Berg's Wozzeck
Peter Mussbach (stage director), Sylvain Cambreling (conductor) — With Kristine Ciesinski (Marie), Dale Duesing (Wozzeck), Ronald Hamilton (Drum Major)
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Cast
Peter Mussbach — Stage director, stage design
Benedikt Ramm — Costume designer
Barbera von Vequel — Lighting
Dale Duesing — Wozzeck
Ronald Hamilton — Drum Major
Barry Banks — Andres
Dieter Bundschuh — The Captain
Frode Olsen — The Doctor
Bodo Schwanbeck — First Worker
Alexander Spemann — Second Worker
William Saetre — A Fool
Kristine Ciesinski — Marie
Linda Ormiston — Margret
Klappmaultheater Frankfurt — Puppeteers
Oper Frankfurt Choir
Oper Frankfurt Children's Choir
Program notes
A work in three acts, Wozzeck was Berg's first opera. Inspired by the play of the German playwright Georg Büchner, Woyzeck, who was himself inspired by an apparently banal event of 1821: Wozzeck, a Leipzig barber, assassinated his mistress and was condemned to death after trying in vain to demonstrate his insanity.
Wozzeck reflects one of Berg's recurring preoccupations as an artist: the fight of the individual against society and the state. In a letter from August 7, 1918, Alban Berg wrote to his wife: "[...] There is a little of myself in this character, to the extent that I spent the war years dependent upon people I hated; I was chained, sickened, captive, resigned, and humiliated." This opera is also considered as the first atonal opera, while continuing to rely on traditional musical forms.
Synopsis
Wozzeck, a poor soldier pushed around by his captain, goes gradually insane. Used as a test subject by a doctor, he begins having hallucinations. These hallucinations get him further from Marie, his love. When he discovers that she is cheating on him with the drum major, he stabs her and drowns her in a lake in an attempt to hide the murder weapon.
