Two teenagers madly in love with each other, an irresolvable social conflict that separates them, a sleeping draught that is meant to be their salvation and ends up bringing death – Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story of all times, brought to us by William Shakespeare. His eponymous drama and über-work has been adapted countless times in the arts. Now, it’s time for a change. The opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi tells the story from its Italian sources and with a fresh perspective: It focusses on the final 24 hours in the lives of Romeo and Juliet, whose name is Giulietta in this version, and on the constraints of Giulietta’s home life. Grand emotions unfold: With its cuttingly sweet arias and songs, the story gets deeper under our skins than any Shakespearean line.

The title already reveals that this version has a different distribution of focus: The war between the Capulets and the Montagues, Romeo and Giulietta’s respective families, dominates the events. The causes of this enmity have long since become blurred, the enemy is one homogenous mass, met with eternal hatred. And even more so because the son of the head of the Capulet family, Giulietta’s brother, was recently killed by Romeo. Giulietta is painfully caught in the middle between a sombre sense of family honour and her boundless love for Romeo. Her blooming youth and hopes are bombed into oblivion, her escapes and thoughts are obstructed, the lovers plunge into disaster.

This opera marked the break-through for Vicenzo Bellini, Belcanto-genius and later composer of Norma. He seduces us with pure lightness and elegance, with subtle melodies and crisp marching rhythms. Vocal arcs of endless beauty render the characters’ deep emotions immediately tangible and require the most advanced vocal performances. All painful wounds notwithstanding: Under the musical direction of the internationally acclaimed conductor Andrea Sanguineti and featuring the fabulous young stars of Hanover State Opera’s company, this Lyrical Tragedy becomes a musical celebration. read less