Music-theatre of a child prodigy
Revival of Die tote Stadt
At the beginning of the 20th century Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957) already attracted attention because he was a child prodigy. While he was still a young boy, the son of the famous music critic Julius Korngold became a pupil of Alexander Zemlinsky and Gustav Mahler also recognised Korngold’s talent at a very early age.
Can any other budding composer assert that at the age of eleven he had one of his works premiered at the Vienna court opera? And we should also bear in mind what a masterly achievement it was at this age intellectually and technically to be able to write scores for large orchestra.
Therefore it is not really surprising that when he was 23 Korngold could look forward to a double world premiere of his third opera. In 1920 Die tote Stadt was performed for the first time on the same evening in both Cologne and Hamburg and subsequently it was presented at almost all the major European opera houses.
W.A.Mozart, La clemenza di Tito
What was perhaps the greatest success in the life of the Viennese musician Korngold, who later became established as a professor, was obliterated only after the Nazis forced him into exile. He had quite a successful second career together with Max Reinhardt and primarily as a composer of film music but after the war Korngold was unable to fit into the changed art music scene in Europe, even though he attempted to do so several times. It is therefore all the more laudable that the Salzburg Festival is planning to present a new interpretation of Die tote Stadt, Korngold’s most important work of music-theatre.
The story is based on the novel by Georges Rodenbach Bruges la morte and fluctuates subtly between dream and reality. The main character, Paul, cannot get over the death of his wife Marie to whom he dedicates a memorial room and lives in a daydream with her. It is hardly surprising that he also seeks Marie’s characteristics in living people.
The drama takes its course when Paul meets the dancer Marietta who not only resembles Marie in name. However, Paul transcends the purity of the dead and in his imagination murders the living woman. In this paradox he recognises his situation which he brings to an end by escaping from the “dead city” and starting a new life without a cult of the dead.
Korngold approached this psycho-dramatic subject with partially fractured, diffuse notes. Nevertheless the sweet moments – the Puccini-like melodies and the rich sound of his music reminiscent of Richard Strauss or Franz Schreker – are equally enchanting.
Jörg Rothkamm
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
DIE TOTE STADT
New production
Conductor Donald Runnicles
Stage director Willy Decker
Stage and costume design Wolfgang Gussmann
Lighting design Wolfgang Goebbel
Chorus master Rupert Huber
Dramaturge Klaus Bertisch
Paul Torsten Kerl
Marietta / Die Erscheinung Mariens Angela Denoke
Frank / Fritz Bo Skovhus
Brigitta Daniela Denschlag
Juliette Simina Ivan
Lucienne Stella Grigorian
Gaston Lukas Gaudernak
Victorin Eberhard Lorenz
Graf Albert Michael Roider
Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus
Vienna Philharmonic
Premiere 15 August, 7 p.m.
Further performances
18 and 21 August, 7 p.m.
24 August, 7 p.m.
27 and 30 August, 7 p.m.
Kleines Festspielhaus
Telephone +43 (0) 662 8045-500
Telefax +43 (0) 662 8045-555
E-mail: info@salzburgfestival.at
Production photos © Karl Forster