The Rake`s Progress

Komische Oper Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Scene 1 from the opera "The Rake’s Progress", photo 2

Scene 2 from the opera "The Rake’s Progress", photo 3

Scene 3 from the opera "The Rake’s Progress", photo 4

Scene 4 from the opera "The Rake’s Progress", photo 5

Scene 5 from the opera "The Rake’s Progress", photo 6

Scene 7 from the opera "The Rake’s Progress", photo 7

Scene 8 from the opera "The Rake’s Progress", photo 8

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7 PM

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Important Info

Type: Opera

City: Berlin, Germany

Starts at: 19:00

Acts: 3

Sung in: English

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

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If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Overview

True love, sensual temptations and an agreement with the devil: these are the quintessential ingredients for opera, which the incomparable Igor Stavinsky combines to create a deeply moving drama about the quandaries of human existence. Following his productions of American Lulu and The Barber of Seville, Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov now produces the idiosyncratic work of his compatriot Stravinsky. Ensemble member Tansel Akzeybek is immersed as frivolous Tom Rakewell in a twilight world of madness and desire under the musical direction of Jordan de Souza.

Despite a happy engagement to his beloved Anne Trulove, Tom Rakewell follows the enticing call of Nick Shadow, an enigmatic man who promises an easily earned fortune in the big city. After arriving, Tom is rapidly lost to the seemingly endless permutations of money and sex, even allowing himself to be married to the whore Baba – after all, "is anyone really respectable, good and pure?" Tom Rakewell realizes too late that he’s fallen into the hands of the devil and that Nick Shadow is playing a deadly game of life and death, love and madness!
For his opera The Rakes Progress, premiered in 1951, Igor Stravinsky referenced his role models Mozart, Verdi and Handel, honoring them in his musical language without losing his unique signature. Stravinsky alternates arias and ensemble numbers with recitatives, placing the music entirely in the service of the singers. The Rakes Progress is the abyssal character study of naïve Tom Rakewell who succumbs to Nick Shadow’s temptations, falling into a phantasmagoric world of lust and black magic, for which he will pay dearly in the end.

History

Premiere of this production: 11 September 1951, Teatro La Fenice, Venice

The Rake's Progress is an English-language opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The story concerns the decline and fall of one Tom Rakewell, who deserts Anne Trulove for the delights of London in the company of Nick Shadow, who turns out to be the Devil. After several misadventures, all initiated by the devious Shadow, Tom ends up in Bedlam, a hospital for the 'insane' at that time situated in the City of London. The moral of the tale is: "For idle hearts and hands and minds the Devil finds work to do."

Synopsis

Act 1

Tom Rakewell is courting Anne Trulove outside her father's house in the country. Trulove has doubts about his daughter's proposed marriage and tries to arrange a regular job for Tom; but Tom resists the idea and, left on his own, declares his intention to "live by my wits and trust to my luck." When Tom expresses his wish for money, Nick Shadow appears and tells him that an unknown uncle has left him a substantial fortune. He then invites Tom to employ him as a servant and accompany Tom to London to sort out the inheritance. The second scene, set in Mother Goose's brothel, shows Shadow introducing his new master to the sleazy aspects of London life. But Tom is uneasy and laments his betrayal of love, yet accepts Mother Goose's invitation to spend the night with her. Meanwhile, back in the country, Anne wonders why she has not heard from Tom. She knows somehow that he is in danger, and sets out for London to aid him.

Act 2

Tom is bored with his dissolute life. He utters his second crucial wish, for happiness, whereupon Nick makes the odd suggestion that he demonstrate his freedom by marrying Baba the Turk, the famous bearded lady. Soon afterwards Anne finds Tom's London house, only to see him emerge from a sedan chair which also contains Baba, whom he has just married. Tom tells Anne to leave, yet genuinely regrets what has happened. In the next scene Tom is clearly finding his eccentric marriage intolerable, as Baba is a chatterbox with a fiery temper. He silences her by throwing his wig over her face, then falls asleep. Nick enters with a "fantastic Baroque Machine" and demonstrates how, through the use of a hidden compartment in the machine, it appears to turn stones into bread. Tom cries out in his sleep that he wishes it were true, and waking, finds the machine he has dreamt of. Nick hints that if such machines were mass-produced Tom could become a saviour of mankind and Tom sets out to market the machine, not knowing it is a sham.

