Our music this week is determined by Catherine’s visit to Lake Constance and the Bregenz Festival. Last night, after an afternoon “Meet & Greet” with European Solari subscribers, Catherine, Carolyn, Ulrike, Ricardo, Robert, and many of the subscribers went to the famous Lake Stage Opera in Bregenz to see this year’s production of Der Freischütz (The Marksman) by Carl Maria von Weber.

The story is a gripping tale of how Max—in order to marry his beloved Agathe—is persuaded to sell his soul to the devil. Luckily, the Hermit saves both their lives and souls, and happy is the ending.

The Bregenz Festival chooses to “modernize” the old moral story quite a bit, in a production that perhaps will not be to everyone’s liking. The devil is center stage and becomes the main narrator; the whole scene creates a spooky environment of death and temptation, and the ending does not forbode happiness. But the music remains, and the stage scenery and singing performances are outstanding, as always at Bregenz.

Here is the aria “Und ob die Wolke,” Agatha’s prayer in Act 3, in a 2021 Berlin production sublimely performed by the classical soprano Jeanine De Bique from Trinidad.

Related:

Der Freischütz (Wikipedia)

Jeanine De Bique website

Pakt mit dem Teufel – Oper “Der Freischütz” auf der Bregenzer Seebühne. A short report on German SWR television about this year’s Lake Opera production