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Richard Strauss in March

Intermezzo

Richard Strauss [1864 – 1949]

23
Sunday
March
16:00 - 18:45
C prices: € 108.00 / 90.00 / 64.00 / 40.00 / 26.00
Buy tickets
Information about the work

A bourgeois comedy with symphonic interludes in two acts
Libretto by Richard Strauss
First performed at the Schauspielhaus Dresden on 4 November 1924
Premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 25 April 2024

2 hours 45 minutes | 1 interval

In German with German and English surtitles

Pre-performance lecture (in German): 45 minutes prior to each performance

recommended from 15 years
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Cast
23
Sunday
March
16:00 - 18:45
C prices: € 108.00 / 90.00 / 64.00 / 40.00 / 26.00
Buy tickets
Cast
the content

About the work
Audiences exiting the theatre after the world premiere of Richard Strauss’s eighth opera INTERMEZZO felt wrong-footed and out-of-sorts. Instead of drawing on classical material or mythology, the composer had served up a straight story with him and his wife as characters, showing contempt for the boundary between private life and literary work. What they hadn’t realised was that Strauss had once again demonstrated that he was not only hip to musical-theatre trends but could also make them his own: for INTERMEZZO is Strauss’s response to 1920s audiences’ desire for “modern” opera subjects and can be seen as part of a line of avant-garde works by the likes of Arnold Schönberg (VON HEUTE AUF MORGEN) and Paul Hindemith (NEUES VOM TAGE). Unlike them, however, Strauss remains true to his classical sound and creates another of his famous soprano roles, shimmering with cantilenas, in the form of the main character, Christine, the fictional composer’s wife.

And in the same way that Christine represents Strauss’s real-life wife Pauline, so the successful kapellmeister Robert Storch stands in as Richard Strauss himself. Even the misunderstanding that almost destroys the fictional marriage is based on fact. The old comic device, a seductive letter from a woman of dubious virtue that falls into the wrong hands, leads Christine to believe that her husband is two-timing her. The misapprehension is cleared up and everything ends happily, yet the INTERMEZZO incident is more a way of painting the complex, sensitive picture of a woman who is unfulfilled but also aware that she is defined by her role as the caring spouse of a successful musician.


About the production
INTERMEZZO is the middle element in a Richard Strauss trilogy running at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, in which director Tobias Kratzer shines a spotlight on phases in the trajectory of a relationship. Following on from ARABELLA, which explored the difficulties of courtship, INTERMEZZO studies the “wearisome lowlands”. And as with ARABELLA Kratzer makes out a modernity in the material that transfers well to the 21st century: on the one hand we have a woman looking for meaning beyond that of a wife but unable to make the break from her husband; on the other hand the real-life husband reinforcing his patriarchal role by creating a character based on his wife, thereby immortalising his own view of the relationship. Because Strauss is also creating a monument to his own artistry in the form of complex symphonic interludes – another subject explored by the production.

Our articles on the subject

The private domain is musical
Maria Bengtsson – My private place of peace: Café Wildau, Werbellin Lake
Intermezzo - The synopsis
A Marriage Selfie Posted in 1924: “Intermezzo” by Richard Strauss, or Opera as a Relationship Mirror
Toying with his own image

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14
DEC

Advents-Verlosung: Das 14. Fensterchen

This much can be revealed today: This third weekend of Advent belongs to jazz. Since 2005, the BigBand of the Deutsche Oper Berlin has been a permanent fixture in the programme: be it at big concerts with Katharine Mehrling, Madeline Bell, Lyambiko, Jocelyn B. Smith, Pe Werner, Bill Ramsey, Paul Kuhn, Georgie Fame, Jiggs Whigham, Jeff Cascaro, Till Brönner or Richard Galliano as soloists. But concerts also regularly take place in the Tischlerei with smaller formations, and audio books for children are also created here. The most recent release – following on from ‘The Jungle Book’ and ‘The Ballad of Robin Hood’ – is the audio book ‘The Canterville Ghost’.

Today we are giving away 5 CDs of ‘The Canterville Ghost’ based on Oscar Wilde's fairy tale. If you would like to be one of the winners, please send an email to advent@deutscheoperberlin.de today with the subject ‘The 14th little window’.

For generations, Canterville Castle has been haunted, but that doesn't stop the American ambassador Hiram B. Otis from acquiring the old building and moving in with his family. As modern, enlightened Americans, they don't believe British ghost stories. And so hard times begin for the old castle ghost, who has never experienced such disrespect in all his centuries.

Musicians Martin Auer and Rüdiger Ruppert have created an impressive narrative concert for the Deutsche Oper Berlin. While Christian Brückner tells the story of the disaffected castle ghost, the wild jazz orchestra creates an atmospheric backdrop of horror. A sound work of art for the whole family!



Closing date: 14 December 2024. The winners will be informed by email on 16 December 2024. The CDs will be sent by post. The judges' decision is final.