Act 3

The plan has failed – the act starts with the auction of the ruined Tom's property by the maniac auctioneer Sellem. The objects for sale include Baba, who has remained immobile since being silenced by the wig. When unwrapped, she resumes her tantrum, now directed at the auction-goers for disturbing her belongings, but calms down when Anne enters. Baba advises her to find Tom and "set him right", and warns her against Nick Shadow. She announces her intent to return to her life on the stage. In a graveyard, Nick reveals his identity and demands payment from Tom, in the form of his soul; but as midnight strikes, Nick offers him an escape in the form of a game of cards, which Tom wins, thanks to the benign influence of Anne. Defeated, Nick sinks into the ground, condemning Tom to insanity as he goes. Consigned to Bedlam, Tom believes he is Adonis. Anne ("Venus") visits him, sings him to sleep, then quietly leaves him. When he realises she has gone, he dies.

In an epilogue, each of the principal characters gives a moral drawn from their scenes in the opera, and then come together to ascribe a final joint moral, "for idle hands, and hearts and minds, the Devil finds a work to do."

Venue Info

Komische Oper Berlin - Berlin
Behrenstraße 55-57

The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces opera, operetta and musicals.

The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, just a few steps from Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, along with the Berlin State Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Berlin State Ballet, and the Bühnenservice Berlin (Stage and Costume Design), has been a member of the Berlin Opera Foundation.

The theatre was built between 1891 and 1892 by architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer for a private society. It first opened on 24 September 1892 as "Theater Unter den Linden" with Adolf Ferron's operetta Daphne and Gaul and Haßreiter's ballet Die Welt in Bild und Tanz.

The theatre was primarily a vehicle for operetta, but was also used for various other events and balls. Around 800 people could be seated in the stalls, and the balconies and various en-suite dinner rooms housed about a further 1,700 seats. Its directors went bankrupt in 1896 and the theatre was forced to close its doors.

On 3 September 1898 the theatre was reopened as Metropol-Theater with Julius Freund's revue Paradies der Frauen. It then grew to become one of Berlin's most famous and successful variety theatres. During the 1920s and early 1930s, it was leased by the brothers Alfred and Fritz Rotter. Under their management, it saw the premieres of two operettas by Franz Lehár - Friederike (opera) in 1928 and Das Land des Lächelns in 1929, both starring Richard Tauber. However, due to a decline of variety and music hall entertainment the theatre was again closed in 1933.

In 1934 the theatre was nationalised and renamed Staatliches Operettentheater. It operated as part of the Nazi Kraft durch Freude entertainment and leisure programmes. During World War II, the auditorium was damaged by Allied bombing on 7 May 1944. The façade, entrance hall, and auditorium ceiling murals were destroyed by bombs on 9 March 1945.

After the war, the theatre was in East Germany, being that the building was in the eastern part of Berlin. Following repair works and provisional rebuilding, the theatre reopened on 23 December 1947, as the Komische Oper with Johann Strauss's operetta Die Fledermaus.

The 1950s saw various further alterations and extensions. The theatre was completely rebuilt in 1965/1966 by Architektenkollektiv Kunz Nierade, adding functional extensions and giving the theatre a completely new exterior. The theatre reopened again on 4 December 1966, with Mozart's Don Giovanni. The auditorium underwent further restoration in 1986, and the stage technology was further modernised by 1989. Today the theatre seats 1,270.

In 1947, Walter Felsenstein founded and led the resident opera company, the Komische Oper, until his death in 1975. Götz Friedrich was an assistant to Felsenstein at the company. Joachim Herz became general director after Felsenstein's death and served until 1981. Subsequently, Harry Kupfer directed the company for 21 seasons, until 2002. The company specializes in German language productions of opera, operetta and musicals. In 2007 the company won, jointly with Oper Bremen, the "Opera house of the year" award by the German magazine Opernwelt. From 2002 to 2012, the company's chief director and Intendant was Andreas Homoki. In June 2008, the company announced the appointment of Barrie Kosky to succeed Homoki as its next Intendant, as of the 2012/2013 season. In October 2014, his contract with the company was extended through 2022. Since 2005, the company's managing director has been Susanne Moser.

From 1966 to 2004, the theatre was also home to a resident ballet company – first as the "Tanztheater der Komischen Oper", and then from 1999 as "BerlinBallett – Komische Oper". In 2004, due to budgetary problems, the separate ballet companies of Berlin's three opera houses were merged into a single company called the Staatsballett Berlin.

Past General Music Directors (GMD) of the company have included Kurt Masur, Rolf Reuter, Yakov Kreizberg, Kirill Petrenko, Carl St.Clair, and Patrick Lange. Since 2012, the GMD of the company is Henrik Nánási. Nánási is scheduled to conclude his tenure at the end of the 2017-2018 season. In May 2017, the company announced the appointment of Ainārs Rubiķis as its next GMD, effective with the 2018-2019 season, with an initial contract of 3 seasons.

Important Info

Type: Opera

City: Berlin, Germany

Starts at: 19:00

Acts: 3

Sung in: English

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