EN
DE
IT
FR
ES
RU
JP
RO
© Leo Seidel
La fiamma
Order tickets
September 2024  | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su |
La fiamma - Ottorino Respighi [1879 – 1936]
Opera in three acts to a libretto by Claudio Guastalla, based on Hans Wiers-Jenssen's theatre play "Anne Pedersdotter, the Witch".
Recommended for ages 16 and up.
Synopsis
Place: Ravenna
Time: Seventh century AD
Act 1
The first act is set in Basilio's summer villa. His aged mother, Eudossia watches while servants and lady in waiting Monica weave, and sing as they work. Eudossia leaves, and the girls talk happily, while the chatter turns to witchcraft. Basilio's young wife Silvana enters and confesses to Monica how sad she feels in the palace. A crowd is heard off-stage in pursuit of Agnese di Cervia, a friend of Silvana's mother, accused of sorcery and infanticide. Agnese appears to Silvana and begs to be hidden. Silvana obliges, and although Silvana tries to make her swear she has no magic powers, Agnese forestalls this.
Basilio's son by his first marriage, Donello, arrives home after many years away and addresses Silvana whom he knew when she was a young girl; Donello and a friend had been led to the house of Agnese to heal a wound. Warm feelings are rekindled between them. On the prompting of Eudossia the house is searched and Agnese is discovered and dragged out. She swears hysterically that she is not guilty but is taken to be burnt.
Act 2
Inside Basilio's palace Donello plays with the servant girls. Silvana comes in and challenges Monica about her behaviour, who confesses that she is in love with Donello. Silvana tells Monica that this cannot be, Donello is merely toying with her, and Monica is expelled to a convent.
Basilio and his retinue enter, preparing for war with the Pope. Alone, with Basilio and Donello, Silvana insists that Donello recount what Agnese said before her execution. He affirms that at the stake Agnese had uttered that it was Silvana, whose mother had used spells to make the Exarch wed her daughter, who had concealed Agnese. Basilio furiously says that all who repeat the witch's words will lose their tongue. However, alone with Silvana, Basilio admits that it the words were true – at first he had come under an enchantment, but he now really loved her. Alone again Silvana wonders whether she in fact also has such powers; to test it she whispers 'Donello'... who appears forth. They embrace.
Act 3
The first scene in Act III is in Donello's chamber where he and Silvana sing of their love. They are interrupted by the appearance of Eudossia who guesses the situation. Eudossia holds back Silvana and when Basilio arrives, broken, he bitterly tells Donello that Empress Irene has bade the young man to go back to Byzantium. Donello initially refuses before realizing that he has the chance to break free of his desires, so he makes to leave. Silvana charges Basilio's mother with plotting to separate her and Donello, then claiming that Basilio has denied her a proper life, that she had wished him dead, with which Basilio collapses. Eudossia charges Silvana with sorcery for killing her son.
At the Basilica San Vitale Silvana declares her innocence; Donello asks for her absolution. Eudossia repeats what Agnese had sworn at the stake and insists that Silvana must prove that she is sinless by taking an oath on a religious relic. Abandoned by all, Silvana breaks down and cannot utter the oath; she is condemned. The bishop curses her and the crowd screams "witch!".
Program and cast
Duration: approx. 2 hours 45 minutes / One interval
In Italian with German and English surtitles
Pre-performance lecture (in German): 45 minutes prior to each performance
World premiere on 23 January 1934 at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome
Premiere at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 29 September 2024
Cast
Conductor: Carlo Rizzi
Director: Christof Loy
Set-design: Herbert Murauer
Costume design: Barbara Drosihn
Light-design: Fabrice Kebour
Chorus Master: Jeremy Bines
Children's Chorus: Christian Lindhorst
Dramaturgy: Konstantin Parnian
Silvana: Aušrine Stundyte
Donello: Georgy Vasiliev
Basilio: Ivan Inverardi
Eudossia: Martina Serafin
Agnese di Cervia: Doris Soffel
Monica: Sua Jo
Agata: Cristina Toledo
Lucilla: Martina Baroni
Sabina: Karis Tucker
Zoe: Caren Van Oijen
L'Esorcista: Patrick Guetti
Il Vescovo: Manuel Fuentes
Mother: Caitlin Gotimer
Tenor solo: Chance Jonas-O'Toole
Actor: Andrea Spartà
Actor: Nicolas Franciscus
Actor: Koray Tuna
Chorus: Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Children's Chorus:Kinderchor der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Orchestra: Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Deutsche Oper Berlin
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is an opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house and also home to the Berlin State Ballet.
The company's history goes back to the Deutsches Opernhaus built by the then independent city of Charlottenburg—the "richest town of Prussia"—according to plans designed by Heinrich Seeling from 1911. It opened on November 7, 1912 with a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio, conducted by Ignatz Waghalter. After the incorporation of Charlottenburg by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act, the name of the resident building was changed to Städtische Oper (Municipal Opera) in 1925.
Deutsches Opernhaus, 1912
With the Nazi Machtergreifung in 1933, the opera was under control of the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Minister Joseph Goebbels had the name changed back to Deutsches Opernhaus, competing with the Berlin State Opera in Mitte controlled by his rival, the Prussian minister-president Hermann Göring. In 1935, the building was remodeled by Paul Baumgarten and the seating reduced from 2300 to 2098. Carl Ebert, the pre-World War II general manager, chose to emigrate from Germany rather than endorse the Nazi view of music, and went on to co-found the Glyndebourne opera festival in England. He was replaced by Max von Schillings, who acceded to enact works of "unalloyed German character". Several artists, like the conductor Fritz Stiedry or the singer Alexander Kipnis followed Ebert into emigration. The opera house was destroyed by a RAF air raid on 23 November 1943. Performances continued at the Admiralspalast in Mitte until 1945. Ebert returned as general manager after the war.
After the war, the company in what was now West Berlin used the nearby building of the Theater des Westens until the opera house was rebuilt. The sober design by Fritz Bornemann was completed on 24 September 1961. The opening production was Mozart's Don Giovanni. The new building opened with the current name.
© Leo Seidel
© Leo Seidel
Related events