It can be hard to see the wood for the trees – in art as in love. The composer Fritz learns this lesson at a devastating cost.

Season 26/27

The Opera House
Main Stage

Duration

3 hours and 35 minutes incl. 2 intermissions

Price

180 - 1,105 DKK

including servicefees

Performance dates

The artist’s all-consuming pursuit of perfection lies at the heart of Franz Schreker’s sumptuously orchestrated opera. We meet the young composer Fritz, driven by a desperate desire to recapture “the distant sound” he once heard so clearly. What begins as artistic longing becomes an obsession. He abandons everything – even his beloved Grete – and sets out into the world in search of the elusive sound, which seems only to fade the further he travels. Fritz fails to understand that the sound he seeks springs from the love of the woman he left behind. The question is whether he will realise this truth before it is too late.

Schreker wrote both libretto and music for Der ferne Klang. The opera was an immediate success and heralded a new flowering of German-language opera in the early 20th century. For two decades it remained a staple of the repertoire. But when the Nazis came to power, Schreker’s music was branded “degenerate” and banned because of his Jewish heritage. His operas, rich in colour and sensuous orchestration, are now – thankfully – returning to the world’s great opera stages.

The acclaimed director Christof Loy signs the production, while the Royal Danish Theatre’s Principal Conductor, Marie Jacquot, leads the Royal Danish Orchestra and an outstanding cast, including last season’s critically acclaimed Apollo in Orest, Thomas Blondelle, in the title role of Fritz.

Der ferne Klang is performed in German with Danish and English surtitles.

Photo: Kungliga Operan/Monika Rittershaus

Recommended from 12 years old

Der ferne Klang

date 07.03.2027 - 24.03.2027

location The Opera House - Main Stage

Price 180 - 1,105 DKK