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Canadian Premiere of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Die tote Stadt at Calgary Opera

Feb. 03, 2016

Canadian Premiere of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s <em>Die tote Stadt</em> at Calgary Opera

Calgary Opera presents the first Canadian production of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Die tote Stadt (The Dead City) on January 30, February 3 and 5 at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium. Bramwell Tovey leads the orchestra, with direction by Kelly Robinson and a cast featuring Lyne Fortin, David Pomeroy, Brett Polegato, and Emilia Boteva.

Die tote Stadt, composed when Korngold was only 23 years old, was one of the great stage successes of the 1920’s and 30’s. Following its removal from theatre schedules by the National Socialists, the work was rediscovered in the 1970’s and has enjoyed continuing popularity ever since. 

In the opera, a vivacious theatre group comes to liven up the gloomy city of Bruges (here, a symbol of death) and the widower Paul is forced to decide between the past and the present. Korngold was fascinated by this symbolic plot and created an iridescent orchestral score washed in vivid colors, opulent melodic arias, advanced harmonies, psychoanalytic profundity and cinematic transitions oscillating between reality and dream worlds. 

For more information on Erich Wolfgang Korngold, visit schott-music.com.

Details on the performances can be found at calgaryopera.com.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Die tote Stadt (1916-1919)
opera in three acts, op. 12
libretto (Ger) by Paul Schott after Georges Rodenbach’s novel “Bruges-la-morte”
for 2S, A, 3T, 2B; SATB Chorus
3(2,3.pic)2.ca.2.bcl.2.cbsn-4.3.btpt.3.1-timp.perc-mand.2hp.cel.pno.harm-str
onstage: 2Ebcl-2tpt-perc-org; 2tpt.2tbn
145’

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