PETER STEIN |
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FEMMINE FATALI (Kundrys Schwestern) |
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With this 90-minute program, Peter Stein presents a
mosaic of fascinating glimpses of Kundry – a
mysterious creature from Wagner’s Parsifal - and her
Sisters in world literature. The poems, lyrics and
songs are set to music by Alessandro Nidi and
interpreted in their original languages by Maddalena
Crippa.
“As with her sisters, Kundry belongs to a circle of women that forever trap men in order to lead them away from the right path. They are the creatures of mens’ sexual phobia and at the same time stimulate masculine desire. From Homer to comic strips, a series of Liliths, nymphs, Undines, sirens, witches and sphinxes cross the history of art and literature. Seemingly, they have not lost their power yet, and although every single testimony warns us to keep away from their power, it seems that man is destined to create elaborate monuments to these overwhelming appearances that are far more interesting than their male companions.” Peter Stein The first part of The Sisters of Kundry tells the story of Armida in four chapters based on Italian poet Torquato Tasso’s heroic poem “Gerusalemme liberata” (1581), which depicts in 20 songs the First Crusade, which recovered Jerusalem from the Saracens in 1099. |
Torquato Tasso combined imaginary characters with
real historical people. Among the most interesting
are the heroes Rinaldo and Tancredi, and their
Saracen ladies Armida and Clorinda.
Armida seduces the Crusaders and she imprisons them until they are liberated by Rinaldo. Armida wants to kill Rinaldo in revenge but falls in love with him and imprisons him in a magic garden where they love each other. A vision of God helps Godfrey to understand how it is possible to escape Armida’s traps. He instructs his fellows, and so they reach the Egyptian cost and liberate Rinaldo. As her seduction fails, Armidia fights with the enemies of Rinaldo and promises herself to the one that kills him. In the end, both forgive each other before they die. The second part of the program gathers together the other Sisters of Kundry: Clemens von Brentano’s Lureley, Luis de León’s Sirens, Dante Gabriel Rosetti’s Lilith, Heinrich Heine’s Sphinx, Charles Baudelaire’s Vampire, Victor Hugo’s female devil. Thus, The Sisters of Kundry reflects not only the different facets of this female archetype, but shows its transformation over the course of the centuries in which she is seen as a mythological figure, a creature of Satan, a seaman’s hallucination and a bloodthirsty vampire, and its powerful appearance in different cultures. |
PRODUCTION DATES
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