CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI: »L’ORFEO«

The Orpheus myth is a story about the power, but also impotence of music, and thus it is no coincidence that this tale was instrumental in the creation of opera as an art form: the first performance of Claudio Monteverdi’s »L’Orfeo« at the Palace of the Duke of Mantua on February 24, 1607 is widely considered the birth of the genre and was an event in music history reverberating far beyond Italy. The composer was the first to combine the new idea of a drama in which declamation would be sung with the musical depiction of human emotions. At the Semperoper, this »favola in musica« will now be performed in its original version for the first time – in a new production featuring star tenor Rolando Villazón in the title role. In this production directed by Nikolaus Habjan, the conductor and lute player Wolfgang Katschner and his ensemble lautten compagney BERLIN bring the score to life on historical instruments.

Claudio Monteverdi »L’Orfeo«. Favola in Musica in a Prologue and Five Acts SV 318

INTRODUCTORY TALK
6.15 PM (OPERNKELLER)