Der Besuch der alten Dame

The billionairess Claire Zachanassian returns to her down-at-heel hometown, Güllen, to take her revenge. The businessman Alfred Ill made her pregnant as a young girl, and she was driven out of the town as a whore. Now she has an offer for Güllen’s impoverished townsfolk – if they kill Ill, they will receive a billion. After the initial shock, their morals begin to crumble quite quickly.  Will Claire’s cynical plan come to fruition?

Gottfried von Einem saw opera material in the »tragi-comedy« right after the world premiere in 1956. It was some time before this idea finally took shape, but ultimately it was Friedrich Dürrenmatt himself who adapted his own piece as a libretto for von Einem. In his dense musical portrayal, this parable about the amorality of an apparently decent, but secretly money-hungry and selfish petty bourgeoisie society became one of the composer’s longest lived successes following the acclaimed world premiere at the Vienna State Opera in 1971.