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| Ethel Smyth: The Wreckers – Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe (Photo: Felix Grünschloß) |
Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers has a fascinatingly international history, the work was written to a French libretto by a France-based American, premiered in German translation in Leipzig. For more background see my 2016 article celebrating The Wreckers at 110, and my 2023 article, A Lady and her Reputation.
More recently, the opera has been catching attention, most notably in productions at Glyndebourne in 2022 [see my review, the premiere of the original French version] and Houston Grand Opera. But this season, The Wreckers seems to be returning to Germany and there are three different productions during the seasons, and even more fascinatingly, each one uses a slightly different version of the opera!
On 29 September, Keith Warner directed a production at the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, conducted by Georg Fritsch. This was the German premiere of the 1909 English version created by Smyth for the work’s UK premiere. German press reaction to the opera seems to have been positive [see the theatre’s press page] with Andreas Falentin in Die deutsche Bühne saying ‘Diese Musik ist tatsächlich aufregend – und ungehört’ [This music is really exciting – and unheard of.]
There are performances of The Wreckers in Karlsruhe through November and December, and Keith Warner’s production looks worth catching, see the theatre’s website for details.
This premiere would be fascinating enough, and Karlsruhe has a history with rediscovering works, their production of Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète in 2015, directed by Tobias Kratzer, was notable [see the review in Forum Opera]. But what is even more fascinating is that this season, there are two further productions of Smyth’s opera in Germany, in Meiningen and Schwerin. Both in German, but both using different versions of the opera.
In Meiningen, a new production opens at Staatstheater Meiningen on 25 October 2024. Jochen Biganzoli’s production, conducted by Killian Farrell, will be the German premiere of the original version of the work, that performed at Glyndebourne in 2022, in a new German translation by John Bernhoff. The opera is being presented as The Wreckers – Der Leuchtturm des Todes [the lighthouse of death]. There are performances through to February 2025, see the theatre’s website.
On 7 February 2025, the Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater in Schwerin will be performing Smyth’s Strandrecht in German in a production directed by Daniela Kerck and conducted by Mark Rohde. This seems to be a performance of the 1909 version of the opera. There are performances of Strandrecht in Schwerin through to May 2025, see the theatre’s website for details.
