The Arriaga antzokia in basque or Teatro Arriaga in Spanish is an opera house in Bilbao. It was built in Neo-baroque style by architect Joaquín Rucoba in 1890, the same architect that built the city hall. It is named after Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, known in his time as the “Spanish Mozart”. The theater was rebuilt in 1985 after severe flooding destroyed it in August 1983.
Erwartung
Arriaga Theater,
Bilbao, Spain
All photos (1)
Select date and time
7:30 PM
E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.
You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).
Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Bilbao, Spain
Starts at: 19:30
Acts: 1
Sung in: German
Titles in: Basque,Spanish
E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.
You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).
Overview
The Wait, original German title Erwartung, Op. 17, is a one act opera with music by Arnold Schönberg and libretto in German by Marie Pappenheim.
In June 2021, as part of the programme linked to “The Roaring Twenties” exhibition, the Arriaga Theatre presented a concert of this gem of Schönberg, performed by the extraordinary soprano Ausrine Stundyte. Now, recapturing that show, we offer this opera with a very special staging by Calixto Bieito. It should be remembered that Ausrine Stundyte already captivated Bilbao audiences in 2019 when she sang the wonderful Mendi-Mendiyan by Usandizaga in Basque, an Arriaga Theatre production directed by Calixto Bieito. And recently, hers was considered one of the star performances at the Max Awards gala.
“The idea is to represent in slow motion everything that happens during a single second of maximum spiritual excitation, extending it to half an hour”. This was Arnold Schönberg’s own concise description of his opera Erwartung (The Wait). In the powerful voice of the Lithuanian soprano Ausrine Stundyte we find this Schönberg who is already moving towards 12-tone composition. Atonal and dissonant, but full of expressionist textures and with extraordinary strength. It should be remembered that Ausrine Stundyte already captivated Bilbao audiences in 2019 by singing in Basque the wonderful Mendi-Mendiyan by Usandizaga, Arriaga Theatre production directed by Calixto Bieito.
Throughout history many authors have tried to define the music of Erwartung, to portray this work by Schönberg that narrates, or perhaps describes the nocturnal journey of a woman searching for her lover in a forest in the middle of the night. Ghostly figures intertwine in the gloom, the cloak of night shrouds the uncertainty of the protagonist desperately searching for her lover while the shadow of misfortune looms over her.
Is it that way? I can’t see the path…
How silvery the trees glow!
Like birch! Oh, our garden!
The flowers that I cut must have withered.
How warm the night is…I am scared!
History
Premiere of this production: 06 June 1924, New German Theatre, Prague
Erwartung (Expectation) is a one-act monodrama in four scenes by Arnold Schoenberg to a libretto by Marie Pappenheim. Composed in 1909, it was not premiered until 6 June 1924 in Prague conducted by Alexander Zemlinsky with Marie Gutheil-Schoder as the soprano. The opera takes the unusual form of a monologue for solo soprano accompanied by a large orchestra. In performance, it lasts for about half an hour. It is sometimes paired with Béla Bartók's opera Bluebeard's Castle (1911), as the two works were roughly contemporary and share similar psychological themes. Schoenberg's succinct description of Erwartung was as follows:
Synopsis
Time: Night
Place: A forest
A woman is in an apprehensive state as she searches for her lover. In the darkness, she comes across what she first thinks is a body, but then realises is a tree-trunk. She is frightened and becomes more anxious as she cannot find the man she is looking for. She then finds a dead body, and sees that it is her lover. She calls out for assistance, but there is no response. She tries to revive him, and addresses him as if he were still alive, angrily charging him with being unfaithful to her. She then asks herself what she is to do with her life, as her lover is now dead. Finally, she wanders off alone into the night.
Venue Info
Arriaga Theater - Bilbao
Arriaga Plaza, 1
Arriaga Plaza, 1
Important Info
Type: Opera
City: Bilbao, Spain
Starts at: 19:30
Acts: 1
Sung in: German
Titles in: Basque,Spanish