Der Besuch der alten Dame (opera)

Der Besuch der alten Dame (The Visit of the Old Lady) is an opera in three acts by Gottfried von Einem to a German libretto by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, based on his play of the same name.

For the play by Friedrich Dürrenmatt and other works based on it, see The Visit (play).

Der Besuch der alten Dame
Opera by Gottfried von Einem
Translation	The Visit of the Old Lady
Librettist	Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Language	German
Based on	Dürrenmatt's play The Visit
Premiere	23 March 1971 (1971-03-23) Vienna State Opera

Performance history

The work was first performed at the Vienna State Opera on 23 May 1971, with Horst Stein conducting and Christa Ludwig in the principal role.[1] The German premiere was staged at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 1 March 1972. Further productions followed in Strasbourg and Karl Marx Stadt in 1973, and in Stockholm in 1976. [2] The work had its United States premiere on 25 October 1972 at the San Francisco Opera in a production directed by Francis Ford Coppola and using an English translation by Norman Tucker.

Recent productions include a run of five performances at the Görlitz Theatre, Germany in May/June 2010.[3]

Roles

Role[4]	Voice type[4]	Premiere cast[1] 23 May 1971 (Conductor: Horst Stein)
Claire Zachanassian, multi-millionairess	mezzo-soprano	Christa Ludwig
Her husband No. 7	actor	Wolfgang Peschel
Her husband No. 9	tenor	Elmar Brenneis
The butler	character tenor	Heinz Zednik
Toby, Roby, chewing chewing-gum	actors	Erich Trachtenberg, Klaus Peters
Koby, Loby, blind	tenors	Karl Terkal, Fritz Sperlbauer
Alfred Ill	high baritone	Eberhard Wächter
His wife	lyric soprano	Emmy Loose
His daughter	mezzo-soprano	Laurence Dutoit
His son	tenor	Ewald Aichberger
The mayor	heldentenor	Hans Beirer
The preacher	bass-baritone	Manfred Jungwirth
The teacher	baritone	Hans Hotter
The doctor	baritone	Siegfried Rudolf Frese
The policeman	bass-baritone	Alois Pernerstorfer
First woman	soprano
Second woman	soprano
Hofbauer, citizen	tenor
Helmesberger, citizen	baritone
Station master	bass-baritone
Train driver	bass-baritone
Conductor	tenor
Reporter	spoken role
Cameraman	bass
A voice	tenor
Chorus: citizens of Güllen

Recordings

A recording of the world premiere performance at the Vienna State Opera was released by Deutsche Grammophon on LP. This recording has been reissued on CD by Amadeo.[2]

References

1. "Almanacco 23 May 1971" (in Italian). AmadeusOnline. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
2. "Der Besuch der alten Dame von von Einem" (in German). operone.de. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
3. "Performances - Der Besuch der alten Dame". Operabase. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
4. "Gottfried von Einem - Der Besuch der alten Dame - opera". Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved 11 September 2010.