Ulrich Melchinger
Ulrich Melchinger (born May 19, 1937 in Frankfurt am Main ; † June 22, 1979 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German opera director .
Life
Melchinger is the son of the theater critic Siegfried Melchinger . He grew up in Frankfurt am Main and moved to Vienna with his parents after the war . He studied music and piano there and finished his training in Stuttgart in 1957 . He then worked as a production assistant at the Vienna State Opera with Herbert von Karajan and then went to the Hamburg State Opera as a director . At the beginning of the 1964/65 season he became senior director at the Lübeck Opera House .
From 1966 to 1977 Melchinger was senior director at the Staatstheater Kassel , where he attracted attention with modern, politically updated productions of the Wagner Ring (1970–1974). "Melchinger was the first to have the Valkyries perform on motorbikes, and made Walhall into the Reich Chancellery ." An important partner in his Kassel productions was Thomas Richter-Forgách , who designed the set and costume. His staging of the Flying Dutchman as a black mass from 1976, which led to tumult in the audience, became notorious . In the accompanying program of documenta 8 , Melchinger's production of the Ring was completely resumed in 1987 as the state theater's "most famous production" until then. He left the house because of artistic differences of opinion.
From 1977 he was head director of Manfred Beilharz in Freiburg , staged the world premiere of Franz Schreker's Christophorus in October 1978 as a co-production with the Berliner Festwochen and began rehearsing a Mozart opera cycle with Don Giovanni . He died of a heart attack at the age of 42 while preparing for the performance of the Magic Flute . He was married and had four children.
literature
- Rudolf Hartmann: Opera . Chartwell Books, 1976, ISBN 0890095760 , p. 260
Individual evidence
- ↑ Obituary . In: Der Spiegel . No. 27 , 1979 ( online ).
- ↑ James K. Holman: The Flying Dutchman: An Introduction . In: John Louis DiGaetani: Wagner outside the ring . McFarland, Jefferson NC 2009, ISBN 0-7864-3400-7 , p. 30.
- ↑ Heinz Josef Herbort: There is no more redemption . In: Die Zeit , No. 9/1976.
- ↑ A new attitude in art . In: Hamburger Abendblatt , June 12, 1987, p. 16.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Melchinger, Ulrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German opera director |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 19, 1937 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Frankfurt am Main |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 22, 1979 |
| Place of death | Freiburg in Breisgau |