Music Theatre since 1990 - Schott Music

Synopsis
The opera is set in Fehrbellin in Brandenburg during the Prusso-Swedish Wars in the seventeenth
century, immediately around the Swedish defeat at the battle of Fehrbellin 1675
Prince Friedrich and Princess Natalie are in love, and she is promised to him by the Elector.
Field Marshal Dörfling outlines the plan of battle, but the Prince daydreams about the princess.
During the battle, not having listened to the orders he was given, he attacks prematurely,
endangering the outcome by sending his cavalry after retreating Swedes. Nevertheless, the
attack is successful. The Elector orders the arrest of the disobedient officer. The Prince is imprisoned,
and the Elector is expected to ratify the sentence of death. The Prince appeals through
Princess Natalie, but she is told that the Prince must comply with the sentence. Natalie uses her
Dragoons to free the Prince. Meanwhile, the Elector, knowing that he has taught the Prince his
lesson, decides to pardon him. Blindfolded, the Prince is led towards his execution, but when
the blindfold is removed, the Elector gives him the hand of the Princess.
Der Prinz von Homburg
24.07.1992 Bayerische Staatsoper München
In this way the prince appears as the first modern protagonist, passive, his fate decided by events,
on his own in a fragile world and therefore close to us, not a hero any longer but instead both a
complex ego and suffering creature, an “unmentionable human” as Kleist called himself, a dreamer,
sleep walker who becomes self-aware. (Ingeborg Bachmann)
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