Tsar's Bride (1st opera)

Today was my vocational day!!!! WE WENT TO THE OPERA!!

Monica drove us to Quackenbruck this morning where we met with the 2^nd Mayor of Quackebruck. We presented him with several gifts and took numerous pictures. A short visit and then we were off to see the town. We toured the oldest part of town stretching back to 1700s.

We then piled in two cars and set off for Osnabruck. We must first stop at Herr Keck’s airport of course! It is a small airport that supports the locals as well as some international flights. He took us up in groups of three and we surveyed the entire surrounding countryside. It was remarkably beautiful with so much agriculture. Just lovely...we had a little upset stomach, but other than that, superb. A little lunch at the airport restaurant – mmm leche.... and away we go again to the theatre at Osnabruck.

We got dropped off in town right in front of the theatre and meet Herr Poppee, a Rotarian from Quackenbruck who organized the theatre tour. Miracle of miracles it is a gorgeous day and we arrived on the towns’ Summer in the City Extravaganza. A day of music out in the open air! PERFECT. As much as we wanted to stay and listen to the band that was playing or perhaps the guitarist and folk singer, we had an appointment with the Dramaturgie at the Theatre. We arrive at the theatre and are introduced to a English speaking guide who show us around. She was excellent! Gave us all an overview of the opera and I asked her to explain her job a little more fully because in the US the title Dramaturg is only the translator of the opera, although in some houses they do run the surtitles during the show. In Germany a Dramatugie definitely is more than translation, although that is part of it. They do an overall history of the opera to give to the cast, where the story takes place in history and such. Some Dramaturgies sit in on auditions of singers and give their opinion. It is really interesting the differences in the system. For instance the German state theaters are all on a rolling repertoire season, which means they produce a different show every night. After every performance the tech guys come in and break down what they can and the next morning they set up for a different show, whether it be a dance show or a theater piece or different opera from the night before. We spent about an hour with the guide touring and asking questions. We viewed the wig and makeup room, the costume shop and their backstage and wing area. I loved it and I think my team mates got a better understanding of the opera world :)

After our tour we left the theatre and made a short walk around Osnabruck. As I mentioned earlier we came on Summer in the City and there was so much to look at and listen too. After a while we had dinner in a small cafe and then left to spruce up for the opera.

At 7:30 the opera began. We saw The Tsars Bride, a Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakow opera that is not done all that often. Synopsis is (short and sweet) The tsar is looking for a new bride from all of Russias women. He chooses Marfa who is already in love. Her boyfriend is killed and she ends up crazy. Ultimately for my teammates this was their first opera and it was quite an induction. Within the first 5 minutes there was total nudity, within 10 a biker gang of soldiers accosted a female character and within 40 minutes a house caught on fire and steadily burned for at least 20 minutes. Amazing!! I should have warned them about the German take on opera, but it was so fun :) I was beside myself and was ever so grateful to the Cloppenburg club for arranging it. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

I will post some pictures soon, I must get them from the others as today of all days I forgot my camera. (sigh)