Poverty, humiliation, and growing madness: with Alban Berg's "Wozzeck," Theater Lübeck brings one of the most powerful works of modern music to the stage—a gripping musical drama about social exclusion and human despair.
Georg Büchner's fragmentary drama "Woyzeck" is one of the earliest theatrical texts to deal unsparingly with the social reality of the 19th century. Inspired by a real court case, the play depicts the life of a simple man who suffers from poverty, exploitation, and social humiliation. In Alban Berg's opera "Wozzeck," this story becomes an intense musical psychogram of a person who slowly loses his footing under constant pressure.
The soldier Wozzeck desperately tries to secure a modest life for himself and his family. But he is exploited and humiliated by those around him: his captain mocks him, a doctor uses him for questionable medical experiments. At the same time, his relationship with Marie comes under increasing pressure. The constant humiliation drives Wozzeck deeper and deeper into a state of inner turmoil, until reality and delusion become indistinguishable.
Alban Berg transformed Büchner's socially critical drama into a landmark work of 20th-century opera. The expressive music, dense dramaturgy, and unsparing portrayal of human depravity make "Wozzeck" one of the most impressive works of modern musical theater—a harrowing portrait of a man broken by the circumstances of his time.
Premiere April 25,
Further performances: May 2, 17, 24, and 30, June 19 and 25, 2026
