Music & Poetry 2

Der Freischütz. Eine Volkssage

In 1810, the Gespensterbuch was published in Leipzig, a collection of horror tales bound to cause quite a stir. One of its first fans was the then 23-year-old Carl Maria von Weber. He was especially intrigued by August Apel’s tragic and gloomy story Der Freischütz. Together with a friend he immediately began adapting it for an opera setting. But it was only in 1817, when Weber resumed working on the project. Following the theatre conventions of his time, librettist Johann Friedrich Kind toned down many of the motives of the original novella and pardons Max, who is hooked on magic bullets. During this evening, however, Sarah Viktoria Frick, actress at the Burgtheater, presents the original story of 1810 – and its tragic and upsetting ending. Pianist Sergey Tanin celebrated his debut at the Bregenzer Festspiele in the previous summer. With his music, he creates a setting that is reminiscent of the time in which the story originated. 

Reading Sarah Viktoria Frick
Piano Sergey Tanin

DURATION approx. 70 minutes (no intermission)
In German language