In Gaetano Donizetti’s (1797-1848) three-act bel canto opera "Lucia di Lammermoor", a bloodthirsty family feud marked by revenge as a dark plot is contrasted with sophisticated coloratura arias full of fragile beauty. The most famous aria and at the same time the climax of the work is the so-called aria "Il dolce suono" from the "mad scene": here Lucia, who shortly before stabbed her newly-wedded husband to free herself from the marriage fraudulently arranged by her brother, fantasizes about giving herself up in thoughts of her true love Edgardo - the family’s archrival.Donizetti composed "Lucia di Lammermoor" in 1835 in only a few weeks. The Italian composer used the libretto of Salvadore Cammarano based on the novel "The Bride of Lammermoor" by Walter Scott as the model for the opera, which was premiered at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.The opera premiere was a great success and four years later a French version was to be premiered in Paris. Lucia di Lammermoor is still one of Donizetti’s most popular stage works. Recent stars in the role of Lucia include Diana Damrau, Anna Netrebko, Pretty Yende and Lisette Oropesa.

Who doesn’t immediately have the "Dance of the Four Little Swans" in their mind’s eye when they think of the subject of ballet? Or the touching pas de deux of the swan princess Odette and her prince Siegfried? Hardly any other work has had such a strong influence on ballet history up to the present day as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s "Swan Lake". Yet the reaction to the premiere at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater in 1877 was rather muted: the music too symphonic, but above all the choreography rather bland. The triumphant success of "Swan Lake" did not begin until 1895, when the choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov revised the ballet and staged it at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg - Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) had already died.The choreography around the innocent white swan princess Odette, her seductive counterpart Odile in the form of the black swan and Siegfried searching for his great love is still considered the basis for all productions today.