Elegy for young lovers

31.01.2024
Opera production
Elegie für junge Liebende | © Judith Buss

"What qualities must a person possess in order to dominate both dramaturgically and vocally in an opera?" and "What must a man of mature age look like who is in close relationships with a crazy old lady, a young girl and a doctor at the same time?"

Musical direction
Gernot Sahler

Scenic direction & stage
Alexander von Pfeil

Dramaturgy 
Malte Krasting

Costume Design
Eva-Mareike Uhlig

Programme booklet

About

  • Opera in three acts 
  • Libretto by Wystan Hugh Auden and Chester Kallman
  • Music by Hans Werner Henze (in German)

In the secluded atmosphere of a mountain resort, with the menacing sight of glacier-covered ice, everything revolves around a prince of poets who is desperately worried about his inspiration and writes an "Elegy for Lovers". Hans Werner Henze's intention in his opera "Elegy for Young Lovers", which he first presented at the Schwetzingen Festival in 1961, was to create a field of tension between farce, tragedy, buffa and psychodrama. 

The Opera & Music Theatre Department staged Hans Werner Henze's "Künstlerdrama & Psychothriller" (Drehpunkt Kultur) in an abridged version as a rousing opera intermezzo.

Press

Drehpunkt Kultur (24.1.2024):
"Künstlerdrama und Psychothriller" von Gottfried Franz Kasparek

Salzburger Nachrichten (25.1.2024):
"Dem Dichterfürsten fehlt Sinn für Empathie" von Florian Oberhummer

Read more

  • Gernot Sahler | © Elsa Okazaki
    15.1.2024
    "That's really great music!" 

    Hans Werner Henze's "Elegy for Young Lovers" will be the second production in the 2023/24 winter semester of the Department of Opera & Music Theatre to take to the stage of the Max Schlereth Saal from 26 January. A conversation with maestro Gernot Sahler about so-called "new music", the major challenges for budding artists and insights into pedagogical practice during rehearsals.

    Interview

Production & Cast

  • Musical direction: Gernot Sahler
  • Scenic direction & stage: Alexander von Pfeil
  • Costume design: Eva-Mareike Uhlig
  • Dramaturgy: Malte Krasting
  • Mozarteum University Chamber Orchestra
  • Gregor Mittenhofer: Jannik Junzhe Zeng / Jeffrey Herminghaus
  • Dr. Wilhelm Reischmann: Volodymyr Morozov / Vsevolod Chernyshev
  • Toni Reischmann: Ilyà Dovnar / Vladimír Šlepec
  • Elisabeth Zimmer: Nikolett Mráz 
  • Caroline Gräfin von Kirchstetten: Génesis Beatriz López Da Silva / Agnes Hyunjin Kim
  • Hilda Mack: Claire Jungeon Oh / Coco Lau
  • Josef Mauer: Jakob Schett

26.1.2024 um 19:00 Uhr
27.1.2024 um 17:00 Uhr
29.1.2024 um 19:00 Uhr (+ Livestream)
30.1.2024 um 19:00 Uhr

Max Schlereth Saal

Stream

Past Productions

  • © Judith Buss
    15.12.2024
    Vincenzo Bellini: I Capuleti e i Montecchi 

    The performance of Vincenzo Bellini's opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi delivered a powerful reinterpretation of the masterpiece. Directed by Alexander von Pfeil, the production centred on the relentless feud between two rival clans and the profound despair of its victims. This staging transcended specific eras, placing the story in a universal, timeless setting that brought Bellini's dark vision of love and war to the stage with harrowing clarity.

    Opera production
  • © Wolf Silveri
    20.5.2024
    Giuseppe Verdi: Falstaff 

    Sir John Falstaff is a natural phenomenon: his appearance is imposing, his demeanour commanding, his manner possessive. And most fascinating of all: the event does not care about rules, conventions or decorum, it simply exists for its own sake, in a sense for nothing but its belly.

    Opera production
  • Cosí fan tutte | © Judith Buss
    21.5.2023
    Wolfgang Amadé Mozart: Così fan tutte 

    The young officers Ferrando and Guilelmo* do not want to let their fatherly friend Don Alfonso get away with it - after all, he doubts the fidelity of their fiancée! But instead of the demanded duel, they accept his proposal of a wager and thus become handmaidens in the work of destroying their love relationships.

    Opera production