Resounding success with Gottfried von Einem’s “Danton’s Death”

In 1939, 21-year-old Gottfried von Einem encountered the first play by 22-year-old Georg Büchner – and was overwhelmed. The result of this encounter, Danton’s Death, is the first opera by a living composer to be premiered at the Salzburg Festival in 1947. The significance of the work was immediately recognized, and productions soon followed in Vienna, Hamburg, Berlin, Hanover, Stuttgart, Paris, Brussels, and New York. Translated into six languages, Gottfried von Einem’s opera conquered the stages of the world. Unlike in Büchner’s play, the people – the revolution – play one of the leading roles, and the choral scenes are among the most effective that von Einem composed in his essentially tonal score. The mass scenes, but also Danton’s justification before the revolutionary tribunal, lend the opera a melodramatic pathos that is foreign to Büchner and which von Einem further fuels with his striking musical language.

The new production of “Danton’s Death” – directed by General Director Kay Kuntze and conducted by GMD Ruben Gazarian – enjoyed an acclaimed premiere in Gera on September 16, 2022.

  • Thüringische Landeszeitung; Ostthüringer Zeitung (Wolfgang Hirsch), September 2022
  • “In the pit, the excellent orchestra under GMD Ruben Gazarian creates a clearly contoured tumult in tonal soundscapes, which is splendid, but anything but culinary. Well-measured tempos and motor skills unfold a hallucinogenic pull.”
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  • Der neue Merker (Christoph Suhre), November 2024
  • “Under the baton of GMD Ruben Gazarian, the Altenburg Gera Philharmonic Orchestra played with dedication. The electrifying sharpness of the music is simply part of the piece—as are Lucile’s cantilena-like songs.
  • When the curtain fell, there was silence at first. Then the applause broke out, long, enthusiastic, and loud.
  • The effort put into this work was well worth it!”
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  • Das Orchester (Roland Dippel), December 2022
  • “A premiere that had been on hold for a long time due to lockdown turned into a powerful evening of opera. […] In Gera’s Art Nouveau Theater, the orchestra pit curves far into the horseshoe-shaped oval. The open acoustics enhance the striking effect. […]
  • The masses’ anticipation of the slaughter becomes clearer than their fear, even though GMD Ruben Gazarian and the Altenburg Gera Philharmonic Orchestra model not only the violence but also the splendor and curves of Einem’s musical language; grand opera in just 90 minutes, denouncing the essentials with the courage to leave gaps and with grand gestures in a short period of time.”