The Distant Sound

Address

Ekvipagemestervej 10,
1438 København

The Distant Sound

Description

It can be hard to see the wood for the trees. Both when it comes to art and love. The composer Fritz learns this the hard way. The artist's all-consuming pursuit of perfection is at the heart of Franz Schreker's lavishly orchestrated opera. Here we meet the young composer Fritz, who desperately tries to recreate ’the distant sound’ that he once heard so clearly. The project grows into an obsession that makes him give up everything - including his beloved Grete - and travel out into the world in search of the sound, which only seems to grow fainter and fainter the further away he gets. For Fritz does not understand that the sound springs from the love of his beloved. And the question is whether he will realise it before it is too late. Schreker wrote both text and music for The Distant Sound, and it was an instant success that heralded a new golden age for German-language opera at the beginning of the 20th century. It was a regular part of the repertoire for 20 years, but when the Nazis came to power, Schreker's music was branded degenerate and banned, because he was Jewish. Schreker's operas are full of colourful and sensuous music, and now they are fortunately on their way back to the world's opera stages. The acclaimed director Christof Loy has staged it, and Det Kongelige Kapel's chief conductor Marie Jacquot leads a large team of soloists, with last season's critically praised Apollon in Orest, Thomas Blondelle, in the leading role as Fritz. The Distant Sound is sung in German with Danish and English surtitles. In collaboration with Kungliga Operan, Stockholm Photo: Kungliga Operan/Monika Rittershaus Recommended from age 12