Abstract
Anyone wishing to discover the heart of the German Romantic movement must descend into the Wolf’s Glen – forlorn and bathed in moonlight, where the lugubrious key of f-scharp-minor holds sway, and the black boar raves. Carl Maria von Weber captured its demonically sinister atmosphere so incomparably in sound that his Freischütz (“The Marksman”) came to epitomise the genre of romantic opera. Ever since, the work has fascinated audiences with its combination of fantastical natural surroundings, Biedermeier idyll and the unplumbed depths that are revealed behind them: the confines of petit bourgeois society, deference to authority, vexatious examination rituals, and a latent propensity to violence.
The assistant forester Max has to pass the inhuman test of achieving a bull’s eye shot in order to win his beloved Agathe and become the successor of elderly forester Kuno. Under such pressure, it comes as no surprise that his marksmanship should fail him. Max allies himself with dark forces and meets the sinister Caspar in the Wolf’s Glen in order to cast magic bullets that never miss their target. However, these bullets come at a price…
Our new Freischütz is staged by Herbert Fritsch and his costume designer Victoria Behr, who were responsible for the production of Henry Purcell’s King Arthur at Zurich Opera House last season. Fritsch’s production style stands for physically direct, humorous and stridently colourful theatre, promising to result in a highly attractive union with the world of Carl Maria von Weber – that of the Biedermeier period and Gothic Romanticism. After his success with Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten, Marc Albrecht will also be returning to Zurich Opera House to conduct Der Freischütz. The young Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen, who has won numerous awards, will be giving her Zurich début as Agathe, while Christopher Ventris can be heard in the role of Max.