Calendar
October 2024
Wednesday 30 October
20 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera in concert version
Subscription Galas & Premières
La rondine
Puccini
November 2024
Friday 08 November
20 H
Grimaldi Forum

Opera
Subscription Galas & Premières
La bohème
Puccini
Sunday 10 November
15 H
Grimaldi Forum

Opera
Subscription Matinées
La bohème
Puccini
Wednesday 13 November
20 H
Grimaldi Forum

Opera
Subscription Soirées
La bohème
Puccini
Friday 15 November
20 H
Grimaldi Forum

Opera in concert version
Subscription Galas & Premières
Subscription Soirées
Tosca
Puccini
Sunday 17 November
17 H
Grimaldi Forum

Gala
Viva Puccini!
Puccini
Tuesday 19 November
19 H (by invitation from the Palais)
Grimaldi Forum

Opera
La bohème
Puccini
December 2024
Monday 02 December
20 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Concert
Friday 20 December
20 H (Gala)
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Subscription Galas & Premières
L’elisir d'amore
Donizetti
Saturday 21 December
20 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Choral concert
Subscription Galas & Premières
Sunday 22 December
15 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Subscription Matinées
L’elisir d'amore
Donizetti
Friday 27 December
20 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Subscription Soirées
L’elisir d'amore
Donizetti
Sunday 29 December
15 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
L’elisir d'amore
Donizetti
Tuesday 31 December
18 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
L’elisir d'amore
Donizetti
Tuesday 31 December
18 H (Opera & Dinner)
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
L’elisir d'amore
Donizetti
Tuesday 31 December
18 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo & Hauser & Wirth

Opera & Dinner
January 2025
Sunday 19 January
19 H
Auditorium Rainier III

Semi-staged opera
Subscription Galas & Premières
Subscription Soirées
Don Giovanni
Mozart
Wednesday 22 January
20 H (Gala)
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Subscription Galas & Premières
Friday 24 January
20 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Subscription Soirées
Sunday 26 January
15 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Subscription Matinées
Tuesday 28 January
20 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
February 2025
Sunday 09 February
17 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Recital
Subscription Matinées
Wednesday 19 February
20 H (Gala)
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Subscription Galas & Premières
Das Rheingold
Wagner
Friday 21 February
20 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Subscription Soirées
Das Rheingold
Wagner
Sunday 23 February
15 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Subscription Matinées
Das Rheingold
Wagner
Tuesday 25 February
20 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Das Rheingold
Wagner
March 2025
Sunday 02 March
18 H
Auditorium Rainier III

Concert
Subscription Galas & Premières
Subscription Soirées
Friday 14 March
20 H
Cathédrale de Monaco

Choral concert
Subscription Soirées
Friday 21 March
20 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Subscription Galas & Premières
Sunday 23 March
15 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Subscription Matinées
Tuesday 25 March
20 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Subscription Soirées
Thursday 27 March
20 H
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Opera
Image de la banniere en mobile
Brahms Ein deutsches
Requiem
A German Requiem Choral concert
Conductor Gianluca Capuano
Soprano Regula Mühlemann
Baritone Florian Boesch

Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem

Choral concert
Monday 29 January 2024 - 20 h
Opéra de Monte-Carlo

Music by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) 
Premiere : Gewandhaus, Leipzig, 18 february 1869

One of the first actions taken by the new management of the Opéra de Monte-Carlo was to introduce a series of concerts designed to enhance the repertoire of the Opera’s choir and reveal to the public the full scope of its abilities. Following Rossini’s Stabat Mater earlier this year and Verdi’s Requiem at the beginning of this season, it is the turn of Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem to be presented in this new series. Between 1856 and 1868 the composer had been deeply affected by the death of two loved ones: Robert Schumann, his mentor, and the death of his own mother. His grief inspired him to create what was to become his passport to glory. Premiered in 1869, this sacred but non-liturgical work opened to him the world of symphonic music, a universe that, until then, he had hesitated to approach. Although Brahms failed with his intention to write an ecumenical work, its humanist character tran-spires through its inspired writing, vibrating with inward rather than ostentatious feeling. A German Requiem, half Baroque funeral cantata in its form and half Romantic oratorio in its scale, is the perfect choice to allow the Musiciens du Prince – Monaco, directed by Gianluca Capuano, to fully restore the sound of that period through their sensitive approach to the music of the 19th century.

