Erwartung Tickets

Teatro Argentina, Rome, Italy

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At the moment, no Erwartung events are scheduled in Teatro Argentina. Click here to check out the current Teatro Argentina events.

Important Info

Type: Opera

City: Rome, Italy

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

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.

Can I choose my seats?

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).

Cast

Performers

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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

Teatro Argentina - Rome
Largo di Torre Argentina, 52

The Teatro Argentina is an opera house and theatre located in Largo di Torre Argentina, a square in Rome, Italy. One of the oldest theatres in Rome, it was constructed in 1731 and inaugurated on 31 January 1732 with Berenice by Domenico Sarro. It is built over part of the curia section of the Theatre of Pompey. This curia was the location of the assassination of Julius Caesar.

The house was commissioned by the Sforza-Cesarini family and designed by the architect Gerolamo Theodoli with the auditorium laid out in the traditional horseshoe shape. Duke Francesco Sforza-Cesarini, who ran the Argentina Theatre from 1807 to 1815, was a "theatre fanatic" who continued until his death to run up debts. Rossini's The Barber of Seville was given its premiere on 20 February 1816, just after Duke Francesco's death and, in the 19th century, the premieres of many notable operas took place in the theatre, including Verdi's I due Foscari on 3 November 1844 and La battaglia di Legnano on 27 January 1849.

From 1919 to 1944, more musical offerings than dramatic ones were presented, although the theatre premiered works by Luigi Pirandello, Henrik Ibsen and Maxim Gorky during this time. As well, a series of operas was presented in the winter of 1944–45 in honor of the American and British troops.

The venue was used for classical-music recordings by the Santa Cecilia orchestra in the 1950s.

In 1994, the theatre became the home of the Teatro Stabile company of Rome, currently directed by Mario Martone. It offers a variety of programmes, some being large-scale productions, although more plays than music or opera are presented today.

The inside of the theatre is constructed of wood with six levels of boxes characterizing the design, and has been restored many times. It seats 696 people, including 344 in the stalls and with 40 boxes on five levels seating an additional 352.

Plantamura notes that the theatre's acoustics were regarded as being excellent and that the architect who designed the La Fenice opera house in Venice, Gianantonio Selva, modeled his design after the Argentina.