Tuesday19.00
Theater an der Wien

Albrecht / Henze "Elegy for Young Lovers"

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Hans Werner Henze and his librettists, the English poets Wystan Hugh Auden and Chester Simon Kallman, dedicated Elegy for Young Lovers, a commissioned work first performed in 1961 at the Schwetzingen Festival, "to the memory of Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian, European and master librettist". The work was intended to hover between ironic comedy and tragedy in the spirit of Hofmannsthal. Satirical elements are juxtaposed with melancholy and even harrowing ones. Like a chamber play, a drama about an artist unfolds that is open to many interpretations and was inspired by William Butler Yeats' motto, "The intellect of man is forced to choose perfection of the life or of the work". Henze created a contemporary score to the drama that never forgets its attachment to European operatic tradition. The composition possesses enormous musical diversity, a nuanced, transparent sound pattern that always abides by the primacy of the vocal part and does justice to the libretto's wealth of relationships with classical recitatives and also extends to highly virtuoso solo and ensemble passages.

Performers

Marc Albrecht 
conductor 
Keith Warner 
staging 
Johan Reuter 
baritone 
 (Georg Mittenhofer, Dichter )
Martin Winkler 
baritone 
 (Dr. Wilhelm Reischmann, ein Arzt )
Paul Schweinester 
tenor 
 (Toni Reischmann, sein Sohn )
Anna Lucia Richter 
soprano 
 (Elisabeth Zimmer )
Angelika Kirchschlager 
mezzo-soprano 
 (Carolina, Gräfin von Kirchstetten )
Laura Aikin 
soprano 
 (Hilda Mack, eine Witwe )
Martin Berger 
narrator 
 (Josef Bauer, ein Bergführer )
Wiener Symphoniker
orchestra 

Programme

Hans Werner Henze
"Elegy for Young Lovers", Opera in three acts
"Elegy for Young Lovers", Opera in three acts
1959-61, rev. 1987
150min

Location

Group

Theater an der Wien