With ARABELLA [again from 7 March] and INTERMEZZO [again from 13 March], our Strauss cycle has already shown in an amazing way how relevant the operas of Richard Strauss still are today. Be among the first to experience Tobias Kratzer's take on the great fairy-tale opera that Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal created in 1919 with DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN [THE WOMAN WITHOUT A SHADOW].
Today – on Christmas Eve – we are giving away two pairs of tickets for the premiere of DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN on Sunday, 26 January 2025 at 5 p.m. If you would like to take part in the draw, please send an e-mail to advent@deutscheoperberlin.de today with the subject line ‘The 24th window’.
Tobias Kratzer has placed the monumental fairy-tale opera at the end of his Strauss cycle at the Deutsche Oper Berlin: in ARABELLA, he looks at the difficulties of even beginning a relationship on equal terms, while INTERMEZZO shows the portrait of an everyday married life. In DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN, director Tobias Kratzer also focuses on a very contemporary discourse: because the Empress cannot have children, she tries to persuade the dyer's wife to become a surrogate mother in order to save their relationship. But is this morally justifiable at all, or is it just exploiting the frustrated dyer's emotional plight? And isn't it much more important to find a way of living together that offers everyone the greatest possible chance of happiness?
In a letter to Richard Strauss written as early as 1911, Hugo von Hofmannsthal described his idea for a further collaboration, saying that this new opera would be to THE MAGIC FLUTE what DER ROSENKAVALIER was to LE NOZZE DI FIGARO. And indeed, the work that was finally premiered eight years later is reminiscent of Mozart's ‘grand opera’: the encounter of different social classes, the fairytale-like plot laden with symbolism, but above all the awareness of an elementary turning point in time that questions the previous order and makes reflection on the fundamental values of human coexistence an urgent issue. And in both cases, this realisation can only be gained through difficult trials. The shadow, as a symbol of female fertility, plays a central role here: the Empress, who is unable to have children herself, and her nurse, act it out in their marriage to the frustrated dyer's wife. But it is only when the Empress realises that she does not want to build her marital and child happiness at the expense of others that the path opens up for social coexistence.
Experience this opera conducted by our General Music Director, Sir Donald Runnicles, with such great performers as Jane Archibald, Marina Prudenskaya, David Butt Philip, Jordan Shanahan and Catherine Foster in the main roles.
We thank you all for your vivid interest in our Advent calendar and very much hope to have brought you joy in the Advent season with our Foyer programme and our online raffles. Now it only remains for us to wish you a very Merry Christmas!
Closing date: 24 December 2024. The winners will be informed by email on 27 December 2024. The tickets will be sent to the winners online as Ticket direct. There is no right of appeal.
