PERFORMANCE DETAIL

Libretto by Hanns Heinz Ewers (1871–1943) and Marc Henry (1873–1943), based on Henry’s play of the same title from 1897

Conductor Sander Teepen
Stage director Jiří Nekvasil

Set within a biblical world and echoing the ancient myth of Psyche, in which the desire to see becomes a fatal turning point, The Dead Eyes is an intimate drama of love, longing, and tragic misunderstanding. Eugen d’Albert shaped this story into a remarkable work of late Romantic opera. The parable of the good shepherd and the lost lamb, heard in the prologue, foreshadows the path of the heroine herself. Blind Myrtocle longs to see her husband Arcesius, but when Christ’s miracle restores her sight, it is vision itself that leads her astray. Mistaken identity, jealousy, and guilt set the tragedy in motion.

The opera unfolds in a richly layered orchestral language, drawing on Wagnerian harmony and motivic writing while glowing with impressionistic colour. First performed in Dresden in 1916, this unjustly neglected gem now comes to Ostrava as part of our broader dramaturgical line 20th-Century Opera Hits.

Performed in the German original with Czech and English surtitles

Premieres on 17 and 19 June 2027 at the Antonín Dvořák Theatre