Organization

Conductor

Sylvain Cambreling

Stage director

Peter Mussbach

Set designer

Costume designer

Benedikt Ramm

Singer

Baritone

Dale Duesing

Wozzeck

Tenor

Ronald Hamilton

Drum Major

Barry Banks

Andres

Dieter Bundschuh

Captain

Bass

Frode Olsen

Doctor

Bodo Schwanbeck

First apprentice

Alexander Spemann

Second apprentice

William Saetre

The madman

Soprano

Kristine Ciesinski

Marie

Contralto

Linda Ormiston

Margret

Chorus master

Johannes Mikkelsen

Others

Choir of the Frankfurt Opera

Chor und Kinderchor der Oper Frankfurt

Orchestra

Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester

Alte Oper Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main

Germany

A work in three acts, Wozzeck was Berg's first opera. Inspired by the play of the German playwright Georg Büchner, Woyzeck, who was himself inspired by an apparently banal event of 1821: Wozzeck, a Leipzig barber, assassinated his mistress and was condemned to death after trying in vain to demonstrate his insanity.

Wozzeck reflects one of Berg's recurring preoccupations as an artist: the fight of the individual against society and the state. In a letter from August 7, 1918, Alban Berg wrote to his wife: "[...] There is a little of myself in this character, to the extent that I spent the war years dependent upon people I hated; I was chained, sickened, captive, resigned, and humiliated." This opera is also considered as the first atonal opera, while continuing to rely on traditional musical forms.

Public

Spanish

German

Approved

Production booklet

Further reading