Imposing choruses and colossal tableaux accompany a story about intrigues, power play and an affair between stepmother and son in Ottorino Respighi’s last grand opera. Surrounded by political struggles, the figures become entangled in personal conflicts inextricably leading towards catastrophe and the cruel ending of a burning at the stake. For LA FIAMMA, Respighi created music going far beyond his illustrative-seeming “Trilogia romana” for which he is known in concert halls today. Yet in essence, the composer remained true to his colourful tonal language – the result is a musical amalgamation of French impressionism, influences of Russian music and a classicistic reimagining of Italian renaissance music. The archaic story and expansive dimensions of the operatic epos are reminiscent of the genre of the historical epic film, which was gaining popularity at the same time the opera was composed. This meant LA FIAMMA hit the nerve of the time, ensuring international success soon after its premiere. Over the course of decades, the work was slowly forgotten, yet the renowned critic and musicologist Paolo Isotta still praised LA FIAMMA in 2015 as a unique symbiosis of historicism and modernism, claiming its place among the 20th century’s masterworks of musical drama.

The flame

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Berwaldhallen celebrates pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff in five special programmes this autumn. Sergei Rachmaninoff considered his choral symphony The Bells – inspired by the poem of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe – to be one of his personal favourites. Also, extraordinary violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann plays Edward Elgar’s beloved violin concerto.

Rachmaninoff 150: The Bells

SR Berwaldhallen

Long after the Paris world premiere in 1896 Oscar Wilde’s tragedy “Salomé” remained a thorn in the flesh of the establishment across Europe. In Wilhelminian Germany and the Danube Monarchy, too, official art adjudicators considered the subject “repulsive” and the text “an insult to morality”. In the minds of the guardians of public morals the New Testament story of Herod’s daughter was as ill-suited to the stage as it was to pictorial representation, which was experiencing a boom at the time. Salomé’s stepfather, Herod, the Roman’s client king of Judea, Galilee and Samaria who is said to have ordered the massacre of the innocents around Bethlehem, persuades her to dance for him. Encouraged by her mother, she demands to be given the head of John the Baptist as a reward.

Olesya Golovneva

Events

Upcoming events

8 - 14 Mar, 2025

Salome · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Past events

Sep 29 - Oct 18, 2024

The flame · Deutsche Oper Berlin

8 - 9 Dec, 2023

Rachmaninoff 150: The Bells · Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Salome in Salome by Strauss

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Silvana in La fiamma by Respighi

Deutsche Oper Berlin

About

Olesya Golovneva hasn't added a bio