The opera DER ROSENKAVALIER leads into the bedroom of a princess and straight into the intimate conversation with her youthful lover. Inspired by the ancient tragedy ELEKTRA, Richard Strauss and the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal envisioned something entirely new: a comedy for music. Cheerful, light, and elegant, conciliatory yet profound in its emotions and thoughts – and, of course, Austrian in its burlesque wit while at the same time touched by melancholy reflection. Thus the authors created the famous figure of the Field Marshal's wife, Princess Werdenberg who bears the first name Marie-Thérèse for good reason and entrusted her with the leading role in the opera DER ROSENKAVALIER, premiered in 1911.

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Der Rosenkavalier

Cologne Opera

As the court jester to the Duke of Mantua, Rigoletto is no less scrupulous than his absolutist master, who seduces women at will and has men killed on a whim. Rigoletto seeks to protect his daughter Gilda from this world, but the Duke has already set his sights on the innocent young woman. When Gilda gives herself to the seducer driven by love and idealism, Rigoletto's carefully constructed wall of protection collapses, and he himself is made a fool: his belief that he could strictly separate the corruption of court society from his private happiness proves to be a fatal illusion.

Rigoletto

What do we long for when we love? And can another person ever truly recognize our deepest desires – let alone fulfill them?

Hoffmann's Tales

“Such a little fat dachshund has never been seen here before,” Goethe’s mother wrote to her son in 1793 about a performance of DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE (The Magic Flute) – a remark that reflects how Mozart’s Singspiel quickly captivated a wide audience. At once entertaining and sophisticated, the story follows Prince Tamino and Papageno who face a series of trials to rescue the princess Pamina from the clutches of Sarastro. It journey full of dangers, at the end of which lies the hope for a self-determined future together.

The Magic Flute

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFe6mW6x9pc

The Artelize Podcast: 'Amplifying What Makes Us Human'. A conversation with Zuly E. Inirio

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/4hagYvrYbuM

The Artelize Podcast and Kasper Holten - Pedefining Opera for the modern world

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36M5Hi6O80

The Artelize Podcast - A legacy of innovation in Opera: Celebrating Marc A. Scorca

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59E40S_EQSY

The Artelize Podcast: A love letter that was never sent

It is fair day in Bohemia; the entire village is drinking and celebrating merrily – except Marie, who remains sad. Because of old family ties, her father insists that she marries a man she does not know. The matchmaker Kezal has arranged what appears to be a profitable deal for everyone involved, by which the wealthy Wenzel and Marie are to become a couple. But Marie has already sworn eternal fidelity to her beloved Hans and now steadfastly refuses to give in. Then, however, a new agreement is made: Kezal persuades Hans to give up Marie for 300 gulden. Everyone is shocked: Hans sells his bride! That everything ultimately turns out well, that love prevails and the dealmaker comes away empty-handed, is due not only to Marie’s strong will and a clever trick by Hans, but also to a traveling circus troupe and a bear costume.

The Bartered Bride

A young hero enters a world full of dangers – without fear, without knowledge of his origins, armed only with a shattered sword as his father’s final legacy. Siegfried grows up far from humankind, raised by the cunning dwarf Mime. When he succeeds in reforging the broken sword Nothung, he becomes a hero of destiny: he slays the dragon Fafner, gains possession of the mighty ring, and drinks the monster’s blood. This grants him an extraordinary gift – he can now understand the language of birds. From them he learns of Brünnhilde, who has been cast into a deep sleep by Wotan. To reach her, Siegfried must pass a ring of blazing fire – a trial that only the truly fearless can endure.

Siegfried

It all starts with a bet. Prodded by the experienced Don Alfonso, Ferrando and Guglielmo want to test the fidelity of their fiancées Dorabella and Fiordiligi. So the two young men fake a call-up to war, return in disguise and then proceed to woo the other's fiancée respectively. Soon they succumb to her powers of seduction, because COSÌ FAN TUTTE – that's how everyone does it. But now an emotional confusion unfolds. Who actually loves whom now?

Così Fan Tutte

In 1847, Giuseppe Verdi was working on a piece unlike anything ever seen on the opera stage. To turn a dark, blood-soaked Shakespearean tragedy into an Italian opera was already a bold undertaking. But to go even further and create an opera that adhered closely to the character of the original rather than to established operatic forms seemed almost impossible. “I believe the time has come to abandon the usual forms and models,” Verdi wrote. Thus he ventured into the creation of a musical drama exploring psychological abysses amid a whirl of crime, guilt, and punishment, under the imposing English title of the original: Macbeth.

Macbeth

“Are you human, or are you a fairy tale?” The water nymph Rusalka is in love with a prince. Only if she is transformed into a human can she be united with him. But the witch Ježibaba binds this spell to conditions: Rusalka must remain silent, and if the prince no longer loves her, she must kill him. The two plan to marry, but the prince is already troubled by her eternal silence, and soon he succumbs to the seduction of another woman. Rejected, Rusalka returns to the lake. When the prince shows remorse, the curse demands its price: one final kiss brings him death.

Rusalka

At night, a fisherman thinks of the nightingale’s song, which makes him forget everything else. When the nightingale appears, it enchants him with its singing. That same night, an imperial delegation is on its way, sent by the Emperor to bring the nightingale to the imperial court. The nightingale accepts the Emperor’s invitation and appears before his throne. The Emperor has never heard anything more beautiful than the nightingale’s song, which makes him forget all his worries.

The nightingale

A Japanese girl, a great love, and a promise that rests on fragile ground from the very beginning. Cio-Cio-San, known as Butterfly, marries the American naval officer Pinkerton. But while he regards the marriage as a temporary exotic adventure, she firmly believes in his love. After Pinkerton returns to the United States, Butterfly waits for him for years – until he eventually travels back to Japan with his American wife to take custody of their child …

Madama Butterfly

In a dispute with Fortuna and Virtù over supremacy over humankind, Amor seeks to prove that love alone stands above all else. Thus Poppea rises to become Empress of Rome through Nero's love for her – and yet: “love” is the wrong word. What is at play is an erotic driving force, through which manipulation is carried out ruthlessly and power is exercised. Whoever loves has already lost, and anyone who stands in the way of Poppea's interests is mercilessly cast aside – Nero's wife Ottavia as well as the teacher and philosopher Seneca. With sensuous delight and without remorse, accompanied by some of the most beautiful and passionate music early Baroque opera has to offer, Poppea and Nero revel in their victory.

Opera events in Köln

Der Rosenkavalier

Oper Köln

Rigoletto

Oper Köln

Hoffmann's Tales

Oper Köln

The Magic Flute

Oper Köln

The Artelize Podcast: 'Am...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast - A ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast: A l...

Artelize

The Bartered Bride

Oper Köln

Siegfried

Oper Köln

Così Fan Tutte

Oper Köln

Macbeth

Oper Köln

Rusalka

Oper Köln

The nightingale

Oper Köln

Madama Butterfly

Oper Köln

L'incoronazione Di Poppea...

Oper Köln