24 November 2009

He is ’Grandson’ to Mahler and ’Uncle’ to Shostakovich. Alban Berg comes to the Bolshoi. Wozzeck

There has been only one Russian production of Wozzeck — this was in 1927 at the Leningrad Theatre of Opera and Ballet. Since then there have been sporadic appearances of the opera in our country — in the repertoire of companies on tour: Dresden State Opera brought Wozzeck to Leningrad, Hamburg Opera brought it to Moscow. But at Western opera-houses it is done fairly often. Its producers have included major directors (Patrice Cheraud, Peter Stein, Peter Konvichny, Luke Bondi) and conductors (Dmitri Mitropoulos, Karl Bohm, Pierre Boulez, Claudio Abbado, Christoph von Dohnanyi). Virtually all composers writing in the ’post-Wozzeck’ age have been influenced by it...

Berg’s opera is based on the play of the same name by Georg Buchner (1836). The play which survived in draft form and has come down to us in several different versions, with two different spellings of the hero’s surname, is based on fact. The real Wozzeck — Johann Christian Woyzeck — was beheaded in Leipzig for murdering his wife, out of jealousy. The psychiatrist’s report on the incident was published in a specialized journal where it was read by the future author of the play.

The first night performances are on 24, 25, 26, 28 and 29 November.