Love and Death on Lake Constance

The Amazing Stage Sets at the Bregenzer Festspiele

During these challenging times when a lot of borders are closed for international travel from the United States, let me take you on a virtual journey to the beautiful Austrian town of Bregenz where every summer an amazing opera festival takes place on a floating stage known as the Bregenzer Festspiele.

Turandot
An Opera by Giacomo Puccini

The story of Turandot has been told with great skill and score for the first time in Milan, Italy in 1926. An uncompleted masterpiece by Giacomo Puccini, one of the greatest who died in 1924 while creating it. Franco Alfano finished the last act based on the score left behind by Puccini.

Allow me to introduce the players to you. Princess Turandot and Prince Calaf are the main characters in this gripping opera. High drama, as usual and typical for Puccini’s operas—think Tosca and Madama Butterfly. The story is captivating and while someone is dying–it wouldn’t be an Italian opera without death–love wins in the end.

A beautiful enigmatic princess, a handsome prince and his intense pursuit for the love of a woman no one has been able to conquer but rather died in the process of courting her. Even at the threat of death, Prince Calaf is determined to win her affection. But can he, or will he face the same tragic fate many men before him have?

She is convinced that he will not succeed to solve the three riddles she came up with since no one has so far, but against all odds, he does. However, he wants more than the mere victory over the woman he loves. He wants to melt her icy heart and win her love. So he in turn challenges her with a riddle about his identity. An entire village will die if he does not take back the challenge he put up for her unless she can find a way to come up with the right answer, which would surely cause his death. A lot is at stake. This is where the beautiful aria “Nessun dorma” comes in. Who will win this emotional game and how?

In the end, love conquers all, but the suicide of another woman deeply in love with Calaf gives it the drama we are used to from Puccini. He may have used an act from his real life for this opera. After an accident, he was confronted with the suicide of his nurse due to his wife’s jealousy.

The Construction of the Stage

To build the enormous backdrop on the complex Lake Constance floating stage several factors had to be considered; weight, wind, water and high tide. A close cooperation with the technical team was a must, which took an unprecedented two and a half years. 40 tech companies from Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Romania formed the team to make the China backdrop at Lake Constance happen, which included a 27-meter high and 72-meter wide orange-red eye-catching wall with two towers. Performers who had to sing from atop one of these towers had to climb a narrow and steep 45-degree stairway. Needless to say, they had to be in excellent condition without fear of heights and had to wear a safety harness invisible to the spectators. An underwater carousel allowed a boat used in this production to drive around the stage.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 performances have been cancelled. God willing, in July/August 2021, Rigoletto is scheduled to repeat its 2019 performance on the floating stage of Lake Constance, followed by Madama Butterfly in July 2022.