Bregenz Festival
Eerie village on the shores of Lake Constance
On Wednesday, the Bregenz Festival celebrated the topping-out ceremony for the stage set of this year's play on the lake, "Der Freischütz" by Carl Maria von Weber. From July 17, the romantic opera can be seen for the first time on the lake stage on 28 evenings in Philipp Stölzl's production. Stölzl is also responsible for the stage design.
The actual topping-out ceremony on the Seebühne fell through in the cold, wet weather: "As usual in Bregenz, we trembled for a long time because of the weather. Then we gave up and decided: We'll do it inside," said communications manager Babette Karner. Those responsible, such as Artistic Director Elisabeth Sobotka and Philipp Stölzl, who were equipped with construction helmets, took the relocation of the topping-out ceremony to the Festspielhaus with humor. "Today I don't really care that it's raining. It fits in well with the stage design," said Sobotka.
For "Der Freischütz", a 1,400 square meter artificial lagoon was created on the shore wall, which will transform the lake stage into a winter swamp landscape. It is 25 centimetres deep in most places, but there are also corridors and areas where performers can disappear and reappear elsewhere - all on a non-slip surface. The approximately 500,000 liters of lake water in the pool are circulated by pumps twice a day and ceramic filters ensure cleanliness.
On the stage itself, the smallest of the eight crooked houses in the Freischütz village is just the size of a dog kennel, while the village inn, with a floor area of 16 square meters, is like a small living room. The houses and the church tower, which is around twelve meters high, are made of a wood and steel construction. The Kaschur team achieved the stone and wood look with polystyrene, filler and paint.
30 deceptively real-looking bare trees, which have been standing on the lake stage since the winter, consist of a tubular steel frame, which was given a natural look with rabbit mesh, filler, mortar and paint. The mysterious impression is completed by the moon, which hovers above the snow-covered stage hills. It has a diameter of six meters and is also made of wood and polystyrene.
Never seen before
Sobotka, like Stölzl, was enthusiastic about the backdrop. "It has become an exciting new approach. We've never had a stage set like this before. The play creates its own stage design," said the artistic director, who is entering her last festival season in Bregenz. The team is looking forward to the rehearsals, stunt rehearsals have already taken place. "We are ready," says Sobotka.
Spectators should shiver
Stölzl wants the atmosphere to make the audience shiver even in the summer heat: "'Der Freischütz' is basically a dark Faust story: Max sells his soul for earthly happiness and pays bitterly for it. Essential conflicts are fought out in the draughty huts, the battle is fierce." A highly satisfied Stölzl said that he had known the Bregenz lake stage for eight years and had fallen in love with the lake. He had deliberately brought water into the lake stage and the expanse of the lake played a greater role than in the past.
Der Freischütz opens the 78th Bregenz Festival on July 17, 2024. For his second production on Lake Constance (after Rigoletto from 2019 to 2021), Munich-based Stölzl is not only responsible for the direction and set design, but also for the lighting design. Conductor in Residence Enrique Mazzola, who was also the musical director for Rigoletto, and Erina Yashima will conduct.
Additional performance
With an additional performance scheduled for August 15, a total of around 199,000 tickets have been issued for the 28-night performance on the lake, almost 70 percent of which have already been booked. Sobotka noted: "The premiere was sold out earlier than ever before."
Kommentare
Willkommen in unserer Community! Eingehende Beiträge werden geprüft und anschließend veröffentlicht. Bitte achten Sie auf Einhaltung unserer Netiquette und AGB. Für ausführliche Diskussionen steht Ihnen ebenso das krone.at-Forum zur Verfügung. Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.