Fairytale worlds that come to life: Utopias or nightmares?
At the turn of the 20th century, Vienna experienced a cultural heyday of epochal significance. Sigmund Freud's dream research and his interpretations of the world of the unconscious became one of the strongest sources of inspiration for literature, theater and music. Görge, the title character of Zemlinsky's opera, also deals with fears and strokes of fate in his dreams. He lives in the world of his books and falls in love with a dream princess. However, he is supposed to marry Grete, a down-to-earth young woman who wants him to be more realistic. But Görge wants to make his fairytale come true and flees. He ends up stranded in a village as a drunkard and is once again regarded as an outsider. Görge recognizes his princess in Gertraud, a notorious arsonist and witch. With her, he can listen to his fairy tales, dream, be silent and play.
The central themes of the opera, rejection and hatred of foreigners, also run like a red thread through Alexander Zemlinsky's biography: in Vienna, he experienced the first anti-Semitic riots, which were also directed against artists. One of the prominent victims was court opera director Gustav Mahler, who had commissioned him to compose. His unhappy love for Alma Schindler and his grief also flowed into Zemlinsky's third opera. After Mahler's dismissal in 1907, the premiere was canceled without further ado. It was not until 1980 that the work was finally premiered in Nuremberg as the culmination of a Zemlinsky renaissance.
Premiere February 25, 2024
Further performances: February 29, 3, 9, 13, 16, 23 and 31 March 2024
