Germany’s
northern-most state of Schleswig-Holstein is one its most rural and
has only a few major centres of population, though the separate city
state of Hamburg abuts it to the south. Otherwise, there are just the
port cities of Flensburg (on the Danish border), Kiel and Lübeck,
but all three places are very worthwhile visiting – for their opera
as much as their other attractions.
FLENSBURG
(forthcoming)
KIEL
(forthcoming)
2015/16
repertoire:
Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt
Mahagonny, Das Rheingold, My Fair Lady, Carmen, Tosca, Die Walküre,
Orpheus und Eurydike.
Tickets:
€8–46.
LÜBECK
Theater
Lübeck maintains an achievement and reputation above and beyond the
confines of this historic Hanseatic city, cemented in 2010 when its
particularly resourceful Ring
cycle was filmed for DVD and won major prizes. Its Wagnerian
credentials were maintained for a few years more, though changes in
music director and intendant have in the meantime begun to take the
company in different directions. It’s a classic ensemble-based
company, which means it can operate a broad semi-stagione regime that
can keep productions on the go right through the season – for
instance, its keystone season launch production in the autumn is
usually picked up at least once monthly until the spring. It is often
possible to see two or more operas in a single visit, though the
theatre also stages as many plays, dance and some musicals.
Theatre:
Theater Lübeck is one of the most exquisite in all Germany, an
intimate, Jugendstil gem of a building that survived the war largely
unscathed and was fully modernised in the 1990s. Its Parkett and
three tiers seat roughly 950. It sits in the heart of the old part of
the city, a 20-minute walk from Lübeck Hbf, via the Holstentor and
Rathaus square.
2015/16
repertoire:
Fidelio, West Side Story, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Così fan tutte,
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, I Capuleti e i Montecchi, Attila, plus
revivals of The Fairy Queen, L’elisir d’amore, Hänsel und
Gretel, La bohème, Im weißen Rößl.
Reviews of previous performances in Lübeck: Der Zwerg/Ein florentinische Tragodie, Armide, Tristan und Isolde
Tickets:
€12–51, bookable online and printable.
Practicalities:
although Hamburg is in easy reach, Lübeck makes for a far pleasanter
place to stay, with plenty of decent hotels, several of them close to
the station, and there are eateries close to hand along the
river-front facing the Holstentor. At a push the city can be used as
a base to see operas in Hamburg, Kiel and Lüneburg.
Daytime:
with its museums, churches, medieval townscape and waterways, Lübeck
is one of Germany’s most beautiful cities and has plenty to warrant
several days’ exploration. Among highlights are the Buddenbrooks House,
the home of Thomas Mann’s family that has become a museum to the
great author, and the central Marienkirche, where Bach famously came
to hear Buxtehude play the church’s organ. Unfortunately the organ
was destroyed by wartime bombing – the church’s bells lie
embedded in the floor where they landed – though in general Lübeck
got off lightly once designation as a Red Cross transit port saved
it from further raids.
Away
from the city itself, there’s the coastal resort of Travemunde 20
minutes north by train, the little island town of Ratzeburg among
lakes the same distance south, the rolling country of ‘Holstein
Switzerland’ further to the north and the former East German cities of
Wislar and Schwerin an easy day trip to the east (see here for a travelogue).
Nearby
(average
journey times by train / per-hour frequency pre-performance /
per-hour frequency post-performance):
Hamburg (42/2/1), Kiel (75/2/1), Lüneburg (75/1/1).
HAMBURG
hamburgische-staatsoper.de
(forthcoming)
2015/16
repertoire:
Les troyens, Le nozze di Figaro, Stilles Meer (WP: Hosokawa),
Guillaume Tell, La passione (Bach’s St Matthew Passion), Daphne,
plus revivals of Il turco in Italia, Elektra, Don Carlos, The Cunning
Little Vixen, Carmen, Die tote Stadt, Manon Lescaut, Hänsel und
Gretel, Die Fledermaus, Pelléas et Mélisande, La traviata, Così
fan tutte, Der fliegende Holländer, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Luisa
Miller, Katya Kabanova, Eugene Onegin, Tristan und Isolde, Der
Freischütz, La fanciulla del West, L’elisir d’amore.
Tickets:
€9–119, bookable online and printable.
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