Opera quick check

What you need to know: von Weber’s “Der Freischütz”

Opera quick check by Larissa Schütz(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Markus Tschepp)

Whether you're on the trolleybus on the way to the performance, having a cigarette before the premiere or waiting in the toilet queue, with this quick check you'll be perfectly prepared for the evening in just 2 minutes. The "Krone" has the most important information about "Der Freischütz" by Carl Maria von Weber.

What is it about? At the Landestheater Salzburg today (2.11.) you can see how love, despair and the urge for recognition can plunge people into temptation and moral abysses.

Plot: Max, a young marksman, wants to marry Agathe, daughter of the hereditary forester Kuno. Kuno demands that Max first prove himself as a worthy son-in-law and heir to his office at the traditional test shooting. The problem: Max has hardly been hitting the target for weeks. Desperate, he agrees to a deal proposed by the obscure hunter Kaspar. He advises him to forge magic "free bullets" in the eerie Wolf Gorge at midnight, which never miss their target. What Max doesn't know is that Kaspar wants to sacrifice him and Agathe to the "Black Hunter" Samiel in order to save his own soul. The two perform the ritual, but Max has no idea that the last bullet is under the control of the devil as a result of the pact. In the competition, Max shoots accurately until the last bullet narrowly misses Agathe and kills Kaspar instead. Max confesses his alliance with dark forces. Kuno wants to punish him, but a wise hermit stands up for Max and gets him a year's probation

Show-off knowledge for the interval: Weber broke with the tradition of Italian and French operas in 1821, and so Der Freischütz is regarded as the birth of German opera. Alongside The Magic Flute, it is the most frequently performed German-language opera. Wagner and Franz Liszt were already prominent fans.