The Prince of Homburg was a great, classical masterpiece of German theatre written by Heinrich von Kleist in 1808-10 a few months before his death and inspired by the memoirs of Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia. At times, the Prince falls into a dream-like state, causing him to accidentally disobey the commander in battle and lead his army to victory. Upon awaking from his sleepless stupor he is then plunged into a real-life nightmare as he faces the death penalty for having refused to obey orders. The flamboyant play was transformed into an opera by composer Hans Werner Henze and was premiered in Hamburg in 1960.
This lyrical work follows Kleist’s play in that it is built around Frederick’s dreamworld. Henze and his librettist Ingeborg Bachmann expressed their dislike of German militarism and the horrors it caused in the 20th century through the play, whilst emphasising the aspect of the dream that shows the prince as an outsider who values both his honour and his freedom. Henze captures the essence of the story excellently, with music that draws skilfully on the operatic canon of Kleist’s time but is strictly serial and more expressive.
After many years, this great work was finally recorded in 2019 at the Stuttgart Opera House, one of the most sophisticated opera houses in the world in terms of its repertoire. With an excellent ensemble in the hands of conductor Cornelius Meister, the musical director of the opera house chose to perform a revised version of the opera from 1991. Times have changed, and what once seemed abstruse is now viewed as a form of classicism. © François Hudry/Qobuz