Elegy for Young Lovers

Synopsis

The opera, premiered in 1961. The libretto is written by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman and centres on poet Gregor Mittenhofer who travels to an inn in the Austrian Alps in the hope of gaining artistic inspiration from an old widow tormented by visions. Consumed by his insatiable greed and desire for recognition he begins to exploit and destroy the lives of those around him to satisfy his creativity and ego.

Our Review:

Simon Thomas - 26 April 2010

English National Opera and the Young Vic have again come up trumps with their third annual collaboration, a beautifully-realised production of Hans Werner Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers.

Actors sometimes become great directors and Fiona Shaw makes a strong bid, aided by Tom Pye’s stunning designs and projections, sparingly-used and sometimes surprising, by Lynette Wallworth. The set fractures act by act and an astonishing coup de thèâtre sees time melting before our eyes then coming to a crashing end.

The opera dates from 1961, around the time of Henze's Heinrich von Kleist-based Der Prinz von Homburg, also given a brilliant performance by ENO some dozen years ago. From an early stage in his prolific opera career, it draws on a number of musical influences including Britten, Berg and Stravinsky, while sounding uniquely Henze.

W H Auden and Chester Kallman are better known for their work on Stravinsky’s The Rake’...