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Regieoper


Regieoper (German for director's opera) is a form of Regietheater specific to opera. In Regieoper, the stage director assumes a central role in determining the concept of an opera, often exchanging the established traditions related to that opera for an approach that may or may not adhere to the composer's or librettist's original intention. The director's approach may include but is not limited to changing the staging intended by the composer or librettist, modernizing the story to reflect contemporary political controversies, and infusing the production with shock value (most often, sexuality).

The roots of regieoper can be traced back to Swiss stage director and designer Adolphe Appia. Appia was a scene design painter who most famously collaborated with Richard Wagner to create the sets for some of his original productions. Aided by the invention of electricity, Appia used light and shade in new ways to create the illusion of three-dimensional sets. He combined color with dynamic light intensity to create a new perspective of scene design and stage lighting. As Adolf Aber sums up, "The whole aim of such a production is—as Appia points out—to get the actor, as the true bearer of the drama, back into the centre of the action". Appia sought to create this affect through the "subtle art of lighting on the stage", however his philosophy of actor-centric theater served as inspiration for Wagner's grandson, Wieland Wagner when he directed Wagner's operas at Bayreuth festival in the 1950s and 1960s. As a director, Wieland's manifestation of this philosophy birthed the theatrical aesthetic of Regieoper.

The role of the director in opera originally arose from the need for a person to fulfill administrative duties. This person primarily dealt with "artistic planning and casting, (in consultation with the composer, if still living) and nominally oversaw all rehearsals and performances". However, the importance of the director as an artistic visionary became increasingly more prominent over the 20th century. Inspired by the vision of Appia's work and the way it complemented Wagner's philosophy of Gesamkunstwerk, Wieland Wagner mounted minimalistic productions that strove to highlight the psychological interactions of the character by setting the drama on a mostly bare and stark stage. Wieland Wagner's approach was met with much criticism and controversy, however after his death in 1966 other theater directors latched on to the philosophy and it became an influential and controversial directorial style in the late twentieth century.


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