Erich Wolfgang Korngold's "Die tote Stadt" in a Bayerische Staatsoper production from 2019, directed by Simon Stone. Kirill Petrenko is conducting Jonas Kaufmann and Marlis Petersen.
This Finnish National Opera production of the opera “Die tote Stadt” by Erich Wolfgang Korngold was staged by Kasper Holten, with Klaus Florian Vogt as Paul and Camilla Nylund as Marietta, while Mikko Franck directed the Finnish National Orchestra.
"Die tote Stadt" is a psychologically layered drama with Hitchcock-like features, about Paul who, after the loss of his beloved Marie, slowly but surely becomes entangled in a dream world of obsessions and delusions. This impressive opera is a passionate as well as a surrealistic plea for mourning. "He who cannot live with death has no life."
Hugues cannot get over the untimely death of his wife Blanche, who made him happy for ten years. He lives alone in his house in Bruges, a city he would like to be dead like his wife. The sorrowful widower has transformed the place he lives in into a shrine dedicated to his beloved wife. One day, he meets Jeanne, a ballet dancer, who looks like Blanche.
After a period of sorrow, Fernando de Arellano, a rich businessman who has recently lost his young wife Blanca from a serious ilness, meets Mónica, who looks identical to her.
Sergei's beloved wife Yelena has passed away, and the bereaved husband is inconsolable. He remains obsessed with pictures of Yelena and with a braid of her hair that he has saved. Based on the novel Bruges-la-Morte by Georges Rodenbach.