The Palau de les Arts presents Fritz Lang's silent film masterpiece, Die Nibelungen.
31.05.2009
Each screening will be preceded by a piano performance featuring transcriptions and paraphrases of Wagner's music, performed by leading Valencian pianists.
Valencia (31-05-09).- The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía begins this week in the Aula Magistral two film cycles in which the super production of the Austrian director Fritz Lang Die Nibelungen (1924) will be offered, within the II Festival del Mediterrani.
Die Nibelungen is based on the epic poem Nibelungenlied (The Song of the Nibelungs), dating from around the 13th century, which, five decades before the premiere of this cult silent film, served as inspiration for Richard Wagner's monumental tetralogy, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung). Fritz Lang's wife, Thea von Harbou, was responsible for adapting this German national epic into a screenplay, dividing it into two parts: Siegfried's Death and Kriemhild's Revenge.
The Palau de les Arts, taking advantage of the second edition of the Festival del Mediterrani, entitled “South of the Rhine,” is reflecting on these two masterpieces of art: Fritz Lang's film and Richard Wagner's seminal composition. It is also the first time a Spanish opera house has presented two complete cycles of its own production of Wagner's tetralogy.
Due to its length, the Palau de les Arts will divide the screening of Die Nibelungen into four sessions. Each session will be preceded by a thirty-minute piano performance featuring transcriptions and paraphrases of Wagner's music, with a particular focus on Der Ring des Nibelungen, performed by distinguished Valencian pianists such as Carlos Apellániz, Jordi Nogués, Claudio Carbó, Antonio Galera, and Carles Marín. The audience in the Aula Magistral will enjoy a program brimming with pieces, most of which have never before been presented in Spain in such a comprehensive manner.
The first series of screenings will take place on June 1, 3, 4, and 5; while the second will be held on June 8, 9, 10, and 11. All screenings, which begin at 8:00 p.m. in the Aula Magistral, offer affordable tickets at €3.
