Undine - the fairy-tale magic opera about a beautiful young water mermaid in human form and her love for an unfaithful knight. In this abridged version, Lortzing's subtly melodious musical language enchants young and old alike.

Thoughts of the director

To the children
... When I asked the children at the first choir rehearsal, "What is a soul?", Rebekka from the children's choir of the Vienna State Opera said, "A soul is when you can be hurt with words." "Wow!" I didn't expect such an answer. But it made me think, and her statement comes pretty close to what Undine feels at the end of the opera. And yet Undine wants to have a soul? Even though all the people important to her have broken their agreements with her, have hurt her with words and deeds? But Undine wants more: she wants to find her own identity, she wants to find out who she really is. She wants to be herself. And that is a difficult, unpleasant path. But Undine knows that she can find her original identity in being human. She remains steadfast and stands by "her" soul. Despite injuries, she is able to save the love of her life with her newfound compassion, making not only herself happy, but also Hugo, the man who actually hurt her the most. Wow Wouldn't it be nice if we humans all wanted to have a little more soul, too?

To the adults
... Personally, this opera also tells me a lot about growing up, about detaching oneself from the parental home, about not being able to let go of the parents, about the beginning of an individual development of the teenager to a person with the ability to act on his own responsibility, in short, about the consciousness of his own identity. On the other hand, as a product of Romanticism, this opera is also an opera about ideals. Undine, Hugo and Bertalda, with their different personalities and problems, also symbolize the "children of our time". This material therefore has plenty of warning signals for society about how it should (not) deal with its fellow human beings. Undine shows us that it is time again to want to have more soul - in the sense of compassion, unselfishness and morality.

Alexander Medem