Wolfgang Mitterer's 'Dafne' Reimagines Lost Schütz Opera

Wolfgang Mitterer's 'Dafne,' a contemporary madrigal opera based on a lost Heinrich Schütz score, premiered at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris in September 2022, with subsequent performances in Dijon and Toulouse in early 2023. Directed by Aurélien Bory and conducted by Geoffroy Jourdain, the production features the vocal ensemble Les Cris de Paris. The original 1627 opera by Schütz, the first German opera, was lost in a fire at the Dresden library. Mitterer's recreation uses the contrafactum technique, setting Schütz's polyphonic music and his own electronic compositions to the original libretto by Martin Opitz. Bory's staging places singers on a rotating circular set, evoking Jasper Johns' targets or an astronomical clock, with a rain of arrows and a river of plastic. The opera explores the myth of Apollo and Daphne from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses,' with roles fluidly shared among twelve singers. The production runs at the Opéra de Dijon on January 27, and at Théâtre Garonne in Toulouse from February 15–17, 2023.