Streaming video: Not live, but nearly as good!
Albert Lortzing’s “Undine”: April 18th, 11 a.m.

With lockdowns, social distancing, and just about every cultural gathering being cancelled, we tend to note just how much we treasure live performances. Fortunately, there is the odd little jewel reaching us via modern means!

On Saturday, April 18th, at 11 a.m., the Vienna State Opera’s streaming service staatsoperlive.com will offer Tristan Schulze and Alexander Medem’s adaptation of Albert Lortzing’s “Undine”, free of charge; the performance will remain accessible for seventy-two hours. Intended for children and indeed the whole family, the production is perfect for an evening at home.

Alexander Medem’s staging breathes life into the story of Undine, a mermaid, who lives ashore and falls in love with Hugo. But Hugo is unfaithful …

Video projections, the clear staging of the characters and Undine’s shadow, a dancer, support and accentuate the musical colours and the innate beauty of Lortzing’s score. For the curious, Medem discusses his approach to staging a work in this interview.

Conductor Johannes Wildner disencumbers German Romanticism, removing the burden of the past’s propagandistic distortions, and allows the music to subtly flower, sparkle, shine: With the smallest conceivable orchestral line-up he paints the very air with the largest possible emotions—they grip the auditor, they charge him, as he lives and suffers with Undine through her pain.

To enjoy: Go to staatsoperlive.com, register (or sign in) and look for “Undine” on April 18th, 11 a.m.

Or order a DVD: Undine (sold by Thalia.at)

Conductor Johannes Wildner uses his involuntary vacation for his other pastime, hiking. If you feel like (virtually) roaming the Vienna Woods—of which his backyard is already a part—with him, you are welcome to watch and listen to his short daily talks: “Corona-Wanderungen” on Maestro Wildner’s Video-blog.