In the summer of 1595 — or maybe it was 1596, nobody knows for sure — a young English playwright woke up from a weird and wonderful dream and started writing it all down as fast as he could, before the dream faded. In this dream the Duke of Athens, Read More …
This distinguished gentleman casting a skeptical eye at Berlin’s largest opera house is none other than the great English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616), whose bust was given to the city of Berlin by the city of London on the occasion of Berlin’s 750th birthday. Up to now I have only Read More …
During his long career, Giuseppe Verdi composed twenty-six operas — or twenty-eight, depending what you count as what. The following list is the 28-opera version, with the year of the world premiere in parentheses after each title. I have listed the opera titles in different colors: Red means I have Read More …
One of William Shakespeare’s biggest fans in the 19th century was the great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), who based three of his operas on Shakespeare plays, namely Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff. The composer’s second favorite author was the 18th century German playwright Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), whom Verdi admired not Read More …
Okay, so Juliet might have been a fictional character, but that didn’t stop her from having a house and a balcony. Supposedly this house really did belong to a 14th century Veronese family which just might have been one of the families Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote his Read More …
This banner proclaims: “People from 29 nations work under this roof.” The roof in question is the one on the city theater in Mönchengladbach, Germany, and the banner serves to remind us that these local and regional theaters are actually quite international places, with singers, actors, musicians, dancers and stage Read More …
This is a city-owned theater with its own opera ensemble, orchestra and chorus. I have only seen one opera here so far, namely Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) by Richard Wagner (1813-1883), which I have also seen numerous times in Frankfurt am Main, Wiesbaden, Mainz and Dortmund. The Flying Read More …