The lavishly designed scenes, framed with music, are fed not only from the diaries but also from letters that the Habsburg monarch Maria Theresia once wrote to her favorite minister and closest advisor, Emanuel Silva Tarouca. In addition to the diaries, they have also been preserved.
Austria’s enlightened absolutist only became “Empress” indirectly, because in 1745 her husband Franz Stefan of Lorraine was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
Not enough time for the muses besides the job
One thing becomes immediately clear with this staging in the Landestheater: Even someone as powerful with a gigantic empire as Maria Theresia could not save herself from great stress in her job almost 300 years ago – like a modern manager. And even then there was hardly any time for a good private life. Her daily routine was usually organized and timed to the minute by her court, lackeys and ministers. Today’s politicians can tell a song about it.
Event notice: The scenic readings with live music by Sebastiana Ierna (piano) begin on Friday and Sunday evenings (June 4 and 6, 2021) at 7 p.m. in the Salzburg State Theater
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As strictly and precisely as Martin Bermoser plays the minister, whisperer and puller at the court of Vienna, Anja Kruse breathes new life into the Habsburg woman on stage with an emotional touch. Maria Theresa is almost as happy as a child when she and her husband have a little time in the evening for theater performances and dance in private.
From smallpox epidemics to corona
The director is the Viennese theater maker Elfi Schwaiger – a great admirer of Maria Theresa. And back then, too, there were major problems with an epidemic, says Schwaiger, who staged the play through her “Elfis Kulturkoffer” initiative: “Back then, it was the smallpox epidemics that plagued Europe and America. And Maria Theresa herself wanted a smallpox vaccination – also for the children of the poor farmers. But the people said it was God’s fate: we will not be vaccinated! That sounds very familiar to me. “
“Piefke” is allowed to play Austria’s icon
The German actress Anja Kruse, who is popular with TV and theater audiences, has been living privately in the Salzburg Lake District for a long time. So there is a Salzburg woman at work. And it is a very great honor, she says, that she is now allowed to play Austria’s historical icon in the Landestheater: “That I was asked, as Piefke, whether I would take on this role, that surprised me. But the task appeals to me. Maria Theresa was a great, strong, but also vulnerable woman. She has achieved an incredible amount. “
Preliminary report on ORF Radio Salzburg with a taste from the stage:
Imaginative taxes to save the empire
Director Schwaiger would also like to highlight one thing: Maria Theresa was very interested in modernizing her very backward empire. For this she also grabbed the rich nobility hard:
“She was involved in wars by her rival in Prussia, which cost a lot of money. In addition, the people lived in great poverty. And Maria Theresa was also worried about how she could improve the situation of the people. Just reading the introduction of the window and roof tax fascinated me. Many princes then tore down large parts of the roofs on their castles, because the larger the roof, the more taxes the owner had to pay. Therefore there are still many castles where only one tower has a roof. “
A musical bridge to our time
After the bitter months for artists and actors in the lockdowns, Anja Kruse sees the connection between Maria Theresa and the present day as an important motif of this work: “In addition to contemporary music with our great pianist Sebastiana Ierna, we also have a few wonderful songs from the 20th and Built in the 21st century. Thematically they fit in wonderfully and show how timeless some problems were then and are now. We would also have to oil our rusted vocal cords well after the lockdowns. “
Term
The staged readings begin on Friday and Sunday evenings (June 4 and 6, 2021) at 7 p.m. in the Salzburg State Theater.
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