Die Großherzogin von Gerolstein

Uniformis amor, or an especially acute predilection for uniforms and their content. When a reigning head of state is consumed by it, things can get rather tricky rather quickly! In next to no time a private first class becomes a commanding general, court hangers-on become jittery about their influence, and wars are waged on a whim. But woe betide when the object of the state leader’s desire follows entirely different plans ...!

No less than a brightly coloured satire on militarism, favouritism, particularism and provincialism took Jacques Offenbach to the highpoint of his career with the operetta, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, which he presented in 1867 as his “cultural contribution”, as it were, to the Paris World Exhibition. Based on a fictitious grand duchy, with his librettists he created a dazzling stage piece, including some of his most beautiful melodies, which today is even more topical than ever with the current warmongering and abuse of power. Following its celebrated 2020 premiere at Dresden’s Semperoper, Josef E. Köpplinger’s trenchant staging can now be enjoyed in Munich!

Programmheft Leseprobe DIE GROSSHERZOGIN VON GEROLSTEIN