Opera

Saul

Georg Friedrich Händel

Saul and David: when the struggle for power blows a family apart.

Oratorio in three acts
Libretto by Charles Jennens based on the 1st and 2nd Book of Samuel

Performed in English with German and English supertitles

Premiere
1. June 2025

Dates & Cast

01
Sun
June 2025
6 pm
Premiere
17 – 107 €
99+ Tickets
Starting Time: 6 pm
Venue
Semperoper Dresden
Free introductory talk
held in the Semper Opera House cellar 45 minutes before curtain-up
Sub / Packages
03
Tue
June 2025
7 pm
12 – 106 €
99+ Tickets
Starting Time: 7 pm
Venue
Semperoper Dresden
Free introductory talk
held in the Semper Opera House cellar 45 minutes before curtain-up
Post-Show Discussion
Post-Show Discussion following the performance (free admission).
13
Fri
June 2025
7 pm
12 – 106 €
99+ Tickets
Starting Time: 7 pm
Venue
Semperoper Dresden
Free introductory talk
held in the Semper Opera House cellar 45 minutes before curtain-up
Sub / Packages
20
Fri
June 2025
7 pm
12 – 106 €
99+ Tickets
Starting Time: 7 pm
Venue
Semperoper Dresden
Free introductory talk
held in the Semper Opera House cellar 45 minutes before curtain-up
Sub / Packages
25
Wed
June 2025
7 pm
12 – 106 €
99+ Tickets
Starting Time: 7 pm
Venue
Semperoper Dresden
Free introductory talk
held in the Semper Opera House cellar 45 minutes before curtain-up
Sub / Packages
29
Sun
June 2025
7 pm
12 – 106 €
99+ Tickets
Starting Time: 7 pm
Venue
Semperoper Dresden
Free introductory talk
held in the Semper Opera House cellar 45 minutes before curtain-up
Sub / Packages

In brief

A maelstrom of violence is unleashed when love turns to envy, when actions are driven by betrayal and madness. David’s triumph over the giant Goliath comes to an abrupt end when King Saul views the young hero as a rival for the throne. Although Saul does everything in his power to kill David, the latter enjoys divine protection. In the end, Saul himself dies and David takes the crown for himself.

With an oeuvre encompassing almost 70 operas and oratorios, George Frideric Handel is one of the most celebrated composers of the Baroque era. First performed in 1739 at the King’s Theatre in London’s Haymarket, his oratorio „Saul“ is a highly political drama that has lost none of its contemporary relevance. Despite its violence, the Biblical tale also provides space for great emotions: for the love story between Saul’s daughter Michal and David as well as for the friendship between the latter and Michal’s brother Jonathan. Incidentally, Saul’s funeral march from the third act became famous in its own right after it was played at public funerals, such as those of Winston Churchill and George Washington.

This staged version by Claus Guth, who has directed a large number of Handel oratorios, celebrated its premiere in Vienna. He sees Saul „as an accurate study of a state, but also of a family, into which an outsider, a foreign body, intrudes and causes everything to explode.”