Das Paradies und die Peri

Linke Wienzeile 6

1060 Wien

 

Oratorio in three parts

Poetry from Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore

 

What do we have to do to get to paradise? Peri, a fairy from Persian mythology, initially remains closed to her as the daughter of a fallen angel and a mortal. She must realize that neither heroism nor self-sacrificing love is enough to gain entry. Only compassion opens the gates of paradise to Peri. Robert Schumann's secular oratorio Paradise and the Peri is based on an art fairy tale by Thomas Moore in which orientalism and the romantic idea of ​​redemption mix. Peri's three attempts to reach paradise inspired Schumann to create colorful and dramatic music, which takes on almost intoxicating features in the apotheosis of the redeemed Peri. Like no other composer before him, Robert Schumann thought intensively about the connection between the life of an artist and redemption through art and tried to live this out in his marriage to his wife Clara. Director Christof Loy turns the oratorio into a psychological chamber play that merges the character of the desperate Peri with the life of the Schumann couple. Schumann's oratorio is accompanied by piano compositions and songs by Robert and Clara Schumann and Pauline Viardot.

 

In German with German and English surtitles

Introduction to the work 30 minutes before the start of the performance

 

(Source: theater-wien.at)