Einem: Der Besuch der alten Dame (Live)

Gottfried von Einem’s Der Besuch der alten Dame (The Visit of the Old Lady) is an opera based on the Swiss tragicomic play of the same name by Friedrich Durrenmatt. The play was written in 1956, while the opera came some fifteen years later. In the opera, an enormously wealthy older woman returns to her former hometown with a sinister bargain: she wants the townspeople to kill the man who got her pregnant, then jilted her. In exchange, she offers the town enough money to revitalize their decrepit city. Eventually, the townspeople agree to her dreadful deal. This release is the live recording from the premiere performance in Vienna, May 23rd, 1971. Horst Stein conducts the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera.