Wozzeck

When the German writer Georg Büchner died in 1837 at the age of 23, he left behind an unfinished masterpiece, Woyzeck. His fragmentary theatre text was only performed on stage for the first time in 1913. A year later, the young composer Alban Berg witnessed a performance. He was immediately convinced that Büchner’s revolutionary work should become the starting point for his very first opera. The result: one of the most groundbreaking and moving scores in the opera repertoire. The internationally acclaimed Johan Simons, who directed Verdi’s Don Carlos at our house a few seasons ago, has already tackled Büchner’s play text three times and is now venturing into Berg’s opera adaptation. The music inspires him to fully get into the head of Wozzeck, a penniless man at the bottom of the social ladder. Moreover, the exploited Wozzeck suffers from delusions that no one understands – an intolerable and dangerous situation that can only end fatally.