Artists
Conductor | Gianluca Capuano
Choirmaster | Stefano Visconti
Soprano | Regula Mühlemann
Bass-baritone | Florian Boesch
CHORUS OF THE OPÉRA DE MONTE-CARLO

LES MUSICIENS DU PRINCE – MONACO
Artists' biographies
Equipes artistiques

Conductor
Gianluca capuano

Choirmaster
stefano visconti

solOists

Soprano
REGULA MÜHLEMANN

Baritone
FLORIAN BOESCH

Chorus of the OPÉRA DE MONTE-CARLO

Choirmaster
Stefano Visconti

Pianist assistant to the choirmaster & consultant for the musical organisation
Aurelio Scotto

Chorus manager & librarian
Colette Audat

Sopranos I
Damiana Avogadro*
Galia BAKALOV
Antonella CESARIO
Chiara IAIA
Mariko Izuka*
Giovanna MINNITI
Felicity MURPHY
Biagia Puccio*
Ilenia Tosatto*
Vittoria Vitali*
Ronja Weyhenmeyer

Sopranos II
Ingrida Gapova
Vittoria Giacobazzi
Valérie Marret
Letizia Pianigiani
Laura Maria Romo Contreras

Mezzosopranos
Teresa BRAMWELL-DAVIES
Géraldine MELAC
Suma MELLANO
Federica SPATOLA

Altos
Ornella Corvi
Francesca Copertino*
Maria-Elisabetta De Giorgi
Chiara La Porta*
Matilde Lazzaroni*
Catia Pizzi
Paola Scaltriti
Leonora Sofia*
Rosa Tortora
Viktoria Tkachuk*

Tenors I
Walter Barbaria
Lorenzo Caltagirone
Domenico Cappuccio
Thierry Di Meo
Vincenzo Di Nocera
Benoît Gunalons*
Nicolo La Farciola
Sergio Martella*
Manfredo Meneghetti*
Davide Urbani*
Halil Ufuk Aslan*

Tenors II
Gianni COSSU
Pasquale FERRARO
Fabio MARZI
Adolfo SCOTTO DI LUZIO
Salvatore TAIELLO

Baritones
Fabio BONAVITA
Vincenzo CRISTOFOLI
Daniele DEL BUE
Luca VIANELLO

Basses
Andrea Albertolli
Stefano Arnaudo*
Przemyslaw Baranek
Paolo Marchini
Max Medero*
Armando Napoletano*
Edgardo Rinaldi
Kyle Patrick Sullivan*
Matthew Thistleton
Giuseppe Zema*

*additional chorus members for this concert

LES MUSICIENS DU PRINCE-MONACO

Violins I
Plamena Nikitassova
Julia Rubanova
Fabrizio Cipriani
Muriel Quistad
Roberto Rutkauskas
Anaïs Soucaille
Agnes Stradner
Elena Telo
Anna Urpina Rius
Andrea Vassalle

Violins II
Nicolas Mazzoleni
Nikita Budnetskiy
Laura Cavazzuti
Francesco Colletti
Svetlana Fomina
Reyes Gallardo
Gian Andrea Guerra
Diego Moreno Castelli
Matilde Tosetti

Altos
Diego Mecca
Patricia Gagnon
Elisa Imbalzano
Emanuele Marcante
Massimo Percivaldi
Bernadette Verhagen

Cellos
Robin Geoffrey Michael
Nicola Brovelli
Anna Camporini
Guillaume François
Antonio Carlo Papetti
Emilie Wallyn

Doubles basses
Roberto Fernández de Larrinoa
Clotilde Guyon
Maria Vahervuo

Flutes
Jean-Marc Goujon
Rebekka Brunner

Piccolo
Rebekka Brunner

Oboe
Pier Luigi Fabretti
Guido Campana

Clarinets
Bernhard Roethlisberger
Roberta Cristini

Horns
Ulrich Hübner
Dileno Baldin
Gilbert Camí Farràs
Claude Padoan

Bassoons
Benny Aghassi
Ivan Calestani

Trumpets
Gabriele Cassone
Antonio Faillaci

Trombone
Seth Quistad
Marco Rodrigues
Billie Thomas

Tuba
Daniel Ridder

Timpani
Paolo Nocentini

Harp
Marta Graziolino

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Ein deutsches Requiem nach Worten der Heiligen Schrift, op. 45 (A German Requiem, to Words of the Holy Scriptures), for soprano and baritone soloists, mixed choir and symphony orchestra.

I. Choir: “Selig sind, die da Leid tragen” - Ziemlich langsam und mit Ausdruck [Rather slow and with expression]
II. Choir “Denn alles Fleisch ist wie Gras” Langsam, marschmäßig [Slow, like a march]
III. Baritone and choir: “Herr, lehre doch mich” – Andante moderato
IV. Choir: “Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen” – Mäßig bewegt [Moderately lively]
V. Soprano and choir: Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit” – Langsam [Slow]
VI. Baritone and choir: Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt” – Andante
VII. Choir: Selig sind die Toten” – Feierlich [Solemn]

 

On the Good Friday of 10 April 1868 a throng of two thousand people had crowded into Bremen Cathedral to attend the premiere of A German Requiem, a concert that was to mark the turning point of the 36 year old composer’s career. He was already at the peak of his profession, but not yet well-known outside a small circle of admirers, among whom was Clara Schumann. Fifteen years earlier her husband Robert had already detected the genius of the young pianist who had introduced himself to him. But Schumann then suffered a mental collapse and died in 1856. The shock of Schumann’s death inspired Brahms to compose A German Requiem, and he soon began to select texts. In 1861 he composed the music for the first two movements. The remaining movements were a much longer process, until the sudden death of his mother in 1865 gave him the decisive motivation (“We all think that he wrote it in memory of her, although he never explicitly said so”, stated Clara Schumann to Brahms’s biographer Florence May).

