
Der Besuch der alten Dame
Opera in three acts (1971)
Music by Gottfried von Einem
Libretto by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
In German with German surtitles
Production of Theater an der Wien
Premiere: Friday, 16 March 2018, 7 pm until 10 pm (Intermission: 8.20 pm)
Performances: 18 / 20 / 23 / 26 / 28 March 2018, 7 pm
Content
The comedy Der Besuch der alten Dame, first performed in 1956, made the playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt world famous, especially following the 1963 film version starring Ingrid Bergmann. Gottfried von Einem had seen the play shortly after its premiere and considered it as the basis of an opera. However, it was to be ten years before he began work on it. When Dürrenmatt learned of this plan and became familiar with von Einem’s style he quickly agreed to adapt his play as a libretto himself. The hugely successful premiere took place on 23 May 1971 at the Vienna State Opera. Dürrenmatt’s parable about the amorality of an apparently decent, respectable but secretly money-loving and self-centred middle-class community is as topical in 2018 as it was when it was written. Von Einem’s intense musical portrayal of the murderous atmosphere that gradually descends around Claire’s victim, Ill the shopkeeper, the evocative use of orchestral colours and not least the part of Claire Zachanassian, a tour de force for a mezzo-soprano, made the opera one of von Einem’s most enduring successes.
As a young woman, Claire Zachanassian was made pregnant and then abandoned by Ill, the shopkeeper, in her home town of Güllen. She was driven out of the small town by the sanctimonious inhabitants, humiliated and branded a whore. Many years later, her numerous marriages have left her fabulously wealthy, and she returns to Güllen, which is now utterly decrepit and impoverished. She has an empty coffin with her: she plans to take deadly revenge on the man who seduced her so heartlessly. If Ill is murdered for her in Güllen, she will give the town a billion. Following the initial shock, the greed for money prevails and the cynical plan works. Ill is captured by the townsfolk and killed, and they receive the billion. Claire departs again with his body in the coffin as a hunting trophy.
Cast
Conductor | Michael Boder |
Biography |
Director | Keith Warner |
Biography |
Set & costume design | David Fielding |
Biography |
Choreography | Karl Alfred Schreiner |
Biography |
Light design | John Bishop |
Biography |
Video | David Haneke |
Biography |
Claire Zachanassian | Katarina Karneus |
Biography |
Ihr Gatte VII | Ernst Allan Hausmann |
Biography |
Ihr Gatte IX | Erik Årman |
Biography |
Boby, ihr Butler | Mark Milhofer |
Biography |
Koby / Boomer | Antonio Gonzales ** |
Biography |
Loby / Pressemann | Alexander Linner ** |
Biography |
Roby | Jakob Müller *** |
Biography |
Toby | Rudolf Karasek *** |
Biography |
Alfred Ill | Russell Braun |
Biography |
Mathilde, seine Frau | Cornelia Horak |
Biography |
Ottilie, seine Tochter | Anna Marshania * |
Biography |
Karl, sein Sohn | Johannes Bamberger |
Biography |
Bürgermeister | Raymond Very |
Biography |
Annette, seine Frau | Kaitrin Cunningham ** |
Biography |
Pfarrer | Markus Butter |
Biography |
Lehrer | Adrian Eröd |
Biography |
Dr. Nüßlein, Arzt | Martin Achrainer |
Biography |
Hahncke, Polizist | Florian Köfler * |
Biography |
Erste Frau | Anna Gillingham * |
Biography |
Zweite Frau | Carolina Lippo * |
Biography |
Hofbauer | Botond Òdor |
Biography |
Helmesberger | Matteo Loi * |
Biography |
Bahnhofvorstand | Alessio Borsari ** |
Biography |
Zugführer | Marcel Krokovay |
Biography |
Kondukteur | Masanari Sasaki ** |
Biography |
Kameramann | Jörg Espenkott ** |
Biography |
Orchestra | ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien |
Biography |
Choir | Arnold Schoenberg Chor (Ltg. Erwin Ortner) |
Biography |
* | Mitglieder des Jungen Ensembles des Theater an der Wien |
Biography |
** | Mitglieder des Arnold Schoenberg Chores |
Biography |
*** | Statisterie des Theater an der Wien |
Biography |
Kombi-Angebot
Für die Vorstellungsserien der Premierenproduktionen von Der Besuch der alten Dame im Theater an der Wien und Dantons Tod an der Wiener Staatsoper anlässlich des 100. Geburtstags des Komponisten Gottfried von Einem bieten die beiden Institutionen ein attraktives Ticket-Kombiangebot:
Für eine gekaufte Eintrittskarte in einem der beiden Häuser gibt es beim Kauf eines Vollpreis-Tickets in der jeweils anderen Spielstätte eine Ermäßigung von 30%.
BesucherInnen, die bereits für beide Produktionen Karten gekauft haben, können – bei Vorlage beider Eintrittskarten – entweder für die erworbene Karte in der Wiener Staatsoper oder jene im Theater an der Wien einen Gutschein im Wert von 30% des bezahlten Vollpreises in Anspruch nehmen.
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