Hans Pfitzner: "Palestrina" at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich

Hans Pfitzner: Palestrina.Trailer of the première at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich on January 19, 2009

Musical direction: Simone Young
Stage direction: Christian Stückl

With: Christopher Ventris (Palestrina), Michael Volle (Giovanni Morone), John Daszak (Bernardo Novagerio), Falk Struckmann (Carlo Borromeo), Wolfgang Koch (Graf Luna), Christiane Karg (Ighino), Gabriela Scherer (Silla) a.o.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Pfitzner
• Palestrina
• Bayerische Staatsoper
• Bavarian State Opera
• Nationaltheater
• Simone Young
• Christian Stückl
• Christopher Ventris
• Falk Struckmann

[WolligesHangschaf]

Ich fand es grausam, und bin wie die meisten in der ersten Pause gegangen!

[ragadolls]

I think it looks like a magnificent production, with the fabulous Aussie Simone Young really nailing the score. A true 20th century masterpiece, (Bruno Walter certainly thought so) unmistakably modern but loaded with the most poignant melody, could have been a great blueprint for the future. Just a shame poor old Hans found himself on the wrong side of history.

[samfish1981]

who knows the woman be shown on the screen and appears on the stage at 2:36 as the giant puppet?is his dead wife????????

[callasnuts]

@feurzauber So are your stupid comments

[feurzauber]

Pfitzner' s music is a good remedy for the insomnia !



[seattle813]

Wish I could be in HH in June. This is a great opera, much maligned: "Parsifal without the jokes!" By all accounts Pfitzner was not a pleasant human being, but his music is worth more attention than it gets.

[PigeonPeople]

@jgesselberty Yes, but this is good.

[jgesselberty]

I can never understand why rarely performed operas have to be done in modern dress or tricked out like a whore. They aren't performed often enough to need reworking to make them fresh. Gotta love the flying green nun and the pope mobile though.

[Kaiserinbeatrix]

Die Frankfurter Inszenierung war trotz der ein wenig billigen Aktualisierung eindringlicher und nicht zuletzt wegen des Spiels von Kurt Streit einfahrender. Für die Musik gilt: Es klang so alt, - und war doch so neu. Ein großer Meister wenigstens für die, die ausgeschlafen sind und Sitzfleisch haben.

[pfitzner1]

papoocanada has it right. A musically strong performance totally subverted by despicable staging and direction. (The giant puppet at 3:13 is the Pope, whose mouth is being operated by the hands.) As for "Palestrina" being a "Nazi" opera, the Nazis had no special love for Pfitzner, and he had to go begging for a pension. Goebbels went as far as to call him in and scream at him. He said he rather liked "Das Herz", but found Palestrina intolerable.