Opera (Dramma lirico) in a prologue, two acts and an epilogue by Alberto Franchetti Libretto: Luigi Illica Premier: 15 March, 1902, Milan
Recorded: 2006, Deutsche Oper Berlin
World premiere recording
It is a fact probably known to just a few people today that it was an Italian composer who took a chapter of German history from the early 19th century as the setting for an opera, calling it "Germania" (= Germany). The opera tells the story of a private tragedy against the background of the German rebellion against Napoleon's occupational forces. Such clashes eventually led up to the Battle of Nations at Leipzig in 1813. In his series of DVDs of forgotten operas, Capriccio now presents the fi rst performance of the opera "Germania" in Germany staged since 1908. Kirsten Harms presented a sensational new production of this work at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2006. |