Lohengrin

About the production

• Run time: 4hrs 30min, 2 intermissions
• Sung in: German
• Subtitles: English, German and other languages
• Opera house: Vienna State Opera

The outstanding tenor Piotr Beczala sings the Swan Knight, sent by heaven to defend pure, innocent Elsa (Camilla Nylund), against the evil slander of Telramund (Tomasz Konieczny) and his wicked wife, Ortrud (Nina Stemme). But how can Elsa truly trust her hero, if she’s forbidden to even ask his name or where he comes from? Omer Meir Wellber leads the Vienna State Opera orchestra and chorus.

Ticket information

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Vienna State Opera

Address:

Michaelerplatz 1, A-1010 Wien

How to get there:

Underground: U1, U4 to Karlsplatz

Trams: 1, 2, D, 62, 71 to Opernring

After the performance taxis will drive up to the main entrance

World premiere: Großherzogliches Hoftheater, Weimar, 1850. Lohengrin has been interpreted both as an early masterpiece and as a major stepping stone towards Wagner’s Ring cycle. A hybrid opera, Lohengrin places supernatural Arthurian romance elements in the historical reign of King Heinrich I of Saxony (976-936). The themes explored extend from the spiritual (the role of the divine in human life) to the political (nation-building in times of transition and migration) to the deeply personal (the role of mystery to erotic attraction). The broad thematic spread within the story has led Wagner to create a score that triumphantly covers all areas, breathtaking in its sweeping variety, yet accessible and theatrically effective.

Creator
Richard Wagner (1813–83) was one of the most significant figures in the history of opera. His works transformed the course of Western music, either by extension of his discoveries or reaction against them. Wagner controlled all aspects of his theatrical works, writing both the music and the librettos of his operas, giving instructions for scenic design, staging, and action, and conducted most of their premieres. His aesthetic ideal was what he called a Gesamtkunstwerk (“total work of art”), meaning a work in which all art forms are united in the service of drama. Wagner drew inspiration for his opera Lohengrin from a German version of a legend widely known in variant forms from the European Middle Ages onward.

Setting
Wagner set his opera in Antwerp, under King Heinrich I of Saxony, around the year 930.

Music
The score of Lohengrin is a supreme achievement in Romanticism: It includes both Wagner’s most ethereal and most militaristic music. The best known excerpt is the "Bridal Chorus", which is used quite differently in the opera than most weddings would lead one to think.