Wolfgang Rihm's opera "Jakob Lenz" based on a short story "Lenz" by Georg Buechner is staged at Grand Theatre - National Opera as part of the theatre's Chamber Hall series "Terytoria"
Jakob Lenz is the first, unique collaboration between an opera house and a drama theatre, namely a co-production of the Grand Theatre - National Opera and the National Theatre. "The staging is part of the Theatre's Terytoria series, aiming to bring closer less known pieces and feature new and upcoming artists. 'Jakob Lenz' is an original work, touching upon the vital issues of our modernity, set in the space of theatrical illusion," said Waldemar Dąbrowski, director of the Grand Theatre - National Opera.
Jakob Lenz is a one act chamber opera by Wolfgang Rihm, written 1977-78 after the novella Lenz by Georg Büchner in turn based on an incident in the life of the German poet Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, a friend of Goethe and one of the leading forces behind the 'Sturm und Drang' period. Lenz suffered from mental illness (paranoid schizofrenia), his case marked by fits of madness became the subject of Buechner's short story which is rather closely followed in Rihm's treatment. With Jakob Lenz Wolfgang Rihm produced perhaps the most successful music theatre work of recent decades.
Jakob Reinhold Lenz, recognised as the precursor of Romanticism, was a schizophrenic. Büchner's 'Lenz' is a short story about mental illness. Madness is the source of Romanticism. Romantic ideas falsify reality, but in their primary form they were a reaction to a different falseness. They attempted to restore equilibrium to a society in the first stage of the industrial revolution, to a society with its eyes fixed on the promises of capitalism. Romanticism was madness, anarchy, an attempt to create an opposition to the myth of rational man and the current notion of normality
-director Natalia KorczakowskaRihm's opera is yet another big theatrical staging of the lifestory of Jakob Lenz. The famous short story Lenz by 19th century playwright Georg Buechner was staged recently by Barbara Wysocka at the National Theatre (read more).
Terytoria (Territories) is a series of the Chamber Hall of Warsaw's Grand Theatre-National Opera. It specialises in presenting 20th and 21st century works of opera and ballet which are almost absent from Polish theatres. Modern, sophisticated, contemporary, exploring extreme, sometimes ultimate emotional states, they are usually inspired by great works of literature, while their music does not let one easily forget itself.
- "Jakob Lenz" by Wolfgang Rihm. Chamber opera. Libretto: Michael Fröhling, based on Georg Büchner's "Lenz", directed by: Natalia Korczakowska, conducted by: Wojciech Michniewski, scenic design and costumes: Anna Met. Premiere at the Chamber Hall of Teatr Wielki - Opera Narodowa: May 7, 2011. Repeat performances: May 8, 10, 13 & 15, 2011.
Teatr Wielki - Opera Narodowa
pl. Teatralny 1, 00-950 Warsaw
Managing director: Waldemar Dąbrowski
Artistic director: Mariusz Treliński
tel. (+48 22) 692 02 00
fax (+48 22) 826 04 23
www.teatrwielki.pl
Source: PAP, www.teatrwielki.pl