Penthesilea

Opera by Othmar Schoeck in one act from a tragedy by Heinrich von Kleist. In German language with surtitles.

Premiered 10 February 2008
Runs 1 hour 15 minutes

In order to win over Penthesilea – who was defeated in battle – for himself, Achilles, who is entranced by her, pretends to be a man who has been defeated by her. According to the law, the queen of the Amazons can belong in love only to a man who she conquered in battle. The queen, thus fooled, is inflamed in her love for Achilles; but this quickly transforms into rabid hate when she learns the truth from him. A further battle ends in a catastrophe: Penthesilea kills Achilles, unaware that he faced her without a weapon so that he could be defeated by her in order that they could then share happiness. She learns of the proof of his love too late and dies at the shredded corpse.

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