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THE OPERA HOUSE www.theater-wien.at General sponsor The Theater an der Wien receives subsidies from the Cultural Department of the City of Vienna AGRANA.COM PREFACE This programme has been put together in times that see our theatrical operations and Austria – and indeed the whole world – affected by a pan- demic of unprecedented proportions. Coronavirus will have a lasting im- pact, and at present we can only guess the extent to which it will change This is why cultural life, the economy and society in Austria. As I write this preface, the Theater an der Wien has been forced to can- cultureis so cel at short notice three highlights that our director Roland Geyer had conceived and prepared especially for you, our valued audience, for the spring of 2020. We just had time to produce a film of our production of the 1806 Fidelio directed by Christoph Waltz and conducted by Manfred important Honeck as a record for posterity. However, the eagerly awaited premieres of The Fiery Angel directed by Andrea Breth and Norma with star soprano Asmik Grigorian fell victim to the measures taken to contain the spread to us. of the virus. Of all people, we artists must remain optimistic about the future, since culture is “food for the soul”. That is why we hope that full-scale opera Fruit. Starch. Sugar. – It is with these performances at the Theater an der Wien and the Kammeroper will be three segments that AGRANA enjoys resumed for you to enjoy by the autumn of 2020 at the latest. success around the world. Quality is our top priority – even in areas This programme for the 20/21 season, titled “Before the afterglow”, once that are seemingly unrelated to our again offers a great variety of fascinating operatic experiences ranging company. Maintaining this requires from early music to the contemporary. both commitment and support. Our sponsorship of cultural activities enables It is my wish that you, our valued audience, continue your loyal patronage us to support a key aspect of society and to and do so in large numbers. make sure it gets the attention it deserves. AGRANA is the main sponsor of the Franz Patay, Managing Director Theater an der Wien. Vereinigte Bühnen Wien 2 The natural upgrade 3 Foto © Peter M. Mayr Foto TadW_137x205_3mm_Juni 2020_EN.indd 1 22.06.2020 12:56:44 In the third part of the four-year programme cycle “4 phases of the day” encouraging hope that dark times will be overcome – a kind of antithe- the Theater an der Wien and the Kammeroper have de facto reached sis to Hauptmann’s pessimism, if you will – is provided by Ludwig van BEFORE THE AFTERGLOW. Beethoven’s setting of Schiller’s Ode to Joy in his 9th Symphony: “Joy commands the hardy mainspring / Of the universe eterne. / Joy, oh joy When the Indonesian volcano Tambora erupted in 1815, the aftereffects the wheel is driving / Which the worlds’ great clock doth turn.” We pre- of the disaster were soon visible as far away as the other side of the sent John Neumeier’s latest choreography of this hymn to humanity. globe: the volcanic ash and fine particles from the eruption dispersed in the atmosphere, causing spectacular red sunsets as far away as Europe. What is de facto true can, in reality, scarcely be altered. In art, however, The famous English painter William Turner captured these brilliantly we have the possibility of defining conditions ourselves, of adapting time coloured skies for posterity in many of his later works, earning and space and of showing utopias as alternative models to an apparent- himself the title “master of light”. His paintings of sunsets ly hopeless reality. “For,” as Schopenhauer writes, “it plucks the object are arresting examples of how art can also serve as an of its contemplation from the stream of the world’s course, and indirect source of information about past changes holds it isolated before it. […] It stops the wheel of time; for it in the climate and atmosphere. The secret of this the relations vanish; its object is only the essential, the Idea.” display of colours in the sky lies in the way the sun’s rays are diffused in the atmosphere. On Time and space are the central elements of the art form fine evenings, aerosols in the air bathe the that is theatre: they inform every opera, and Schopen- sky in a breathtaking afterglow. “The heavens hauer too held them to be the constituents that make aflame. Slow dies the sun; such is beauty: red material action possible in the first place, that, de facto, evening skies mean evening’s demise”.