Johannes Grebert

Grand tragic opera in 5 acts by Richard Wagner. Libretto by Richard Wagner after the homonymous novel by Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton.

Frank and Paul are best friends forever and raised Frank's daughter Lilli after a tragic car accident. The two men scrape a living by working as barmen and bouncers in a strip club while Lilly has grown into a lively and self-confident teenager. The disaster unfolds when Lilli seduces Paul and gets pregnant.

One of the greatest revolutions in the history of mankind happened around 3000 years ago: the transition from polytheism to monotheism through the prophet Moses. God revealed himself directly to Moses, instructing him in absolute truth. Moses was charged with leading the people of Israel to the Promised Land and escaping from Egyptian slavery. Moses came to embody the relationship between the human and divine truth. God’s call to Moses presented a new idea that exploded all previous religious concepts: ‘One God – unique, eternal, intangible, inconceivable’. Moses understands this concept, but is unable to express it, and therefore God appoints Moses’ brother Aaron as his spokesman. They are bound to fail: Aaron can only approach sharing the idea by compromising its meaning, whilst Moses is left to search fruitlessly for “the word I lack …” This production of Arnold Schoenbergs opera was filmed during the Ruhrtriennale 2009.