Denmark’s national opera “Masquerade”, written by Carl Nielsen in 1906 and based on Ludvig Holberg’s comedy from 1724 of the same name, has premiered at the Opera in Frankfurt, Germany. Princess Benedikte of Denmark and Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was invited as a guest of honour at the German Opera House to attend the performance.
With brand new contemporary German texts, translator and director Martin G. Berger has composed a new variant of “Masquerade” for the premiere last Sunday. The production was originally part of the “Danish-German Cultural Friendship Year,” which was celebrated last year, but the premiere was postponed due to the situation with COVID-19.
The famous play has been staged at “Oper Frankfurt,” one of the leading opera companies in Europe and voted best “Opera house of the year” several times since 1996, including in 2020. This is the first time this piece has been performed in Frankfurt. It is possible to see the performance until mid-December.
Princess Benedikte, a sister of both Queen Margrethe of Denmark and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, has always been a champion of culture. The Danish-German Princess often participates in the performance of cultural pieces and supports the cultural environment in Denmark and Germany broadly through her participation.
“Masquerade” is a three-act opera by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen to a Danish libretto by Vilhelm Andersen based on a comedy by the Norwegian poet Ludvig Holberg. Plans to turn the comedy into an opera was met not approved of in Danish literary circles, but the opera quickly became popular. It later became more popular than the original Norwegian comedy. Nielsen was not entirely satisfied with the opera, particularly the last two acts, but he never managed to revise the work.