As a Lutheran, Brahms could not use the Latin version of the Requiem Mass used by Catholics since the Council of Trent (1545-1563), and which had been more or less faithfully set to music by Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi, Fauré and Duruflé. As an avid reader of the Bible, Brahms therefore compiled his own choice of texts from Martin Luther’s translation of the Old and New Testaments. This no doubt explains why, a few months previously, the devoutly Catholic city of Vienna had been unmoved by the pre-premiere performance of three movements of the work.

Brahms gave his requiem a profoundly reflective character, a far cry from the apocalyptic visions of the Catholic Mass and excluding any liturgical intent. The indefinite article highlights the subjective character of the score, and the complement “German” highlights the choice of the vernacular language, but without any nationalist ulterior motive. When Carl Martin Rheintaler, who conducted the premiere, asked the composer if the absence of any reference to Christ in the work should be compensated in some way or another, Brahms tersely replied: “As for the text, I confess that I would also willingly delete the word ‘German’ and simply replace it by ‘human’.

 

The score

In the years 1857 to 1864 the young Brahms had conducted choirs in Detmold, Hamburg, and then Vienna. Johann Sebastian Bach, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Heinrich Isaac, Johannes Eccard and Heinrich Schütz all featured prominently in his music library, and the example of these old masters is reflected in the numerous choral works that he composed during those years. This experience came to fruition in A German Requiem.

And yet this score is profoundly personal and romantic. As in so many of Brahms’s works, from the first movement (without strings) to the final chord (illuminated by the harp and flutes) it journeys from darkness to light. The first and last words are the same: “selig” (blessed), that enfolds the score in its comforting arms (“Blessed are they who bear suffering, for they will be comforted!”). However, there are two dents in this beatitude: in the sinister funeral march of the second movement, pounded out by the timpani, a reminder of the transient nature of life (“All flesh, it is as grass, And the glory of man like flowers”); and in the penultimate movement, the most dramatic, where the prophetic baritone announces the Apocalypse. It was perhaps to attenuate this suffering that, after the premiere in Bremen, Brahms added the fifth movement with a soprano solo, where the choir quotes Isaiah: “I will give you comfort, as one whom his own mother comforts.” By illustrating this passage with such sublimely beautiful music, Brahms was undoubtedly remembering his own mother.

 

Claire Delamarche translated by Mary McCabe © Opéra de Monte-Carlo 2023

A German Requiem, to Words of the Holy Scriptures

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Ein deutsches Requiem nach Worten der Heiligen Schrift, op. 45
(A German Requiem, to Words of the Holy Scriptures), for soprano and baritone soloists, mixed choir and symphony orchestra.

 

1. Selig sind, die da Leid Tragen, 
denn sie sollen getröstet werden.
(Matthäus 5:4)
Die mit Tränen säen, 
werden mit Freuden ernten. Sie gehen 
hin und weinen und tragen edlen 
Samen, und kommen mit Freuden und 
bringen ihre Garben.
(Psalm 126:5-6)

2. Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras, 
und alle Herrlichkeit des Menschen 
wie des Grases Blumen. Das Gras 
ist verdorret und die Blume abgefallen. 
(1 Petrus 1:24)
So seid nun geduldig, lieben 
Brüder, bis auf die Zukunft des 
Herrn. Siehe, ein Ackermann wartet auf 
die köstliche Frucht der Erde und ist 
geduldig darüber, bis er empfahe den 
Morgenregen und Abendregen. 
(Jakobus 5:7)
Aber des Herrn Wort bleibet in 
Ewigkeit. 
(1 Petrus 1:25a)
Die Erlöseten des Herrn werden 
wieder kommen, und gen Zion 
kommen mit Jauchzen. 
Ewige Freude wird über 
ihrem Haupte sein : Freude und Wonne 
werden sich ergreifen und Schmerz und 
Seufzen wird weg müssen. 
(Jesaja 35:10)

