|
"Il Trovatore"
Opera in four acts by Giuseppe
Verdi
Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano
In Italian language
Opening night on June 29th 2007 at 9 pm at the Alter Garten
Musical management: GMD Matthias Foremny
Production: Peter Lotschak
Scenery: Lutz Kreisel
Costumes: Giselher Pilz
Choirs: Friedemann Braun
stage model for "Il Trovatore"
The piece:
“Il Trovatore” in Summer 2007 will be completing the SCHLOSSFESTSPIELE's series of open-air productions of Verdi's most popular "Big Three" on the “Alter Garten”, where "Rigoletto" (in 2005) and "La Traviata" (in 2006) have already been played.
In contrast to "Rigoletto" and "La Traviata", "Il Trovatore" leads into an archaic world, in which not personalities with differentiated psychology but rather archetypes act, who are controlled by basic affects like love, hatred, jealousy or revenge. What interested Verdi most in the original , the eponymous drama by the Spanish author Antonio García Gutiérrez, was the fate of the gypsy Azucena, who is triturated between the feeling of motherly love to her foster-son on the one hand and the obligation to avenge her own mother's murder on the other hand. Out of this thrilling story, Verdi and his librettist Salvatore Cammarano developed a kaleidoscopic sequence of eidetic snapshots, that the composer arranged with a music, whose diversity of melodies is not exceeded by any of his other works. Many critics then praise this opera as Verdi's absolute masterpiece, the conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni simply called it the "Italian St. Matthew Passion".
The plot:
In the war of succession to the Spanish throne, Count Luna fights at the side of the legitimate heir, crown prince Ferrando, against Manrico, who sides with the rebellious Count Urgel. Both Luna and Manrico love the same woman, the court lady Leonora [for this reason they are enemies as well].
Manrico has been raised by the gypsy Azucena as her supposed son and gained access to the nobility through having success as a troubadour. He has no idea about being Luna's brother by birth. Azucena abducted Manrico in his infancy to avenge the brutal killing of her mother and ever since presented him as her own son. Torn between her motherly love for Manrico and the commitment to revenge, she incites the brothers against each other and demands that Manrico kill Count Luna. But in the end it is not him who dies in this bitter battle between the two brothers but Manrico himself.
Premiere on June 29th 2007 at 9 pm at the Alter Garten
Further dates: June 30th to August 5th 2007, thursday to sunday
|
|
|
