Death in Venice Britten
Archived: 2023/2024Overview
Would you pursue love for inspiration?
In the search for beauty and meaning, the renowned author Gustav von Aschenbach travels to Venice on a whim. In the sultry atmosphere of a cholera epidemic, with the scirocco blowing, he falls in love with Tadzio, a youthful aristocrat who is staying in the same hotel with his family. As Aschenbach projects his loneliness and desire on him, fantasy and imagination intermingle with existence. His obsession progresses to a fever pitch as he becomes increasingly divorced from reality.
Inspired by the original Thomas Mann novella, Britten’s magnificently atmospheric opera comes to life in this new production from WNO, creating images of ravishing beauty, as well as exploring the grotesque hidden beneath the search for the sublime. As poetic worlds of the imagination collide with reality, the early 20th century acts as a mirror to our times.
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WNO's new productions and new commissions are supported by the John Ellerman Foundation. Leading production support from the Colwinston Charitable Trust and WNO Britten Group. Supported by Dunard Fund and WNO Donors.
Dedicated to the memory of John Crisp
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Sung in English, with English and Welsh surtitles
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Synopsis
The famous writer Gustav von Aschenbach is in his mid-fifties. His wife has died, and his only daughter is married, so he lives alone. He has immersed himself in his work and has received many accolades, but his imagination has dried up and he feels disconnected from the world.
Act I
Outside a cemetery in Munich, Aschenbach sees a mysterious stranger. He is inspired to travel to Venice. On the boat trip to Venice, Aschenbach is surrounded by young people and is repulsed by an elderly fop in full make-up.
On his gondola ride to the hotel on the Lido, he contemplates Venice and its ambiguity and sensuality. His peculiar gondolier only compounds his anxiety.
At his hotel, Aschenbach is welcomed by the manager and shown to his room with a sea view. He contemplates his quest for beauty and how Venice will influence his artistic process. On his way to dinner, he sees an aristocratic Polish youth and is struck by his beauty.
Aschenbach sits reading on the beach. The weather is oppressive, and he wonders if he should stay in Venice. He finds some peace in his calming view of the sea. The Polish youth arrives, and once again, Aschenbach is struck by the perfection of his beauty. He discovers the youth’s name is Tadzio.
Aschenbach takes a gondola in to Venice. He finds it oppressive, stinking and is accosted by beggars and hawkers. He deicides that he must leave and rushes back to the hotel. He briefly glimpses Tadzio. Aschenbach departs the hotel, but his luggage is sent to the wrong train, so he must return. He decides that fate is making him stay and that on seeing Tadzio again made him reluctant to leave.
The next day, watched by Aschenbach, Tadzio and other young people play games. Tadzio wins. Aschenbach feels his creativity returning, inspired by Tadzio. He tries to speak to him, but when the moment comes, Aschenbach cannot speak. He confesses his feelings with ‘I love you’ but only once Tadzio has gone.
Act II
Aschenbach berates himself for his inability to speak to Tadzio. He acknowledges his feelings and gives in to them.
The hotel barber mentions ‘the sickness’ but refuses to explain further to Aschenbach. He goes into the deserted city and sees warning notices. In a German newspaper he reads of rumours of a cholera in Venice. He sees the Polish family, yet rather than warn them, he follows them to St Mark’s. He notices that Tadzio is aware of his gaze, but neither acknowledges the other’s presence. Aschenbach convinces himself that his feelings are honourable.
A group of performers stage a grotesque love story for hotel guests. Neither Aschenbach, nor Tadzio are entertained.
An English clerk is inundated by guests trying to leave Venice. He tells Aschenbach that the cholera and death toll is being hushed up, and that Venetian society is disintegrating, and suggests he should leave.
Although he knows he should warn Tadzio’s mother, Aschenbach cannot bring himself to. He dreams about him and Tadzio being the sole survivors, and the gods Dionysus and Apollo fighting over him.
On the beach Aschenbach watched Tadzio and gives in to his fate. In the hotel, the barber dyes Aschenbach’s hair and covers him in make-up. He continues to follow Tadzio and his family through Venice.
The hotel guests are all departing and Tadzio’s family will leave that afternoon. Aschenbach goes to the beach to watch Tadzio with his friends. The others leave and Tadzio walks out to sea. Tadzio turns and beckons Aschenbach, but he is slumped in his chair – dead.
