Dido and Aeneas, Erwartung

Composer Henry Purcell / Arnold Schönberg.

recommended for 14 years and older

Opera in three acts / monodrama in one act (1688/89; 1909)

In English and German with German and English subtitles. New Production.

Introductions take place 1 hour before the performance (22nd of July at 6:20pm) on the first tier in the anteroom to the royal box.

The creative team surrounding director Krzysztof Warlikowski has a long history of successful collaboration that has taken them to all of Europe’s great opera houses.

At the Bayerische Staatsoper the team last staged Salome in almost the same configuration in 2019. For the DidoandAeneas ... Erwartung double bill, Małgorzata Szczęśniak is again designing the stage and costumes, as she has for all of Warlikowski's productions since 1992. For more than 20 years Felice Ross has been responsible for the lighting design for the team's opera productions. Kamil Polak, who won an Oscar in 2008 in the Animated Short Film category, designs the videos, and dancer and actor Claude Bardouil is in charge of movement direction – tried and tested as always. Dramaturge Christian Longchamp, also connected to the team by numerous projects at other theatres, is now also working for the first time in Munich.

Warlikowski is also connected with the singer now embodying both roles, Dido and the Woman, Ausrine Stundyte. They celebrated highly acclaimed success at the Salzburg Festival in 2020 with Elektra, and the singer has been a regular guest in Munich since 2015, most recently appearing as Regan in Reimann's Lear in 2021 and Jeanne in Krzysztof Penderecki's The Devils of Loudun in 2022.

Dido and Aeneas

Synopsis

Act 1

Dido's court

The opera opens with Dido in her court with her attendants. Belinda is trying to cheer Dido up, but Dido is full of sorrow, saying 'Peace and I are strangers grown'. Belinda believes the source of this grief to be the Trojan Aeneas, and suggests that Carthage's troubles could be resolved by a marriage between the two. Dido and Belinda talk for a time: Dido fears that her love will make her a weak monarch, but Belinda and the Second Woman reassure her that "The hero loves as well." Aeneas enters the court, and is at first received coldly by Dido, but she eventually accepts his proposal of marriage.

Act 2

Scene 1: The cave of the Sorceress

The Sorceress/Sorcerer is plotting the destruction of Carthage and its queen, and summons companions to help with evil plans. The plan is to send her "trusted elf" disguised as Mercury, someone to whom Aeneas will surely listen, to tempt him to leave Dido and sail to Italy. This would leave Dido heartbroken, and she would surely die. The chorus join in with terrible laughter, and the Enchantresses decide to conjure up a storm to make Dido and her train leave the grove and return to the palace. When the spell is prepared, the witches vanish in a thunderclap.

Scene 2: A grove during the middle of a hunt

Dido and Aeneas are accompanied by their train. They stop at the grove to take in its beauty. A lot of action is taking place, with attendants carrying goods from the hunt and possibly a picnic in progress, Dido and Aeneas forming the focus of all the activity. This ceases when Dido hears distant thunder, prompting Belinda to tell the servants to prepare for a return to shelter as soon as possible. As every other character leaves the stage, Aeneas is stopped by the Sorceress's elf, who is disguised as Mercury. This pretend Mercury brings the "command of Jove" that Aeneas is to wait no longer in beginning his task of creating a new Troy on Latin soil. Aeneas consents to the wishes of what he believes are the gods, but is heart-broken that he will have to leave Dido. He then goes off-stage to prepare for his departure from Carthage.

Act 3

The harbour at Carthage

Preparations are being made for the departure of the Trojan fleet. The sailors sing a song, which is followed shortly by the Sorceress and her companions' sudden appearance. The group is pleased at how well their plan has worked, and the Sorceress sings a solo describing her further plans for the destruction of Aeneas "on the ocean". All the characters begin to clear the stage after a dance in three sections, and then disperse.

The palace

Dido and Belinda enter, shocked at Aeneas’ disappearance. Dido is distraught and Belinda comforts her. Suddenly Aeneas returns, but Dido is full of fear before Aeneas speaks, and his words only serve to confirm her suspicions. She derides his reasons for leaving, and even when Aeneas says he will defy the gods and not leave Carthage, Dido rejects him for having once thought of leaving her. After Dido forces Aeneas to leave, she states that "Death must come when he is gone." The opera and Dido's life both slowly come to a conclusion, as the Queen of Carthage sings her last aria, "When I am laid in Earth", also known as "Dido's Lament." The chorus and orchestra then conclude the opera once Dido is dead by ordering the "cupids to scatter roses on her tomb, soft and gentle as her heart. Keep here your watch, and never, never part."

Erwartung

Synopsis

Time: Night

Place: A forest

A woman is in an apprehensive state as she searches for her lover. In the darkness, she comes across what she first thinks is a body, but then realises is a tree-trunk. She is frightened and becomes more anxious as she cannot find the man she is looking for. She then finds a dead body, and sees that it is her lover. She calls out for assistance, but there is no response. She tries to revive him, and addresses him as if he were still alive, angrily charging him with being unfaithful to her. She then asks herself what she is to do with her life, as her lover is now dead. Finally, she wanders off alone into the night.

Program and cast

Conductor: Valentin Uryupin

Production: Krzysztof Warlikowski

Set Design: Małgorzata Szczęśniak

Lighting: Felice Ross

Video: Kamil Polak

Choreography: Claude Bardouil

Choruses: Sergej Bolkhovets

Dramaturgy: Christian Longchamp, Katharina Ortmann

Dido and Aeneas

Dido: Sonya Yoncheva

Aeneas: Günter Papendell

Belinda: Erika Baikoff

Venus: Rinat Shaham

Sorceress: John Holiday

First Witch: Elmira Karakhanova

Erwartung

Eine Frau: Sonya Yoncheva