For two decades, from 1981 until his death on 12th December 2000, Götz Friedrich was the dominant figure at the helm of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as Artistic Director and stager of operas. His productions, in particular of Wagner’s THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG, not only established the institution as one of the most exciting venues for modern musical theatre but also helped fashion the way we view the canonical works of opera. His productions of LA BOHEME, LA TRAVIATA and LE NOZZE DI FIGARO remain part of the repertoire of the Deutsche Oper Berlin to this day.

A former director and dramatic advisor at the Komische Oper, Friedrich began his career at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with three staged productions during Siegfried Palm’s short incumbency as Artistic Director. When his appointment as future Generalintendant was announced by Culture Senator Dieter Sauberzweig, some were worried – and others were hopeful – that he would turn the Deutsche Oper Berlin into a Komische Oper II. If they had studied his career closely, they would have known that since his defection from East Germany in 1972 he had worked as Principal Guest Producer of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and Artistic Director of the Hamburgische Staatsoper, broadening his horizons considerably in the process. And in his first season in Berlin he served notice that he could combine two aspects of opera: on the one hand an ensemble piece in the form of Leoš Janáček’s FROM THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD, in the tradition of Walter Felsenstein’s »realist musical theatre«, and on the other hand his production of AIDA with Luciano Pavarotti as Radames and Daniel Barenboim conducting, a classic work calculated to attract an international audience. This was an example of how, under Friedrich’s directorship, the Deutsche Oper fused artistic principles associated with both East and West long before Reunification proper. The fall of the Wall nine years later found Götz Friedrich directing Hans Werner Henze’s THE BASSARIDS in Stuttgart. This parallel employment had been enshrined in his contract at his behest; alongside his work as Artistic Director and director-in-chief at the Deutsche Oper Berlin he would be free to stage two works per season at other opera houses.

Deviating from the Komische Oper orthodoxy under Walter Felsenstein – who only engaged directors who towed the »realist musical theatre« line (key examples were Joachim Herz and Harry Kupfer, as well as Götz Friedrich himself) – Friedrich signed up guest directors with quite different styles. Hans Neuenfels staged works on a regular basis after presenting LA FORZA DEL DESTINO in 1982, Günter Krämer made his debut in 1986 with KATJA KABANOVA and John Drew directed LES HUGUENOTS in 1987.

Contemporary music was important to Friedrich. One of his first acts as Artistic Director was to make Hans Werner Henze an honorary member. The composer had been closely linked to the Bismarckstrasse institution since the world premiere of his THE STAG KING at the Städtische Oper and for Friedrich’s inauguration he wrote a work for piano, which was played by Homero Francesch in a »Musical Theatre for Berlin« matinée at the start of the 1981/82 season. Years were to pass before Henze’s next world premiere, in the form of THE BETRAYED SEA, which first aired in 1990 and was directed by the Principal Director himself. This production was pre-dated by the first-ever opera premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s OEDIPUS. Götz Friedrich had secured the services of the composer, who was still shy of his 30th birthday and whose job description was »advisor for contemporary music«. TUTUGURI, his »poème dansé«, provided a triumph for the ballet of the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Götz Friedrich’s second season as Artistic Director. Written expressly for the full-scale male-voice ensemble of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which takes the role of the »Chorus« of antiquity, OEDIPUS received its world premiere in 1987.

Richard Wagner was among the favourite composers of Götz Friedrich from 1972 onwards. That year he came to international attention with a production in Bayreuth of TANNHÄUSER, which triggered a scandal. Works by Wagner had always featured in the repertoire of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, its forerunner, the Deutsches Opernhaus, having been conceived in 1912 as a venue for the showcasing of Richard Wagner’s works. TRISTAN AND ISOLDE was one of the three productions mounted by Friedrich in the period prior to his incumbency as Artistic Director, and with the ink hardly dry on his contract he began planning for a new production of THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG. His Ring cycle premiered in 1984 (the George Orwell novel of the same name informed all the thinking behind the production) and sparked a popular and critical uproar. It proved to be one of the longest-running productions.

Götz Friedrich had sketched the broad strokes of the RING OF THE NIBELUNG in London with Josef Svoboda, who was also at the Deutsche Oper Berlin working on FROM THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD. Now he teamed up with Peter Sykora, another ex-GDR citizen who was barred from returning to his home country and whose career now revolved around the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Gottfried Pilz and Isabel Glathar had accompanied John Dew to the Deutsche Oper Berlin and years later they also worked for Götz Friedrich.

Friedrich’s artistic collaboration with his wife, Karan Armstrong, was not to the liking of everyone, especially in the early days, although the »Primadonna der Moderne« provided some important input, singing the part of Lulu in the premiere of the opera of the same name (1982) and Salome in the 20-year-old production by Wieland Wagner. She went on to feature prominently in productions by Günter Krämer (singing Katja Kabanowa, Emilia Marty and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District) and John Dew and taking the role of Sieglinde in THE VALKYRIE. Her turn as Marietta in THE DEAD CITY was captured on DVD and was one of the few televised productions from the Götz Friedrich period.

When the position of General Music Director became vacant in 1990, the Culture Ministry missed its chance to accept overtures of interest from Giuseppe Sinopoli, who enjoyed the enthusiastic support of the Orchestra. In view of his reluctance to spend six or eight weeks overseeing the rehearsals for a given production, Sinopoli would not have been a suitable replacement for Jesús López Cobos, who had moved on to new pastures in 1989. Nonetheless, his appointment would have boosted the international profile of the largest opera house in a reunited Berlin, which now had two immediate competitors to contend with. In the event, his pulling power lasted out the productions that he had already been contracted to conduct, including SALOME with Catherine Malfitano and Simon Estes.

Götz Friedrich was always torn between art and admin, although he had a creative approach to the double-edged problem, deserting his office for the rehearsals stage and then fleeing back to his deskwork. His most significant organisational decision was the creation of the Society of Friends and Patrons of the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 13th February 1982 under the patronage of the then Lord Mayor of Berlin and future Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker. Without the Society of Friends there would have been no grants programme for up-and-coming singers, no RING OF THE NIBELUNG production and no guest performances in Japan and the USA.

Amahl und die nächtlichen Besucher © Kranichphoto

 

Götz Friedrich set great store on nurturing young talent and also cultivating the interest of young spectators. Aside from the grants programme for singers he also fostered the development of young choreographers and directors. He oversaw the creation of the »Klassik is cool« education programme and also the establishment in the foyer (for want of a dedicated mini stage) of a performance space for productions for and by children. In Hamburg he co-founded with August Everding a course of studies for upcoming directors of musical theatre, a future alma mater of directors and dramaturgs such as Stefan Herheim, who is currently carrying Friedrich’s torch in his capacity as director of the new RING cycle. Götz Friedrich’s final production, AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS by Gian Carlo Menotti, was written for audiences of the future. He couldn’t know at the planning stage that he was to survive the premiere by only a few days. December 12th 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of his death. His passing was keenly felt but Friedrich lives on in the collective memory thanks in part to the Götz Friedrich Prize, awarded annually to a promising young director. In 2008 the newly remodelled space on the corner of Krumme Strasse, across Bismarckstrasse from Shakespeare-Platz, was named Götz-Friedrich-Platz in Friedrich’s honour. A sculpture by Günther Uecker at the entrance to the U-Bahn station commemorates his career at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which culminated with his staged version of the ST MATTHEW PASSION in 1999.