San Francisco Opera mounts a rarity, Erich Wolfgang Korngold's 1920 opera Die Tote Stadt ("The Dead City"), the story of a man obsessed with the memory of his deceased wife.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold is chiefly remembered for his second career as a film composer, with scores for such classic films as The Sea Hawk and The Adventures of Robin Hood. But he also wrote one of the most celebrated operas of the 1920s, Die Tote Stadt ("The Dead City").

This harrowing story, which stands at the juncture between German Romanticism and 20th century Surrealism, concerns a man named Paul who is obsessed with the memory of his deceased wife, Marie. He bumps into a woman, Marietta, who reminds him of Marie. This encounter causes Paul to have a series of unsettling visions which leads him to question his devotion to his dead wife. Providing a dark and haunting backdrop to the opera is the city of Bruges, Belgium.

The San Francisco Opera notes: "A man's obsession with his dead wife threatens his sanity in Erich Wolfgang Korngold's intense psychological study—a harrowing mix of hallucinatory fantasy and painful reality that has been compared to Hitchcock's Vertigo. This emotionally gripping, visually arresting trip into the dark side of a troubled psyche features a voluptuous, colorful score reminiscent of both Puccini and Richard Strauss."

Die Tote Stadt is lusciously textured and colorfully scored, featuring principal vocalists, three separate choruses, eight offstage sopranos and a massive symphony orchestra. This performance represents the company premiere by the San Francisco Opera.

More about Die Tote Stadt on the San Francisco Opera's web site.

Cast & Credits

Paul: Torsten Kerl

Marie/Marietta: Emily Magee

Fritz, Frank: Lucas Meachem

Brigitta: Katharine Tier

Juliette: Ji Young Yang

Lucienne: Daniela Mack

Victorin: Alek Shrader

Count Albert: Andrew Bidlack

Gaston: Bryan Ketron

Paul's Double: Ben Bongers

Conductor: Donald Runnicles

Original Director: Willy Decker

Revival Director: Meisje Hummel

Approximate running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes including one intermission