The Snow Queen

Bavarian State Opera, Munich, Germany

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7:30 PM

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Important Info

Festival: Munich Opera Festival 2020

Type: Opera

City: Munich, Germany

Starts at: 19:30

Acts: 3

Duration:

Sung in: English

Titles in: English,German

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

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Festival

Munich Opera Festival 2020

Overview

Nationaltheater

Cast

Bayerisches Staatsorchester
Chorus of the Bayerische Staatsoper

Two children, Gerda and Kay, are intimately connected, as if destined for one another. But something distracts Kay’s heart and eye and suddenly they are estranged, as if they lived in two different worlds.

Abducted by the Snow Queen, Kay physically disappears from Gerda’s life. She begins a long search for her friend, until she finds him again in the snow and ice, and cries the diabolical splinter out of him with her tears. With the benefit of so much more experience, both are now ready to become adults. Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen fairy tale is the template for Hans Abrahamsen’s first opera. Following years of examining the “snow” theme and a lifelong analysis of Andersen’s fairy tale the Danish composer wrote it with his own libretto from 2014 to 2018: “There are so many layers in this fairy tale. You can read the text in different ways. It holds many secrets and you can interpret it in many ways.” His music with its finely changing structures and subtly adjusted repetitions give the text depth and lightness at the same time. Just a few weeks after the world premiere in Copenhagen, the Bayerische Staatsoper presents the English version premiere, with soprano Barbara Hannigan, who decisively inspired Abrahamsen to compose the opera, embodying the role of Gerda for the first time. Director Andreas Kriegenburg stages The Snow Queen as the story of adults for an adult audience, as a journey into the inner sanctum of the human soul.

History

The Snow Queen is a chamber opera in six scenes and a prologue by Matthew King. The libretto, by Andrew McKinnon, is based on the original allegorical fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. The opera was composed in 1992 for the British soprano Jane Manning who sang the title role in the first performance with Pal Rullestad (tenor) and Tracy Chadwell (soprano) in supporting roles. The work also has significant roles for two young singers as Gerda and Kay, the heroic children in the story and a chorus of treble voices. The work is scored for a small ensemble of eight players with conductor: string trio, flute/piccolo/alto flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, piano/celesta and percussion. The pianist also has to play a melodian. At one point, the conductor is required to play a French horn. The wide-ranging musical narrative involves a plethora of musical styles. A review of the first performance described King as being "like a bright Hollywood composer with a sense of humour" and, after a subsequent performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, another reviewer suggested that the opera contained '"music of distinctive beauty with disarming theatre sense.'"

Synopsis

Prologue - An introductory narrative about a sinister hobgoblin, whose malevolent mirror breaks into a million pieces, is spoken by the soprano over a muttering accompaniment of whispering with percussion played by all members of the ensemble.
Scene 1 - Gerda and her brother Kay sing a lullaby-trio with their grandmother. Kay goes too near the window and is abducted by the Snow Queen. The composer has said that the music in the scene "hovers between Schoenbergian expressionism and Grieg with hints of Kurt Weill."
Scene 2 - Gerda sets out on her journey to the North Pole in order to rescue Kay. A witch holds her captive for a period in a magic garden, but eventually lets her continue her quest. The music in this scene switches between Hungarian Gypsy and Klezmer style.
Scene 3 is entirely composed in the manner of a Baroque opera, complete with a fugal overture, Handelian recitatives and melismatic arias and a chorus, reminiscent of a Bach cantata. During the scene Gerda meets a talking crow and a prince and princess who lends her a golden coach.
Scene 4 is a bizarre cabaret in which Gerda is captured by a band of robbers. There is a revolution during which the instrumental ensemble invade the stage and sing marxist choruses. The violinist leads the robber band, singing whilst playing.
Scene 5 is a homage to Wagner and contains several quotations from the Ring Cycle. Gerda meets a Reindeer who helps her on her journey north. En route, they encounter wise women of Finland and Lapland who speak mysterious prophecies to them.
Scene 6 is at the North Pole. The music of the Snow Queen's palace sounds like a Javanese gamelan but when the Snow Queen appears she sings a terrifyingly long and virtuosic aria in Anglo Saxon verse. The music, composed in parallel time signatures is an unusual mix of Stravinsky and a kind of serial jazz. Finally Gerda sings the opening lullaby to her brother and the ice splinter in his heart melts. They walk out of the Snow Queen's palace and go home. The Snow Queen, left all alone, laments her loss accompanied by a melodian. The chorus sings quietly in response, hinting at the possibility of redemption.

Venue Info

Bavarian State Opera - Munich
Max-Joseph-Platz 2

The Bavarian State Opera or the National Theatre (Nationaltheater) on Max-Joseph-Platz in Munich, Germany, is a historic opera house and the main theatre of Munich, home of the Bavarian State Opera, Bavarian State Orchestra, and the Bavarian State Ballet.

During its early years, the National Theatre saw the premières of a significant number of operas, including many by German composers. These included Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (1865), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868), Das Rheingold (1869) and Die Walküre (1870), after which Wagner chose to build the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth and held further premières of his works there.

During the latter part of the 19th century, it was Richard Strauss who would make his mark on the theatre in the city in which he was born in 1864. After accepting the position of conductor for a short time, Strauss returned to the theatre to become principal conductor from 1894 to 1898. In the pre-War period, his Friedenstag (1938) and Capriccio were premièred in Munich. In the post-War period, the house has seen significant productions and many world premieres.

First theatre – 1818 to 1823
The first theatre was commissioned in 1810 by King Maximilian I of Bavaria because the nearby Cuvilliés Theatre had too little space. It was designed by Karl von Fischer, with the 1782 Odéon in Paris as architectural precedent. Construction began on 26 October 1811 but was interrupted in 1813 by financing problems. In 1817 a fire occurred in the unfinished building.

The new theatre finally opened on 12 October 1818 with a performance of Die Weihe by Ferdinand Fränzl, but was soon destroyed by another fire on 14 January 1823; the stage décor caught fire during a performance of Die beyden Füchse by Étienne Méhul and the fire could not be put out because the water supply was frozen. Coincidentally the Paris Odéon itself burnt down in 1818.

Second theatre – 1825 to 1943
Designed by Leo von Klenze, the second theatre incorporated Neo-Grec features in its portico and triangular pediment and an entrance supported by Corinthian columns. In 1925 it was modified to create an enlarged stage area with updated equipment. The building was gutted in an air raid on the night of 3 October 1943.

Third theatre – 1963 to present
The third and present theatre (1963) recreates Karl von Fischer's original neo-classical design, though on a slightly larger, 2,100-seat scale. The magnificent royal box is the center of the interior rondel, decorated with two large caryatids. The new stage covers 2,500 square meters (3,000 sq yd), and is thus the world's third largest, after the Opéra Bastille in Paris and the Grand Theatre, Warsaw.

Through the consistent use of wood as a building material, the auditorium has excellent acoustics. Architect Gerhard Moritz Graubner closely preserved the original look of the foyer and main staircase. It opened on 21 November 1963 with an invitation-only performance of Die Frau ohne Schatten under the baton of Joseph Keilberth. Two nights later came the first public performance, of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, again under Keilberth.