Opera Scotland

Lohengrin 1966Stuttgart State Opera

Read more about the opera Lohengrin

What was then, and is still, unique about this 1966 Festival visit was the fact that not only did the Stuttgart company bring stagings of The Magic Flute and Lohengrin, but they brought both Berg's other operas, Wozzeck, under the inspiring baton of Carlos Kleiber, and the incomplete Lulu, receiving its Scottish premiere.

This Lohengrin was one of those occasions that the Festival was notorious for during its early years, when a brave, some might say foolhardy, opera company, usually from Germany, left large portions of the scenery, chorus and orchestra at home in order to fit their staging into the King’s Theatre. Sometimes it worked astonishingly well, and it did give local audiences a chance to experience some great performers in the flesh. How else could we have seen and heard the likes of Wolfgang Windgassen, Grace Hoffmann or Gustav Neidlinger in some of their greatest roles?

Wieland Wagner’s productions usually emphasised the wide open spaces which are especially important in Lohengrin. Even without half the scenery, wide open spaces were not an option in Edinburgh. Several of the performers had been in the Tristan production which the company had brought to the Festival in 1958, so at least they knew what to expect.

 

Cast details are from our copy of the programme.