3. Herr, lehre doch mich, dass ein 
Ende mit mir haben muss, 
und mein Leben ein Ziel hat, 
und ich davon muss. 
Siehe, meine Tage sind einer Hand 
breit vor Dir, und mein Leben ist 
wie nichts vor Dir. 
Ach, wie gar nichts sind alle 
Menschen, die doch so sicher leben. 
Sie gehen daher wie ein 
Schemen, und machen ihnen viel 
vergebliche Unruhe ; sie sammeln 
und wissen nicht wer es kriegen wird. 
Nun Herr, wes soll ich mich trösten ? 
Ich hoffe auf Dich. 
(Psalm 39:5-8)
Der Gerechten Seelen sind in 
Gottes Hand und keine Qual 
rühret sie an.
(Weisheit 3:1) 

4. Wie lieblich sind deine 
Wohnungen, Herr Zebaoth ! 
Meine Seele verlanget und sehnet 
sich nach den Vorhöfen des 
Herrn ; mein Leib und Seele 
freuen sich in dem lebendigen Gott. 
Wohl denen, die in deinem Hause 
wohnen, die loben dich immerdar. 
(Psalm 84:1-2,4)

5. Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit ; 
aber ich will euch wieder sehen und 
euer Herz soll sich freuen und 
eure Freude soll niemand von euch nehmen. 
(Johannes 16:22)
Sehet mich an : Ich habe eine 
kleine Zeit Mühe und Arbeit gehabt 
und habe großen Trost funden. 
(Jesus Sirach 51:35)
Ich will euch trösten, wie einen 
seine Mutter Tröstet.
(Jesaja 66 :13a)

6. Denn wir haben hie keine 
bleibende Statt, sondern die 
zukünftige suchen wir. 
(Hebräer 13:14)
Siehe, ich sage euch ein Geheimnis : 
Wir werden nicht alle entschlafen, 
wir werden aber alle verwandelt werden. 
Und dasselbige plötzlich 
in einem Augenblick 
zu der Zeit der letzten Posaune. 
Denn es wird die Posaune schallen und 
die Toten werden auferstehen unverweslich, 
und wir werden verwandelf werden. 
Dann wird erfüllet werden das Wort : 
„ Der Tod ist verschlungen 
in den Sieg. ”
Tod, wo ist dein Stachel ! 
Hölle, wo ist dein Sieg ! 
(1 Korinther 15:51-52, 54b-55)
Herr, du bist würdig zu nehmen 
Preis und Ehre und Kraft, denn du 
hast alle Dinge erschaffen, und durch 
deinen Willen haben sie das Wesen und 
sind geschaffen. 
(Offenbarung 4:11)

7. Selig sind die Toten, die in dem 
Herren sterben, von nun an ! 
Ja der Geist spricht, dass sie ruhen 
von ihrer Arbeit ; denn ihre Werke 
folgen ihnen nach. 
(Offenbarung 14:13b)



 


 

I. Blessed are they that mourn;
for they shall be comforted.
(Matthew 5:4)
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth,
bearing precious seed,
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him.
(Psalm 126:5-6)
II. For all flesh is as grass,
and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away.
(1 Peter 1:24)
Be patient therefore, brethren,
unto the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandmen waiteh
for the precious fruit of the earth,
and hath long patience for it,
until he receive the early and latter rain.
(James 5:7)
But the word of the Lord
endureth for ever.
(1 Peter 1:25)
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with songs
and everlasting joy upon their heads:
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
(Isaiah 35:10)

III. Lord, make me to know mine end,
and the measure of my days,
what it is: that I may know
how frail I am.
Behold, thou hast made
my days as an handbreadth;
and mine age is as nothing before thee.
Surely every man
walketh in a vain shew:
surely they are disquieted in vain:
he heapeth up riches,
and knoweth not
who shall gather them.
And now, Lord, what wait I for?
my hope is in thee.
(Psalm 39:4,7)
But the souls of the righteous
are in the hand of God,
and there shall no torment touch them.
(Wisdom of Solomon 3:1)

IV. How amiable are they tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
for the courts of the Lord:
my heart and my flesh crieth out
for the living God.
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house:
they will be still praising thee.
(Psalm 84:1-2,4)

V. And ye now therefore have sorrow;
but I will see you again,
and your heart shall rejoice,
and your joy no man taketh from you.
(John 16:22)
Ye see how for a little
while I labor and toil,
yet have I found much rest.
(Ecclesiasticus 51:27)
As one whom his mother comforteth,
so will I comfort you.
(Isaiah 66:13)

VI. For here have
we no continuing city,
but we seek one to come.
(Hebrews 13:14)
Behold, I shew you a mystery;
We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
at the last trump:
for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be
raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. …
then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is they sting?
O grave, where is they victory?
(1 Corinthians 15:51-52,54-55)
Thou art worthy, O Lord,
to receive glory and honour and power:
for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure
they are and were created.
(Revelation 4:11)

VII. Blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord from henceforth:
Yea, saith the Spirit,
that they may rest from their labours;
and their works do follow them.
(Revelation 14:13)