Wed, Nov. 20, 2024, 7.30 pm - 10.40 pm | Main Stage
Carl Maria von Weber
Der Freischütz
Introduction at 6.50 pm
"The success was tremendous and unprecedented! Critics, artists, amateurs and music lovers were intoxicated ... The auditorium roared apart, loudly proclaiming the new miracle." Thus a report on the premiere in 1821 at the Berlin Schauspielhaus. Der Freischütz struck a chord with the times, every barrel organ played the "Jungfernkranz", every street singer performed it, as Heine reports. Weber had discovered the material in an old ghost book. The story of the hunter Max, who devotes himself to the devil in order to win his bride, touches on people's primal fears. The forest, the epitome of the "German soul", becomes a battleground between good and evil. Weber's music depicts the plight and despair of the people with gripping emotionality; the hope of a happy ending is evoked with fervor. Romantic drama and folk play in one, Der Freischütz is set somewhere between dream and nightmare, fascinating to this day.
Musikalische Leitung: Yoel Gamzou
Production: Andreas Kriegenburg
Stage: Harald B. Thor
Costumes: Andrea Schraad
Lighting: Andreas Grüter
Dramaturgy: Angela Beuerle
Choreography: Volker Michl
In German with German and English surtitles
Supported by Twerenbold Reisen AG
