Argenore

On 10 May 1740, the birthday opera Argenore by Wilhelmine von Bayreuth (1709-1758) was to premiere at the famous Margravial Opera House in Bayreuth - a celebration that never took place, however. The dark "dramma per musica" of the remarkably well-composed margravine, in which King Argenore rules with unprecedented cruelty and ultimately only one banished character survives, unmistakably reflects the turbulent circumstances of the composer's life: the unwanted Prussian princess at the Berlin court, the arbitrariness of her father, the strict and despotic "soldier king" Frederik Willem I, and the not always conflict-free relationship with her brother, the future king Frederik II, are mirrored in the character of King Argenore and the lost son Eumenes / Ormondo. Musically, the opera is characterized by the expressive touches of the sympathetic characters and the prominent role of Ormondo with his six arias. In 2022, the Göttingen Baroque Orchestra performed the opera Argenore for the first time in a world shaken by pandemic and war, showing how the authoritarian behavior of a king - fueled by fake news - can lead to disaster. Although the modern performance was well received, there was also a desire for a compact new version of the piece, originally intended for a courtly audience. The lengthy Italian recitatives were replaced by a fictional German-language monologue by Marlene Streeruwitz to align with today's listening habits, while all arias in the opera were retained in their original form. As a result, the message of the plot is clearer and more understandable for modern listeners, but at the same time the original dramatic power of Wilhelmine's music can resound undiminished.