4 hours and 20 minutes
Lohengrin is Richard Wagner’s most romantic opera, with the premiere in 1850. This new production of Lohengrin by Johannes Erath is based on the universal conflict that is set out in Wagner’s music drama: between blind faith on the one hand and the need for knowledge and wisdom on the other.
Surrendering to a belief can truly be a blessing; however, with the human desire to see and understand, it can also lead to an intolerable situation. In a new light, love and trust can turn into naivety and ignorance.
Elsa of Brabant has been accused of the most heinous of crimes: murdering her brother. But one day a mysterious man who promises to help her appears. The price she must pay for his aid – and his love – is never to ask where he comes from, who he is or what he represents. But is this man truly the redeemer, or is he seeking his own redemption? And will Elsa be able to refrain from asking those questions?
Together with the set designer Kaspar Glarner and the costume designer Christian Lacroix, Erath has maintained the fairy tale of the Lohengrin story, which is given a striking visual expression.
When the production first premiered in Graz September 2013, the utterly aesthetic sceneries were critically acclaimed. These are inspired by Caspar David Friedrich’s dramatic-romantic paintings of the monastery graveyard in the snow, encountering clean modernist surfaces – as an expression of the new world and the new art that Richard Wagner dreamed of. In this way, the story unfolds between different worlds and time levels, all while pointing to our eternal need for dreams, faith and fairy tales in the face of the ever-changing realities.
John Fiore Lecture Show and free introduction one hour before the performance.
- Music and libretto : Richard Wagner
- Conductor : John Helmer Fiore
- Direction : Johannes Erath
- Assisting direction: Mika Blauensteiner
- Set design : Kaspar Glarner
- Costumes : Christian Lacroix
- Dramaturgy: Francis Hüsers, Bernd Krispin
- Light design: Bernd Purkrabek
- Cast : The Opera Chorus, The Opera Orchestra
Main roles
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Heinrich
Playing the following days
- 4/11/2015
- 4/7/2015
- 3/28/2015
- 3/25/2015
- 3/22/2015
- 3/14/2015
- 3/11/2015
- 3/8/2015
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Lohengrin
Playing the following days
- 4/11/2015
- 4/7/2015
- 3/28/2015
- 3/25/2015
- 3/22/2015
- 3/14/2015
- 3/11/2015
- 3/8/2015
-
Elsa
Playing the following days
- 4/11/2015
- 4/7/2015
- 3/28/2015
- 3/25/2015
- 3/22/2015
- 3/14/2015
- 3/11/2015
- 3/8/2015
-
Telramund
Playing the following days
- 4/11/2015
- 4/7/2015
- 3/28/2015
- 3/25/2015
- 3/22/2015
- 3/14/2015
- 3/11/2015
- 3/8/2015
-
Ortrud
SYNOPSIS
First Act
Elsa, daughter of the deceased Count of Brabant, is accused of murdering her brother Gottfried in order to help her secret lover seize the throne. The dispute is to be settled in the presence of the German King Henry via an ordeal by combat, the result of which will be taken as God’s judgement.
Elsa’s accuser, Friedrich von Telramund, is ready to fight. He once proposed to Elsa but was refused. However, Elsa has nobody to fight for her – until a miracle occurs: the Knight whom Elsa has dreamed of marrying comes to her aid, led there by a swan. He defeats Friedrich. But first, Elsa must promise never to ask the Knight his name and where he comes from.
Second Act
Ortrud, Friedrich von Telramund’s wife and the daughter of the old Duke of Frisia, puts her trust in dark magic and the pagan gods. Along with Friedrich she listens to the sounds of merry-making in the palace from which the pair are banished. They are out for revenge. Elsa, who has come out to breathe the fresh night air, takes pity on Ortrud and says that she must accompany Elsa into the church when she is married.
The sun rises.The Herald announces that Friedrich von Telramund is now outlawed, and that the Knight is appointed Commander of the Army and the Duke of Brabant. Four nobles from Brabant nevertheless join Friedrich.On the way into the church, the bridal procession is held up by Ortrud and Friedrich, who deride the unknown origins of the Knight and try to persuade Elsa to ask her bridegroom his name and where he comes from. But Elsa is unshakeable: her love will overcome the power of doubt. The wedding ceremony takes place in the church.
Third Act
As the bridal chorus fades, Elsa and her husband find themselves in the bridal chamber, alone together for the first time. Their love is about to be consummated, but Elsa can hold back no longer: of course she should know the name of her bridegroom before giving herself to him. He must be known to her. The Knight tries to stop her, but it is already too late: Elsa must know his name and where he comes from.
Suddenly Friedrich von Telramund bursts into the room, and the Knight kills him in self-defence. Once again, they must all gather in front of the king, where the Knight will answer Elsa’s questions for all to hear.Trumpets summon people and troops to King Henry once more.
Friedrich’s corpse is brought in, and the Knight relates the story of the previous night’s attack and of Elsa’s questions. He was sent from Montsalvat as the Knight of the Holy Grail, but now that his identity has been revealed, he can no longer stay. The Grail has already summoned him home. His father is King Parsifal, and his own name is Lohengrin. He greets the swan, which has arrived to lead him home, and bids them farewell.
In hateful triumph, Ortrud announces that the swan is the enchanted Gottfried. Lohengrin sends up a prayer and Gottfried, released from his enchantment, steps forward as the rightful Duke of Brabant.But Elsa falls to the ground dead.
Opera, My Love Magazine 