Der Idiot

Opera in four acts

Libretto by Alexander Medwedew

Austrian premiere

The mentally ill Prince Myshkin has lost all grip on reality and has an unshakeable belief in goodness. On a train back to St. Petersburg after spending time in a sanatorium he makes the acquaintance of Rogózhin, a merchant, which signals the start of a tale of dependence, madness and murder. Weinberg’s final opera is based on the novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The plot is condensed, exaggerated and made theatrical without losing any of the psychological finesse of the literary original. In the face of this successful adaptation we can really only shake our heads in disbelief: How on earth was it possible that the works of the Russian composer Mieczysław Weinberg (1919 – 1996) were forgotten? It is only in the last ten years that he is being rediscovered and regarded as the equal of his friend Dmitri Shostakovich. "The Idiot", composed from 1986-1989, was given its world premiere in Mannheim in 2013, and now comes to Vienna for its Austrian premiere in a production directed by Russian Vasily Barkhatov. World literature on the opera stage.

In Russian with German & English surtitles

Introduction to the work 30 min before the performance

Tickets: Der Idiot