The matinees and soirées at the Semperoper are devoted to the performance of lieder while also exploring new musical worlds, in part based on main opera programme.
Dates & Cast
- M. Leitung / Piano Leonard Martynek
In brief
The matinees and soirées at the Semperoper are devoted to the performance of lieder while also exploring new musical worlds, in part based on main opera programme. The concerts, which take place in front of the magnificent decorative curtain of the main stage, also give the soloists from our opera company a chance to show some of their less familiar musical talents. At the opening of the season, two soirées are dedicated to the series of events entitled »1,700 Years of Jewish Life in Germany« (see p. 122). The matinee »Assimilations. German Lieder by Jewish Composers« explores the multifaceted German-Jewish cultural symbiosis which took place in the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular tracing a path from the romantic songs of Felix Mendelssohn to Gustav Mahler and the German-Jewish composers of the 1920s and 30s. In November, the matinee »Forbidden Music« features works by composers persecuted by the Nazis for their Jewish heritage or for their cultural and political beliefs. In December, you can look forward to the next instalment of the popular series »Songs for Advent«, while the Semperoper children’s choir will once again present their own concert. As part of the Mozart Festival 2022, soloists from the opera company will explore arias and ensemble pieces that famed Mozart librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote for other composers. And finally, the members of the Young Ensemble programme will display their artistry in that most challenging of genres: 19th century German lieder.
Storyline
Thu 5. October 2023, 8 pm
Wed 18. October 2023, 8 pm
Sun 21. April 2024, 11 am
Wed 25. September 2024, 8 pm
Sun 27. October 2024, 11 am
Wed 18. December 2024, 8 pm
Sat 15. February 2025, 11 am
In the words of E.T.A. Hoffmann, the »eternal yearning« for things unattainable such as love, the moon, home, redemption or even death form the emotional core of German Romanticism. Joseph von Eichendorff gave expression to this feeling in his poem »Sehnsucht« of 1834 – but it can also be found in Franz Schubert’s »Winterreise« or in Richard Wagner’s motif of yearning in »Tristan und Isolde«. Dedicated to this feeling, this matinee song recital embarks on a journey that begins with Robert Schumann’s »Mondnacht«, based on a poem by Josef von Eichendorff, before taking us to various places and people, including »Pirate Jenny« by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht.
Whistling in the theatre? – that’s a really touchy subject! Probably it heads the list of no-goes in theatreland. And ignoring this rule could have had particularly dramatic consequences until the end of the 19th century, when auditoriums were still lit with gas lamps. A piercing whistle would be emitted if the oxygen levels in the lamps got too low: this could either mean that hardly any fuel was left in the lamp or that gas was flowing somewhere out of an open pipe – a situation that could quickly have deadly consequences. Anyone who decided to whistle for fun could cause a false alarm, thereby massively disrupting rehearsals and performances.
However, whistling is sometimes permitted during performances, such as Arrigo Boito’s whistling devil in Mefistofele. And concert whistlers were highly popular in the 19th century: audiences loved to hear operetta arias, concert waltzes and other musical gems whistled by famous performers. But this special skill soon fell into oblivion … until, that is, Nikolaus Habjan revived the lost tradition of concert whistling. A truly universal theatrical artist, Habjan is a stage director, puppet designer and virtuoso puppeteer. His most recent production at the Semperoper was Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. And he is also one of the world’s best concert whistlers. In 2018, he was the first whistler to perform in Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie concert hall. His speciality is coloratura arias from three centuries of opera, with a repertoire ranging from Handel and Mozart to bel canto; he is also an elegant performer of Verdi, Schubert, Wagner and Strauss. Habjan is accompanied at the piano by Ines Schüttengruber.
At the matinée concert „Und morgen wird die Sonne wieder scheinen“, we take a musical look at the love lives and relationships of unusual women and men. It goes without saying that Richard Strauss and his wife Pauline de Ahna – musically immortalised in the opera „Intermezzo“ – will feature on the programme.
In the run up to Christmas, the Semperoper ensemble and children’s choir will get us all in the festive mood with a programme of beautiful carols featuring old favourites and new discoveries.
A milestone birthday is a reason to celebrate, and so in 2025 we are commemorating the 40th anniversary of the reopening of the Semperoper with various events, including a matinée concert at which you can enjoy well-known and less familiar pieces from the musical history of Dresden’s opera house.
