Messa da Requiem

Director Elisabeth Stöppler returns to Hanover and, following Trionfo. Vier letzte Nächte, featuring music by Georg Friedrich Händel, and Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele, she once more explores moments of transition: between this side and beyond, rage and desperation, solace and love. Within the space of the theatre, during the time of the performance shared by audience and participants, the great issues will be carefully considered … and turned into questions. Because the mystery of life knows more questions than answers …

Messa da Requiem is based on Giuseppe Verdi’s powerful Requiem Mass, written by the Italian composer during the 1870s, at the height of his career as an opera composer. It is characterised by a floating reflectiveness: The choir’s singing hangs over the orchestral sounds like wafts of mist; four soloists raise their voices in lament and prayer. Again and again, the quiet is interrupted by the desperation of the Last Judgement like blows of a hammer.

This scenic adaptation of the Requiem, conducted by James Hendry, expands the realm of thought to the barely tangible edges of human existence: What emerges is a place for remembrance in celebration of life.