Zurich Opera House 1 April 2024 - Die Csárdásfürstin | GoComGo.com

Die Csárdásfürstin

Zurich Opera House, Zurich, Switzerland
All photos (8)
Monday 1 April 2024

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Important Info
Type: Operetta
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 14:00
Overview

Back for this revival is Annette Dasch, singing Silva Varescu, the variety artist from humble beginnings. Pavol Breslik tries to win her over with a luscious tenor and riches galore as Edwin the prince’s son. And joining them, as in the premiere, is Swiss conductor Lorenzo Viotti, one of the younger generation’s most glamourous stars.

The world was going up in flames while Emmerich Kálmán was writing Die Csárdásfürstin, composed amidst the outbreak of the First World War. Kálmán had to interrupt the operetta’s composition due to the conflict, and the premiere took place – later than planned – in Vienna in 1915, as the theater was closed when the war started. The general state of affairs is most readily apparent in text of Die Csárdásfürstin: "Wo man tanzt und küsst und lacht, pfeif’ ich auf der Welt Misere" – "Where we dance and kiss and smile, there I’ll laugh at the world’s misery" sing the protagonists at the top of the show. And in the closing duet, the lovers invoke togetherness as a private preserve at the end of the world: "Mag die ganze Welt versinken, hab ich dich!" – "And should the whole world sink, I’ll still have you!"

For this dance on the edge of the abyss, this cheerfulness in the face of impending disaster, stage director Jan Philipp Gloger looked for a modern-day equivalent. His Zurich Csárdásfürstin is set on a luxury yacht, on which a clique of the superrich have set sail around globe, in an effort to save their collective good mood from the world’s various crises. They close their eyes to the affluent squalor in which they live and drown out their personal relationship crises with high spirits and champagne. Gloger presented the operetta as a surreal, over-the-top ride into complete disaster: Refugee boats, commercialized South Seas tourist romance, a sea full of litter, melting icebergs, and sweating polar bears dot the path of a distraction-loving society. But the operetta's swinging fun is not forgotten.

History
Premiere of this production: 17 November 1915, Vienna at the Johann Strauß-Theater

Die Csárdásfürstin (The Csárdás Princess; translated into English as The Riviera Girl and The Gipsy Princess) is an operetta in 3 acts by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán, libretto by Leo Stein and Bela Jenbach.

Venue Info

Zurich Opera House - Zurich
Location   Sechseläutenplatz 1

Zürich Opera House is a main opera house in Zürich and Switzerland. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zürich Opera since 1891, and also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich. It is also home to the Zürich Ballet. The Opera House also holds concerts by its Philharmonia orchestra, matinees, Lieder evenings and events for children. The Zürich Opera Ball is organised every year in March, and is usually attended by prominent names.

The first permanent theatre, the Aktientheater, was built in 1834 and it became the focus of Richard Wagner’s activities during his period of exile from Germany.

The Aktientheater burnt down in 1890. The new Stadttheater Zürich (municipal theatre) was built by the Viennese architects Fellner & Helmer, who changed their previous design for the theatre in Wiesbaden only slightly. It was opened in 1891. It was the city's main performance space for drama, opera, and musical events until 1925, when it was renamed Opernhaus Zürich and a separate theatre for plays was built: The Bernhard Theater opened in 1941, in May 1981 the Esplanada building was demolished, and the present adjoint building opened on 27/28 December 1984 after three years of transition in the Kaufhaus building nearby Schanzengraben.

By the 1970s, the opera house was badly in need of major renovations; when some considered it not worth restoring, a new theatre was proposed for the site. However, between 1982 and 1984, rebuilding took place but not without huge local opposition which was expressed in street riots. The rebuilt theatre was inaugurated with Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and the world première of Rudolf Kelterborn’s Chekhov opera Der Kirschgarten.

As restored, the theatre is an ornate building with a neo-classical façade of white and grey stone adorned with busts of Weber, Wagner, and Mozart. Additionally, busts of Schiller, Shakespeare, and Goethe are to be found. The auditorium is built in the neo-rococo style and seats approximately 1200 people. During the refurbishment, the issue of sightlines was not adequately addressed. As a result, the theatre has a high number of seats with a limited view, or no view, of the stage. This is unusual in international comparison, where sightlines in historic opera houses have been typically enhanced over time.

Corporate archives and historical library collections are held at the music department of the Predigerkirche Zürich.

The Zürich Opera House is also home of the International Opera Studio (in German: Internationales Opernstudio IOS) which is a educational program for young singers and pianists. The studio was created in 1961 and has renowned artists currently teaching such as Brigitte Fassbaender, Hedwig Fassbender, Andreas Homocki, Rosemary Joshua, Adrian Kelly, Fabio Luisi, Jetske Mijnssen, Ann Murray, Eytan Pessen or Edith Wiens.

Important Info
Type: Operetta
City: Zurich, Switzerland
Starts at: 14:00
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