Don Quichotte

Who doesn’t know him? Don Quixote or Don Quichotte in French: the melancholy hero of La Mancha who charges at windmills on an old farm horse to please his beautiful Dulcinée (alias Dulcinea). With his imaginative detachment from reality, the knight stands as one of the most significant figures in literary history; images, adaptations, and parodies of his character have endured for centuries.

In Jules Massenet’s opera which premiered in Monte Carlo in 1910 Cervantes’ mad knight is transformed into a tragic hero destined to be broken by a harsh world. For Dulcinée’s sake, Quichotte sets out to find a necklace allegedly stolen from the beauty by a band of robbers a cruel prank played at the hero’s expense. Yet, thanks to the power of imagination, Don Quichotte bravely battles giants and other figments of his fancy, converts the bandits, and even manages to retrieve the imaginary pearl necklace. Despite it all, his love for Dulcinée remains unrequited; his illusions shatter against the hard reality of life as it truly is.

Blending French elegance with a delicate touch of melancholy, this Late Romantic classic weaves illusion and reality together, portraying Quichotte as a visionary dreamer. Under the direction of Julia Burbach, the Tyrol State Theatre’s dance and music-theatre ensemble join forces to present an evening filled with love, wit, and sorrow one that speaks lightly of the heavy burden of believing in the beautiful, the good, and the true, even where they do not exist.

Introductory talk 20 minutes before the performance begins

Recommended age: 12 and up

program

Don Quichotte

Comédie héroïque in fünf Akten von Jules Massenet

Libretto von Henri Cain

In französischer Sprache mit deutschen Übertiteln

Place

Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck (English: Tyrolean State Theatre) is the state theatre in Innsbruck, Austria, located near the historic Altstadt (Old Town) section of the city. The theatre is surrounded by Imperial Hofburg, the Hofgarten, and SOWI Faculty of the University of Innsbruck. The main theatre has about 800 seats and the studio theatre in the basement has around 250. Plays, operas, operettas, musicals and dance theatre are performed at the theatre.