FULL BLUTHOCHZEIT (Fortner) Stuttgart 1964 Marta Mödl, Anny Schlemm, Hans-Günter Nöcker

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Bluthochzeit  
• Composer: Fortner Wolfgang   
• Libretto: Wolfgang Fortner, based on Enrique Beck's German translation of García Lorca's 1933 play "Bodas de sangre".    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Württembergische Staatsoper, Stuttgart, Germany  
• Recorded: 1964
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Marta Mödl, Anny Schlemm, Hans-Günter Nöcker, Margarethe Bence, Hans-Ulrich Mielsch, Hetty Plumacher, Paula Brickaire
• Conductor: Ferdinand Leitner  
• Orchestra: Wurttemberg State Theatre Orchestra Stuttgart  
• Chorus Master: Heinz Mende  
• Choreographer: Nika Nilanova  
• Stage Director: Günther Rennert  
• Stage Designer: Leni Bauer-Ecsy  
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: ZDF  
• TV Director: Max Lehner  
• Date Published: 1964  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: yessubs, desubs  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

Blood Wedding is an opera version of the lyric tragedy of the same name in two acts (seven scenes) by Federico García Lorca , in the German translation by Enrique Beck . Wolfgang Fortner composed the music and reduced the original into two acts. The work had its premiere on June 8, 1957 at the Cologne Opera House under the direction of Günter Wand . Its great success meant that the work was soon taken up by numerous other theaters, but nowadays it is rarely found on repertoires. In 2013, the Wuppertal Opera brought out a much-acclaimed new production directed by Christian von Götz and conducted by Hilary Griffiths, which was recorded on DVD. Dalia Schaechter sings and plays the role of the mother.

The opera is set in an Andalusian village in the early 20th century.

Although many years have passed since the old woman lost her husband and eldest son to a blood feud, the memory of that terrible time still comes back to her painfully whenever she sees a sharp knife. Her only remaining son demands one of these from her so that he can cut grapes in the vineyard. Her son’s news that he has fallen in love with a girl who was once engaged to Leonardo, a member of the Félix family, stabs her in the heart; for she has this family to “owe” the darkest chapter of her life. Like a Cassandra, she has a feeling of how things will turn out.

Leonardo Félix has been married to a relative of his former bride for a few years and has become a father. Nevertheless, the news of his former fiancée’s upcoming wedding does not leave him unmoved; secretly, he has never stopped loving her. She herself still has a place for Leonardo in her heart. But she trusts that Leonardo will disappear from her thoughts once she has married her current fiancée.

The day of the wedding has arrived. Many guests have arrived, including Leonardo and his wife. The latter recognizes the bride’s beauty and notices how her husband is dazzled by her charms. When the traditional ribbon dance is about to take place, the bride is missing. But not only she, Leonardo too has disappeared off the face of the earth. Everything indicates that the two have fled on horseback into the nearby forest. The groom immediately sets out with a few men to search for the fugitives. Surrealistic figures such as the man in the moon with his bright light and Death as a beggar join them.

Eventually, the search party finds the fugitives in a cave. The inevitable happens: Leonardo and the groom attack each other with open knives and kill each other.

The mother waits in vain for her son to return. But instead of him, her daughter-in-law suddenly appears. In her boundless rage, she wants to kill her immediately, but when she hears the death knell, she becomes more conciliatory.

Men bring the bodies into the village. The neighbors mourn the dead. Now the knife has lost its terror for the mother:

It barely takes hold of the hand,
but coldly it penetrates
the flesh, surprising,
and only stops where
the dark, secret
root of the scream
trembles in confusion.

The neighbors kneel down and cry.

Quoted from Wikipedia

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