Saturday, 1/25/2025
at 7:30 PM



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Libretto by Leo Feld using Gottfried Keller's eponymous novella
"Mannheim" version (1913)
According to the Critical First Edition by Antony Beaumont
World Premiere
© With kind permission from Universal Edition AG Vienna

Alexander Zemlinsky, born in 1871 in Vienna, was a protagonist of the flourishing musical life in the early decades of the 20th century. As a Jew, he had to emigrate in 1938 and died a few years later. In his adaptation of the novella about the poor little tailor, who harbors great yearnings, is mistaken for a count in a neighboring village, and is brutally unmasked by the crowd, Zemlinsky contrasts with Gottfried Keller as a master of complexity and poetry.

KLEIDER MACHEN LEUTE is a subtle allegory about the restless, searching artist and a great narrative about the love that reconciles all despair. At the same time, the opera paints a razor-sharp picture of social dynamics, where projections turn into resentment and hatred, as Zemlinsky himself would later experience and which today resonates with shocking relevance. Full of enticing colorful sounds, Zemlinsky's music forms a kaleidoscopic mirror of its time, interspersed with wit and charm, lightness and melancholy.


Event data provided by: Kulturkurier