Carnival Revelry

Musical theatre based on an opera-ballet from the court of Augustus the Strong

Preview

A rediscovered opera-ballet from the court of Augustus the Strong | For the first time in over 300 years

Created for the Dresden court carnival in 1697, *Fastnachts-Lust* combined music, singing, dance and drama into a festive Baroque spectacle.
The libretto was written by the witty poet and former mistress of the young ‘Saxon Sun King’, Maria Aurora von Königsmarck (1662–1728). She was one of the most fascinating and emancipated female figures of the Baroque era, who, through this work, skilfully held up a mirror to the unfaithful ruler with veiled allusions and subtle – at times astonishingly cheeky – barbs.
The music was composed by the court kapellmeister Johann Christoph Schmidt (1664–1728).

The work had fallen into obscurity and is now being rediscovered. The revival of *Fastnachts-Lust* is being produced by Ars Augusta e.V. with an international cast. The Görlitz Music Society, based at Augustastraße 6, has made a name for itself in the rediscovery of gems of Baroque music from Saxony and Lower Silesia following ten years of intensive engagement with the region’s cultural heritage. Notable examples include the revivals of the opera ‘Giove in Argo’ by Antonio Lotti (2019), ‘Issipile’ by Antonio Bioni (2021) and ‘Il re pastore’ by Johann Richter and Johann Adolph Hasse (2022).


‘Fastnachts-Lust’ tells a story of love, pain and folly. The production and the new connecting spoken texts are by the Dresden-based director and author Amal Reich. The opera-ballet is complemented by dance pieces from suites by Johann Christoph Schmidt, as well as by texts written by the author specifically for this premiere. The lover, abandoned by his beloved, endures a night of turmoil, torn between hope and jealousy, which converse with him in the form of allegorical figures. The struggle between these two emotions cannot ease his despair, until Joy appears and invites everyone to a carnival. Amal Reich stages this Baroque piece in a modern style to highlight the universality of the situation – a situation that Aurora von Königsmarck, abandoned by Augustus the Strong, herself experienced and sought to overcome by writing this carnival piece.

The production is being created in close collaboration with Musikschätze aus Dresden e.V. and forms part of the international conference ‘Mistresses, Power and Art around 1700. Scopes for Female Agency at European Princely Courts’ (organised by the Institute for Saxon History and Folklore in Dresden, TU Dresden, KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, JMU Würzburg and SLUB Dresden). A second performance will take place on 28 September in the palace chapel of the Royal Residence in Dresden.

Duration: approx. 1 hour without an interval

• Apollo Görlitz