Wozzeck

Alban Berg revolutionised the opera tradition in 1925 with a gripping story that combines drama, murder and social study. The folk opera stars Daniel Schmutzhard (Wozzeck) and Annette Dasch (Marie), together with chief conductor Vassilis Christopoulos on the podium of the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra, explore the expressive sound world of Berg’s masterpiece. After his successful Austrian debut in Graz with Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser and stints in Vienna and Salzburg, director Evgeny Titov returns to Graz Opera with one of the most important operas of the 20th century.

Alban Berg’s first opera Wozzeck, begun before the First World War and completed in 1922, is considered a groundbreaking creation of atonal music and a key work of the 20th century. Based on Georg Büchner’s drama fragment, Berg’s opera depicts a gloomy constellation of hopelessness in a “human experimental set-up”: the simple soldier Franz Wozzeck is abused by his captain and a doctor for medical experiments. His wife Marie cheats on him with a drum major. The more Wozzeck’s room for manoeuvre narrows, the more the captain and the doctor – portrayed as two human archetypes – afflict him, the greater Wozzeck’s distress becomes. He loses his mind. His distress finds an outlet in the femicide of his wife Marie. The murder of her appears to be a futile attempt to regain his own sovereignty of action.
Berg’s dissonant soundscape creates an oppressive atmosphere and not only reflects the inner turmoil of the title character, but also makes both the human abyss and the fragility of mankind tangible in a touching way.