“Le nozze di figaro” marked the beginning of the happy and fruitful collaboration between W. A. Mozart (1756-1791) and his librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, which was to bring both success and artistic satisfaction. Although Da Ponte, as a precautionary measure and in view of the sharp censorship, dispensed with the biting sarcasm of Beaumarchais’ original, which served as the model for the new opera buffa, there was still enough fuel in it to deal with a major theme of the time: The examination of the complex relationships between the social classes, or rather the discrimination of the lower classes by the upper ones.While Count Almaviva embodies a reactionary representative of the nobility, the shrewd Figaro is presented as a representative of the rising third class. Two forces face each other here, each claiming power in pre-revolutionary Europe. Mozart found in this passionate and ironic piece so much of the shame and disappointments he had experienced during his artistic life that he let all his bitter experiences and mental anguish flow into the composition.Despite the explosive theme, the premiere performance in Vienna in 1786 under the reign of Emperor Joseph II was a great success. Today "Le nozze di figaro" is one of the most popular and most performed operas worldwide.

The lyrical fairy tale "Rusalka" was premiered in Prague in 1901. The touching and idyllic musical work by Antonín Dvořák transports the opera-goer into a colorful, atmospheric-melancholic dream world of timeless beauty and elegance. The vocal soloists find grateful tasks through the catchy and cantabile melodies - Dvořák also finally achieved his breakthrough in the stage dramatic field with his most successful opera.The story of an attempted incarnation fails, even though the mermaid Rusalka is able to take on human form and follow her beloved prince into his kingdom. However, in order to obtain a soul, she must bear the consequence mentioned by the witch Ježibaba: the transformed woman must remain mute. From now on, the prince experiences Rusalka as a stranger and soon succumbs to the seduction of another woman. Nature and human coexistence remain incompatible: as prophesied by Aquarius, Rusalka cannot experience the longingly awaited earthly happiness of love - nor is the prince’s romantic desire for an idealized, free-spirited world of nature fulfilled.