Back to NewsSupport sustainable innovation in opera and dance
Outdated browser
Die Tote Stadt - Teatro alla Scala © Marco Brescia & Rudy Amisano i
Teatro alla Scala Roadshow 2019
Details
28 May 2019
Milan / Italy
Roadshow
After last year's event that celebrated the maestro Claudio Abbado, Teatro alla Scala presented the roundtable "Die Tote Stadt - femme fatale fra reincarnazione e desantificazione" (Die Tote Stadt - femme fatale between reincarnation and desantification). Organised by Franco Pulcini, Editorial Director at Teatro alla Scala, the conference took place in the Ridotto dei Palchi "Arturo Toscanini" on the occasion of the première of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's "Die Tote Stadt".
Three exceptional panellists discussed a lyrical masterpiece that was often left out by the greatest opera’s tradition, yet worth to be brought back to stage. Professor Marco Modenesi from the University of Milan, music critique and musicologist Giangiorgio Satragni and psychoanalyst Luigi Zoja were able to examine Korngold’s artwork through an interdisciplinary approach ranging from literature and composition to psychology.
“Die Tote Stadt"’s story stems from Georges Rodenbach's novel Bruges-la-Morte, translated first in a theatrical version, Le mirage, and finally in the four-handed libretto written by Eric Korngold and his father Julius, an authoritative music critic at the time, under the pen name of Paul Schott. In the passage from the novel to the play, two characters are added (the protagonist's friend and his housekeeper) together with a dream scene in which the dead wife appears to the man. But it is in the transition from the play to the libretto that the dream aspect predominates in two of the three parts of the work”. Renato Verga for Backtrack
Therefore, "Die Tote Stadt" appears like an oneiric opera: in a dreamlike atmosphere, a psychic theatre is created, where the characters represent the different elements of the author’s psyche. As a result of this Teatro alla Scala’s Round Table, “Die Tote Stadt” proves indeed to be a majestic work, the object of an interdisciplinary symposium between specialists from different fields.
To learn more about “Die Tote Stadt” at Teatro alla Scala, click here .
/
© Marco Brescia & Rudy Amisano i
Die Tote Stadt - Teatro alla Scala
© Marco Brescia & Rudy Amisano i
Die Tote Stadt - Teatro alla Scala
© Marco Brescia & Rudy Amisano i
Die Tote Stadt - Teatro alla Scala
© Marco Brescia & Rudy Amisano i
Die Tote Stadt - Teatro alla Scala
© Marco Brescia & Rudy Amisano i
Franco Pulcini
© Marco Brescia & Rudy Amisano i
Die Tote Stadt - Teatro alla Scala
© Marco Brescia & Rudy Amisano i
Die Tote Stadt - Teatro alla Scala
Discover other stories
Platform Members, Roadshow
Opéra de Lille
Discover Opéra de Lille's "Faust" imagined by Denis Podalydès and Eric Ruf
31 July 2025
Lille / France
Discover the backstage of Opéra de Lille's new production "Faust" by Denis Podalydès and Eric Ruf.
Read more
Roadshow
Teatro Sociale di Como - AsLiCo
Teatro Sociale di Como - AsLiCo Roadshow 2026
09 May 2026
Como / Italy
As part of Climate Week Como, AsLiCo brought sustainability and opera together through activities designed to engage audiences of different generations.
Read more
Platform Members, Roadshow
Greek National Opera
Greek National Opera Roadshow 2026
18 July 2026
Kalamata / Greece
The Greek National Opera Professional Dance School brings a new generation of dancers to the Kalamata International Dance Festival with Metamorphosis, a contemporary double bill exploring the expressive possibilities of movement through works by Cyril Baldy and Jesús Rubio Gamo.
Read more
