Alban Berg Lulu
Opera after Frank Wedekind's plays Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora • Third act comleted by Friedrich Cerha
Please note: the performances start at 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m.!
New production
In German with German and English surtitles
PREMIERE
- 04 August 2010, 19:00
- 06 August 2010, 19:00
- 11 August 2010, 19:00
- 14 August 2010, 19:00
- 17 August 2010, 19:00
Print programme (PDF)
Marc Albrecht, Conductor
Vera Nemirova, Stage Director
Daniel Richter, Set Design
Klaus Noack, Costume Design
Manfred Voss, Lighting
Jens Schroth, Dramaturgy
Sonja Nemirova, Dramaturgical assistance
Patricia Petibon, Lulu
Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Countess Geschwitz
Cora Burggraaf, A Theatrical Dresser
Cora Burggraaf, A High-School Boy
Cora Burggraaf, A Groom
Pavol Breslik, The Painter
Pavol Breslik, A Negro
Michael Volle, Dr. Schön, editor-in-chief
Michael Volle, Jack
Thomas Piffka, Alwa, Dr. Schön's son, a composer
Franz Grundheber, Schigolch, an old man
Thomas Johannes Mayer, An Animal Tamer
Thomas Johannes Mayer, An Athlete
Heinz Zednik, The Prince
Heinz Zednik, The Manservant
Andreas Conrad, The Marquis
Martin Tzonev, The Theater Manager
Martin Tzonev, The Banker
Emilie Pictet, A Fifteen-year-old Girl
Cornelia Wulkopf, Her Mother
Astrid Monika Hofer, A Woman Artist
Simon Schnorr, A Journalist
Gerhard Peilstein, The Professor of Medicine
Gerhard Peilstein, The Professor
Gerhard Peilstein, The Police Officer
James Cleverton, A Servant
Upper Austrian Jazz Orchestra, Stage music First Act
Members of the Angelika Prokopp Sommerakademie of the Vienna Philharmonic, Stage music Third Act
Vienna Philharmonic
Now that I have an overview, I am even more convinced of the profound morality of the piece, Lulu’s rise and fall balance each other; in the middle, there is the great turn-around, until – like Don Juan – the Devil gets her. I say – like Don Juan – on purpose, not in order to compare myself – how could I!!! – with Mozart, but only to point out that the two figures, Lulu and Don Juan, are equal.” (Alban Berg, 1934)
Wedekind’s Lulu tragedies deal with the absolute power of Eros in mythical forcefulness. In 1928, Berg decided that they would be the basis of his second opera, which he had completed in short score in 1934; by the time of his death, however, he had only been able to orchestrate the first two acts fully.
Lulu is surrounded by the seductive aura of the natural, the untamed. A “nightwalker of love” (Karl Kraus) without memories who moves outside of conventional morals, she seems to exist for her male surroundings only as a projection, as an image, and yet evades any attempt at control: Lulu unnerves men, scoffs at their claims of possession, disrupts their bourgeois order. And thus, they take revenge: Lulu’s social ascent is followed by her humiliation as part of the “retaliation of a male world that dares to avenge its own guilt” (Kraus).