Date/Time
Saturday 21 Oct 2017
2:30 pm to 6:00 pm
Location
Queensland Multicultural Centre
NB: An early start: 2.30 pm
DVD screening: Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot
At last a production of Wagner’s second opera has appeared on DVD and your committee has decided that members should be treated to a screening of this rarely-seen opera.
In Germany in the 1830s, a prominent member of the Young Germany movement was Wagner’s friend, Heinrich Laube whose novel, Young Europe, promoted freedom in both love and politics. Little wonder then that Wagner decided that Shakespeare’s play, Measure for Measure, which embraces similar themes, could be adapted into a libretto appropriate to the times, Das Liebesverbot, (The Ban on love).
During this period, Wagner’s conducting duties at Magdeburg led to an enthusiasm for Italian Bel Canto opera and French Opera Comique.
The result of these political and musical influences was the riotous comedy Das Liebesverbot, where the hypocrisy of a stern political leader who bans free love and carnival celebrations is exposed via music which will amaze those familiar only with his later operas.