Overview

• The mid-July premiere marked the first performance of Die Schweigsame Frau at Staatsoper Unter den Linden since its 1935 debut and Nazi ban.
• Christian Thielemann led the Staatskapelle Berlin through Strauss’s richly layered score in a performance lauded for its musical precision.
• Jan Philipp Gloger’s inaugural direction confines the narrative within a truncated Guckkasten set that reviewers described as claustrophobic.
• The opera’s libretto by Stefan Zweig was prohibited by National Socialists despite Strauss’s presidency of the Reichsmusikkammer during its 1935 rehearsals.
• Critics praised the work’s intricate dialogue and orchestral color even as they lamented the limited stage dynamics.