Program

Ottorino Respighi, La Fiamma

I, 1 : Introduzione

I, 2 : "Nel nome di Dio, Monica, sei tu incantata?"

I, 3 : "Ancora l'ambascia ti prendre?"

I, 4 : "Ma chi grida? Chi grida?"

I, 5 : "Patrizia, è ritornato di Bisanzio il figlio dell'Esarca"

I, 6 : "Il prato de' miei giochi"

I, 7 : "O Donello, o Donello, o sangue mio"

I, 8 : "Avanti!... Non c'è... Su, su, caccia la strega!

I, 9 : "Ah, salvami! Innocente come Cristo, sono innocente"

II, 1 : "Udite! Zitte! Udiamo"

II, 2 : "Monica!... Che vuoi!"

II, 3 : "E dite al Papa, che non si dimentichi d'esser soggetto di Bisanzio

II, 4 : "Tu chiama il Prefetto"

II, 5 : "E' questo, madre, il segreto"

II, 6 : "Essa poteva evocare!"

II ,7 : "Evocare! La mia madre poteva"

III, 1 : Introduzione - "Io sono nata quella notte"

III, 2 : "Ah, tutta la mia vita in te si versa!"

III, 3 : "Dolce la morte, mentre ancor le vene"

III, 4 : "La patrizia Eudossia!"

III, 5 : "Il buon giorno, figliuolo"

III, 6 : "Tu soffri?... Un poco"

III, 7 : "Aiuto!...Tu! Tu l'hai ucciso"

III, 8 : "Donna, tu sai l'accusa"

III, 9 : "Vescovo, assolvi: il suo peccato è mio!"

III, 10 : "No, non assolverai"

Respighi's La Fiamma

Christof Loy (stage director), Carlo Rizzi (conductor) — With Olesya Golovneva (Silvana), Georgy Vasiliev (Donello), Ivan Inverardi (Basilio) ...

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Cast

Christof Loy — Stage director

Herbert Murauer — Set designer

Barbara Drosihn — Costume designer

Fabrice Kebour — Lighting designer

Olesya Goloneva — Silvana

Georgy Vasiliev — Donello

Ivan Inverardi — Basilio

Martina Serafin — Eudossia

Program notes

Following his previous successes with the production of early 20th-century operas, renowned director Christof Loy takes on Respighi's La Fiamma at the Berlin Opera. First performed in Rome in 1934, at a time when fascism was spreading its wings across Europe, La Fiamma transposes the story of a woman tried for witchcraft in the 16th century, as told in Hans Wiers-Jensse's play Anne Pedersdotter, to Ravenna during the Byzantine era.

The wife of the exarch Basilio, Silvana falls passionately in love with his son from a previous marriage, Donello, who returns from Byzantium. But her relationship with the witch Agnese di Cerva is her undoing when Basilio dies and she is accused of using magic to kill him. Christof Loy's staging highlights the profound impact of the political and personal struggles that inevitably lead the protagonist to the stake, while exacerbating the erotic aspect of the relationship between Silvana and Donello. Olesya Golovneva and Georgy Vasiliev give fervent performances as the two doomed lovers, and Respighi's epic music, with its multiple inspirations ranging from French impressionism to the Italian Renaissance, resounds magnificently under the baton of maestro Carlo Rizzi.