War Requiem

Synopsis/Details

«I am the enemy you killed, my friend,» writes an English lieutenant in 1918 on the front in northern France. On the day of the ceasefire, Wilfred Owen falls at the age of 25. The death knell and the peal of peace bells overlap, their echo resonating in Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem: an anti-militarist, anti-nationalist monument of remembrance, collective mourning and personal loss. Marked by the violence of two world wars, the work was premiered in 1962 to celebrate the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral. Just as the ruins are integrated into the new architecture there, Owen’s poems also disrupt the structure of the Latin Requiem Mass. Britten’s setting draws on the emotional power of the Requiem tradition and incorporates that insight into human nature that distinguishes him as an opera composer. War Requiem stands for pacifism as an artistic stance and, sadly, is no less relevant in our political present. The internationally acclaimed production from London where, in 2018, it commemorated the end of the First World War, also makes a stance for peace. It is now being rehearsed by the artistic team around director Daniel Kramer and photographer Wolfgang Tillmans at the invitation of Deutsche Oper Berlin. In this production, Kramer’s poetically powerful physical work merges with the unconventional, worldly perspective of star photographer Tillmans, who is making his operatic debut in Berlin. Together, they create timeless situations where trauma and solace, weight and intimacy reside. Photographic snapshots crown the space, seeming to observe themselves, coalescing into silent landscapes. In the spirit of artistic exchange, the solo parts at the premiere were to be sung by a Russian soprano, a British tenor and a German baritone. At the last minute, the Soviet government prevented its star soprano from participating. Now this symbolic cast is to be realised under the musical direction of Britten expert Sir Donald Runnicles with Elena Tsallagova, Nicky Spence and Björn Bürger.

Introduction: 45 minutes before the performance in the Rang Foyer on the right

Language: In Latin and English with German and English surtitles

Duration: approx. 90 minutes / no interval

Age recommendation: from age 14

Co-production: This production was originally created by English National Opera and National Performing Arts Center (Taiwan). With generous support from: International Music and Art Foundation, Dr Manfred Semmer and Dr Karlheinz Knauthe, Arend and Brigitte Oetker, Stiftung für die Deutsche Oper Berlin

Cast

War Requiem, Op. 66
Text based on the Missa de profunctis and poems by Wilfred Owen
First performed on May 30, 1962, at Coventry Cathedral
Premiere at English National Opera on 16 November 2018
Premiere at Deutsche Oper Berlin on 18 June 2027

Team

Conductor: Sir Donald Runnicles

Director: Daniel Kramer

Stage design: Wolfgang Tillmans

Costume design: Nasir Mashar

Light design: Charles Balfour

Assistant director: Elaine Tyler-Hall

Choreography: Ann Lee

Choreography of military scenes: Nicky Moffat

Chorus direction: Marco Medved

Children's Chorus direction: Christian Lindhorst

Dramaturgy: Johanna Danhauser; Luc Joosten

Cast

Soprano: Elena Tsallagova

Tenor: Nicky Spence

Baritone: Björn Bürger

Chorus: Kinderchor der Deutschen Oper Berlin; Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Orchestra: Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Venue

Deutsche Oper Berlin

The Deutsche Oper Berlin is an opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house and also home to the Berlin State Ballet.

The company's history goes back to the Deutsches Opernhaus built by the then independent city of Charlottenburg—the "richest town of Prussia"—according to plans designed by Heinrich Seeling from 1911. It opened on November 7, 1912 with a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio, conducted by Ignatz Waghalter. After the incorporation of Charlottenburg by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act, the name of the resident building was changed to Städtische Oper (Municipal Opera) in 1925.

Deutsches Opernhaus, 1912
With the Nazi Machtergreifung in 1933, the opera was under control of the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Minister Joseph Goebbels had the name changed back to Deutsches Opernhaus, competing with the Berlin State Opera in Mitte controlled by his rival, the Prussian minister-president Hermann Göring. In 1935, the building was remodeled by Paul Baumgarten and the seating reduced from 2300 to 2098. Carl Ebert, the pre-World War II general manager, chose to emigrate from Germany rather than endorse the Nazi view of music, and went on to co-found the Glyndebourne opera festival in England. He was replaced by Max von Schillings, who acceded to enact works of "unalloyed German character". Several artists, like the conductor Fritz Stiedry or the singer Alexander Kipnis followed Ebert into emigration. The opera house was destroyed by a RAF air raid on 23 November 1943. Performances continued at the Admiralspalast in Mitte until 1945. Ebert returned as general manager after the war.

After the war, the company in what was now West Berlin used the nearby building of the Theater des Westens until the opera house was rebuilt. The sober design by Fritz Bornemann was completed on 24 September 1961. The opening production was Mozart's Don Giovanni. The new building opened with the current name.

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War Requiem

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