Feiernde Menschen vor dem fiktiven Johann Strauss Denkmal in Wien

Paradise and the Peri

Interior view of the Theater an der Wien, in the background the stage with the iron curtain, to the side the artistically designed boxes and in the foreground the seating in the stalls
@ WienTourismus / Paul Bauer
Interior view of the Theater an der Wien, in the background the stage with the iron curtain, to the side the artistically designed boxes and in the foreground the seating in the stalls

Oratorio in three acts
Music by Robert Schumann
Poetry from Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore
In German with German and English surtitles

Premiere: November 15, 2024

Conductor: Giedrė Šlekytė

ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
Arnold Schoenberg Chor
Conductor: Erwin Ortner

What do we have to do to enter paradise? The Peri, a spirit from Persian mythology, is initially barred from entering since she is the daughter of a fallen angel and a mortal. She is forced to accept that neither heroic courage nor selfless love is enough to earn admittance. It is not until she shows pity that the gates of paradise open for her. Robert Schumann’s secular oratorio Paradise and the Peri is based on a literary fairy tale by Thomas Moore which mingles orientalism and the Romantic conception of salvation. The Peri’s three attempts to enter paradise inspired Schumann to write a score full of colour and drama which, in the apotheosis of the redeemed Peri, takes on characteristics bordering on the ecstatic.

Venue

MusikTheater an der Wien

Linke Wienzeile 6
1060 Wien

Current Dates

  • Fri. 15 Nov 2024, 7 p.m.