Feiernde Menschen vor dem fiktiven Johann Strauss Denkmal in Wien

Psyche

You can see the interior of the Theater an der Wien with a view of the stage from the side, audience in the rows of seats
© WienTourismus/Paul Bauer
You can see the interior of the Theater an der Wien with a view of the stage from the side, audience in the rows of seats

Dramma per musica in three acts
Music by Matthew Locke
Libretto by Thomas Shadwell
Concert performance in English with German surtitles

Ensemble Correspondances
Conductor: Sébastien Daucé

Italy and France may be the undisputed heartlands of great opera in the 17th century, but the most unusual examples of musical theatre in this period may well be those from England. Matthew Locke, for instance, boldly experimented with new aesthetic approaches and daring harmonies that his contemporaries considered as ill-chosen as his lifestyle: in times of the strictest Puritanism, Locke converted to Catholicism, and when the Puritans made a great show of closing down the theatres, he made a point of composing theatre music. This air of defiance also characterises his semi-opera Psyche (1675) in which he masterfully interweaves spoken dialogue with arias and dance music. Actors and singers are given equal prominence. The beauty of the king’s daughter Psyche is so out of this world that even Amor, the god of love, courts her and makes her his lover. However, in order to keep his true identity secret he never shows himself by day – leading Psyche to wonder just who it is that she has stumbled into an affair with.


Venue

MusikTheater an der Wien

Linke Wienzeile 6
1060 Wien

Current Dates

  • Mon. 03 Mar 2025, 7 p.m.