Vienna, circa 1860. The financially strapped Count Waldner is lodging with his family in a Viennese hotel. His only path to solvency is for him to secure an advantageous marriage for one of his two daughters – and the family can only afford to present Arabella, the eldest, in the upper circles of society. To conceal the family’s indigence, the parents have raised Zdenka as a boy, dressing her accordingly. Arabella is not short of suitors but has resolved to wait for ‘Mr Right’. When Mandryka, an aristocrat from a distant region, arrives, he and Arabella are instantly smitten. Arabella only asks to be able to bid farewell to her friends and suitors at the Fasching ball that evening.

Arabella

Deutsche Oper Berlin

The naive Siegfried grows up as an orphan with the loveless and greedy blacksmith Mime, with only the remains of a sword left by his unknown father. At some point, his curiosity about his own origins and identity becomes too great, and after fearlessly and naively reforging his father's wonderfully strong sword, he sets off. Mime had convinced him that he must learn to fear in order to survive in the world - preferably from the dragon worm Fafner, who lives in a forest cave on a valuable treasure, including the powerful, eponymous ring. But with his carefree nature, Siegfried masters the episode effortlessly and wins the treasure. What's more: after he accidentally comes across the dragon's blood, he can suddenly understand the language of animals! This is how he comes to a rock surrounded by fire, where he finds a sleeping woman, Brünnhilde, who can only be awakened by the most fearless and free hero. For the first time, Siegfried feels fear – but it quickly turns into love!

Siegfried

Opernhaus Dortmund

DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG was Richard Wagner’s only light-hearted opera and remains one of his most popular works. This notwithstanding, MEISTERSINGER is also the musical manifesto of a German national art movement and, as such, has accumulated so much baggage over the years that people are apt to lose sight of the opera’s essence – a jolly and coherent comedy with its helter-skelter storyline centring on illusion and reality, love, ageing and the plying of one’s art – and this despite the core theme of a life dominated by music determining not only the cast of characters but also the action of the piece. The members of the master-singers guild have convened to make music in accordance with their strict rulebook. One of the singers, the wealthy Veit Pogner, has granted his daughter Eva the freedom to choose which suitor she will marry – with the proviso that it be a master singer, in other words the winner of a public singing competition. A pity, then, that Eva is in love with Walther von Stolzing, who is talented but devoid of formal training. Nonetheless he takes part in the competition, aided and abetted by master singer Hans Sachs, who has to forego his love for Eva in the process.

Thomas Johannes Mayer

Events

Upcoming events

Apr 6 - May 31, 2025

Siegfried · Theater Dortmund

12 - 27 Apr, 2025

The Mastersingers of Nuremberg · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Past events

7 - 20 Mar, 2025

Arabella · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Future and recently performed repertoire

Mandryka in Arabella by Strauss

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Wagner

Deutsche Oper Berlin

The Wanderer in Siegfried by Wagner

Theater Dortmund

About

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