The Bronze Horse
Opéra comique in three acts by Daniel François Esprit Auber
Libretto by Eugène Scribe
German text version by Bettina Bartz and Werner Hintze
Komische Oper 'Festival
Tuesday, 03.07.2012, 19:30
Tickets 12 - 85 €
Somewhere in China lies a small and sleepy village. There are mysterious things afoot here: now and then there appears – no one knows from where – a bronze horse. There it stands, then, unmoving, but as soon as a man bravely swings himself into the saddle, it takes off at break-neck speed and flies into the clouds. Most of the brave riders are never seen or heard of again. However, if one of them does return and attempts to tell of his experiences, he is prevented from revealing the secret in an equally mysterious way: he turns to stone. The risk is thus great, which is why nothing more will be revealed here either. Only this much: Eugène Scribe, the most highly productive librettist of the 19th century, wove a story around these extraordinary events which is full of situational humour and surprising twists, and which inspired Auber, the grand master of opéra comique, to create his most varied and funniest composition.