* create it: “A combination of the two constitutes its es- DE FACTO sential nature, just because this, as we have shown, The afterglow of sunset may fascinate us consists in action, in causality.” For the moments of PROLOGUE and promise protection, yet at the same time their performance in time and space the operas are as it also heralds the final departure of day; and real as reality, though their finality is less brutal: because darkness always stands for eternal darkness the performance can be repeated death is to some extent too. Vor Sonnenuntergang (Before Sundown) is eliminated, the same red sunset can appear time and time also the title of a naturalistic masterpiece by again and this particular reality can be repeated, which means Gerhart Hauptmann, written in around 1930 at a it can be put right – and in this way art can anticipate reality time when National Socialism was gaining an ever and set it an example. stronger foothold. In his pessimistic family drama Haupt- mann denounces the ruthless “other side” of humanity: its The aim of an opera house must now be to offer audiences in the audi- brutality, coldness, craving for power, violence and greed. Red evening torium a PROGRAMME SPACE as well, whose power of suggestion should skies mean evening’s demise. represent an open-ended compendium of possible realities through the myriad facets of the works and the ideas of the artists. It is from No other era allowed these human characteristics to gain such a here that, on the one hand, various dramaturgic interrelationships and, heinous hold as the twelve years of National Socialist rule starting in on the other, artistic paths can be evoked. It was in consideration of 1933. “Afterglow – the clouds burn, the sun dies in its own flames. The these aspects that the current 20/21 programme space was created with whole world stands still…”.* However, the world was able to liberate itself a total of 23 projects ranging from the Baroque to the contemporary. again and rebuilt its cultural and economic structures. Reassuring and * From Traumspuren and Zauberwelten by Hans-Christoph Neuert (1958-2011), translation © wordworks. 4 5 The graphics and themes of the programme have been split into six clouds. (Naturally enough the clouds are – before the afterglow – red.) Cloud 1: shows four “lonely” women in rarely performed masterpieces Cloud 2: deals with the “love” relationships of four ill-matched couples Cloud 3: puts the spotlight on four “father figures” Cloud 4: has four men fail out of “jealousy” Cloud 5: tells tales that could begin with “Once upon a time” Cloud 6: pursues a visionary path These six programme clouds are intended to be thought-provoking, but they are de facto neither fin- ished nor are their forms cast in stone: it is expressly recommended that audiences add to them with their own ideas. There are of course aspects that the individual clouds share, such as this year’s artist in residence: In 20/21 baritone Florian Boesch is our artistic standard bearer and appears in five productions. Then we have the trio of Italian composers Cavalli, Vivaldi and Rossini and their works Giasone, Bajazet and Barbiere in the Kammeroper, and the two productions requested in our subscribers’ To close I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Mrs Hermine poll, “The best TAW production 2006-2018”: Robert Carsen’s Platée and Karigl-Wagenhofer who has provided us with 18 paintings and permis- Claus Guth’s Saul. And let us not forget our new production of Proko- sion to reproduce them in this programme and on our website, and fiev’s The Fiery Angel directed by Andrea Breth which was cancelled in by doing so has beautifully embellished both. March 2020 because of the corona pandemic and has now been res- cued at short notice and will be juxtaposed with Peter Konwitschny’s Although, as Schopenhauer noted, even “by running we can never reach production of Massenet’s Thaïs. There is also Günther Groissböck’s the point where the clouds touch the horizon; art, on the contrary, is directorial debut as he dares to undertake a Tristan Experiment. everywhere at its goal.” I ask you to continue your patronage of the Theater an der Wien and the Kammeroper in future and assure you Last but not least, our exclusive new production of Porgy and Bess that you will once again experience marvellous opera at both in 20/21. with the fantastic South African opera choir from Cape Town will push boundaries in several ways as it embraces various artistic and cultural genres. George Gershwin’s masterpiece defies many classical parame- Best wishes, ters and categories, but is nevertheless the progenitor of American Roland Geyer, Director “classical” opera. Theater an der Wien 6 7 PROGRAMME SPACE Schub er 2020/21 t oven th shw e er in e G C av B WINTERREISE al li HIMMELERDE PORGY & BESS VISIONARYAN DIE FREUDE GIASONE & MEDEA RUPRECHT & RENATA PLOVINGTRISTAN & ISOLDE M ro ahler k o fje w r ne W ag Moz art allo cav n H o R e am a L y e d a FIGARO ZAZÀ u n ORLANDO PLATÉE vor abendrot BARBIERE V i JEALOUS THAÏS v a ARGIPPO M LONELYARMIDA l d a i ss ene t i r i e n li ssi Sa Ro Porpo Ha ra nd e l i ld a CARLO v i BAJAZET ORESTE V MESSIAH FABULOUSCAJO PATERNALBELISARIO TAMERLANO SAUL H a n d e e i l s tt s e Ha iz Don de facto The third part of the programme cycle “4 phases of the day 2018-22” MUSICAL THEATRE has BEFORE THE AFTERGLOW as the focal point of the Theater an der Leoncavallo: ZAZÀ 12 Wien’s programme.