DER TRAUMGÖRGE / GÖRGE THE DREAMER

ALEXANDER ZEMLINSKY (1871-1942)

Opera in 2 acts with an epilogue 
Libretto by Leo Feld
First performed October 11 1980, Nürnberg Opera House

Sung in German with German & English surtitles
Introductory talks (in German) in the Holzfoyer 30 mins before performances begin

If fairy stories turned into reality … Dream or nightmare?

Vienna enjoyed a cultural ascendency of epochal significance at the turn of the 20th century. Sigmund Freud’s pioneering analysis of dreams and interpretations of the unconscious world inspired literature, theatre and music. Görge, the lead figure in Zemlinsky’s opera, processes his fears and fate in his dreams too. He lives in a world of books and falls in love with a dream princess. He’s supposed to be marrying Grete, a down to earth young woman, who wishes he was more realistic, but Görge wants to make his love story come true and flees. He ends up as a boozer in a village, an outsider again. He realises that his dream princess is Gertraud, a notorious arsonist and witch. With her he can »listen to his fairy story, dream, and more«.

The central themes in the opera, rejection and hate of the unknown run like a red thread through Alexander Zemlinsky’s life: He lived through the first pogrom against Jewish artists. One of its prominent victims was the court opera director Gustav Mahler, who commissioned the work. Zemlinsky's ill-fated love for Alma Schindler, troubles and sorrows were poured into his third opera. The world premiere was cancelled when Mahler was sacked, and not performed for the first time until 1980, the highlight of a Zemlinsky Renaissance in Nürnberg. His highly romantic and expressive music sometimes brings Wagner, Mahler and Humperdinck to mind, but is highly original and inspired. Zemlinsky‘s score sparkles with brilliant ideas and sophisticated harmonies, which reflect moments in a story about outsiderhood, distorted fairy tale worlds and alternative ways of life.