The Treasure Hunter
Franz Schreker
New production by the Opéra national du Rhin.
Coproduced with the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
[Der Schatzgräber]
Opera in four acts with a prologue and an epilogue.
Libretto by the composer.
Premiered on 21 January 1920 at the Oper Frankfurt.
French premiere.
Infos
Mulhouse
La Filature
Strasbourg
Opéra
Duration: 2hr50 including interval.
Cast
Musical Director Marko Letonja Stage Director Christof Loy Decor Johannes Leiacker Costumes Barbara Drosihn Lighting Olaf Winter Chœur de l’Opéra national du Rhin, Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg
Artists
Elis Thomas Blondelle Els Helena Juntunen The Fool Paul Schweinester The King Derek Welton The Queen Doke Pauwels The Chancellor Damian Arnold The Count, the Herald Damien Gastl Le Médecin du Roi Daniel Dropulja The Bailiff Kay Stiefermann The Gentleman James Newby The Writer Glen Cunningham The Innkeeper Per Bach Nissen Albi Tobias Hächler Un lansquenet Fabien Gaschy Voix du lointain Laurence Hunckler-ElMoncef, Anna-Chiara Muff, Stella Oïkonomou
Presentation
The Queen has lost her jewels which gave her beauty and fertility. On the counsel of his fool, the King commands wandering minstrel Elis to hunt the missing treasure with his magic lute. Els, the innkeeper’s daughter, also wants to find the jewels and is prepared to lie, steal and murder to do so. Poor Elis is wrongly accused of a litany of crimes but is saved from execution at the last moment. He falls madly in love with Els and gives her the Queen’s jewels. Els offers herself to Elis and forgets, for one night, her desire for gold as she abandons herself to the true treasure of love.
Written in the throes of the First World War, The Treasure Hunter was completed the day after the Armistice. It was staged in Frankfurt in 1920 and became one of the most successful operas of the Weimar Republic. Its composer Franz Schreker, a leading light of the opera of this period, displays his faith in opera as humanity’s only path to salvation in a score infused with stunning post-Romantic colors, the fading lights of a twilight world. Unjustly forgotten after being banned by the Third Reich, this work makes its premiere in France in this production staged by Christof Loy with musical direction from Marko Letonja.
In German
Overtitled in French, German
