The Rake's Progress by Stravinsky, pen 25 lap 2022, Nuo (2022/2023), Režisierius Immo Karaman,, Dirigentas Daniel Montané, Staatstheater, Mainz, Germany

Tom Rakewell leads a solid life with his fiancée Ann Trulove and her father. One day the shady Nick Shadow stands at the door with the news that Tom has inherited rich. Tom cannot resist the temptation to embark on a journey with Shadow that leads him down fateful astray: he forgets his beloved Ann, hangs around in brothels and sells the entire inheritance. He wins the last card game against the devil, but that costs him his brains and he ends up in a madhouse. The pact with the devil, the sold soul: Igor Stravinsky dealt with the Faustian motif again and again and in different forms in his work. The Rake's Progressis like a crazy ghost train ride into perdition. Stravinsky found two congenial librettists in WH Auden and Chester S. Kallman who struck the perfect balance between historical tone, travesty and subtle allusions to play with irony, parody and a panopticon of characters who repeatedly look at Tom as if from a distorting mirror . In terms of composition, Stravinsky plays with the history of opera with a passionate virtuosity, as it is an homage above all to Mozart and the classical period. Recitatives, arias and ensembles breathe the spirit of the late 18th century - and are nevertheless placed in the contemporary context of the 20th century.