO BY GIACOMO BADOARO AFTER BOOKS XIII-XXIV In the prologue, Il Tempo (Time), La Fortuna (Fortune) and Amore (Cupid) FROM HOMERS ODYSSEY show l’Umana fragilitá (Human Frailty) that all three of them have every Performed in Italian with German surtitles mortal at their mercy. The story of the return of Ulisse (Ulysses) provides a dras- tic example of this: for ten years he laid siege to Troy, and his return home was Conductor Christophe Rousset prevented for another ten years by the anger of the sea-god Nettuno (Neptune). Director Claus Guth Without the support of the goddess Minerva his wanderings may have gone Set & costume designer Christian Schmidt on forever. With her help he succeeds in passing the final test to which he Light designer Bernd Purkrabek is subjected following his arrival in his homeland of Ithaca: to win back his Video projections Arian Andiel wife Penelope. She has saved herself for him, but since everyone believes Dramatic advisor Konrad Kuhn him to be dead she has been wooed with ever increasing intensity by three suitors. Once Ulisse has eliminated his rivals, Penelope refuses to believe that Ulisse Garry Magee he is her long-lost husband. It is not until the gods intervene once more that Penelope Delphine Galou the couple, so long separated, are finally reunited. Telemaco Pavel Kolgatin Melanto Katija Dragojevic With his unfussy but emotion-laden score, Monteverdi manages to portray Eumete Marcel Beekman the mythical figure of Odysseus as a modern man marked by his trauma- Antinoo Igor Bakan tic experiences of war. The depiction of Penelope is equally fascinating: Iro Jörg Schneider so intensely does she grieve for the husband she believes lost that she Giove Emanuele d’Aguanno refuses to accept it when he stands before her again in flesh and blood. Nettuno / Il Tempo Phillip Ens Claus Guth continues his Monteverdi cycle with Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. Minerva / Amore Sabina Puértolas As with L’Orfeo his intention is to use the 380-year-old work to trace the Giunone / La Fortuna Cornelia Horak fates of people who could be our contemporaries. L’Umana fragilità / Pisandro Rupert Enticknap Anfinomo Tamás Tarjányi Eurimaco Sebastian Kohlhepp Les Talens Lyriques New production Theater an der Wien PREMIERE: 7 SEPTEMBER 2012 Performances: 9 / 11 / 13 / 15 / 17 September 2012, 7 p.m. Introduction: Sunday, 2 September 2012, 11 a.m. MUSIC THEATRE | 11 IL TRITTICO Giacomo Puccini 10 - 23 October 2012 IL TRITTICO IL taBARRO Three one-act operas (1918) LIBRETTO BY GIUSEPPE ADAMI AFTER THE PLAY LA HOUPPELANDE BY DIDIER GOLD MUSIC BY GIACOMO PUCCINI Michele Roberto Frontali Performed in Italian with German surtitles Giorgetta Patricia Racette Luigi Maxim Aksenov Conductor Kirill Petrenko Frugola Stella Grigorian Director Damiano Michieletto Tinca Jürgen Sacher Set designer Paolo Fantin Il talpa Maurizio Lo Piccolo Costume designer Carla Teti Amante Ekaterina Sadovnikova Light designer Alessandro Carletti Amante / Un venditore ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien di canzonette Paolo Fanale Arnold Schoenberg Chor (Chorus master: Erwin Ortner) SUOR ANGELICA New production Theater an der Wien LIBRETTO BY GIOVACCHINO FORZANO Suor Angelica Patricia Racette La Zia Principessa Marie-Nicole Lemieux La Badessa Stella Grigorian La Suora Zelatrice Ann-Beth Solvang La Maestra delle Novizie Celia Sotomayor La Cercatrice Carola Glaser GIANNI SCHICCHI LIBRETTO BY GIOVACCHINO FORZANO AFTER AN EPISODE FROM THE 30th CANTO OF DANTE’S INFERNO Gianni Schicchi Roberto Frontali Lauretta Ekaterina Sadovnikova Zita Marie-Nicole Lemieux Rinuccio Paolo Fanale Nella Carola Glaser La Ciesca Stella Grigorian Gherardo Jürgen Sacher PREMIERE: 10 OCTOBER 2012 Simone Maurizio Lo Piccolo Gherardino Leonid Sushon Performances: 12 / 15 / 18 / 20 / 23 October 2012, 7 p.m.