Die Vögel

Opera by Walter Braunfels Libretto after Aristophanes
In German with surtitles

The two bon vivants Hoffegut and Ratefreund are tired of their city life and the mediocrity of their fellow men and set off to find the realm of the birds. Once they reach the birds, Ratefreund incites the feathered folk to establish their own imposing state and thus subjugate the gods. The birds follow Ratefreund's plan completely naively; he himself sets himself up as the ruler of the model state he has devised. Neither Ratefreund nor the birds want to listen to Prometheus' words of warning and so Zeus destroys the entire city.

The play, created by composer and librettist Walter Braunfels based on the ancient play by Aristophanes, is a reminder of where man's arrogance leads him. His reflections on the emergence of totalitarian states in the late 1910s seem frighteningly prophetic today. The premiere of "The Birds" in 1920 was a great success. In 1933, the work, along with many others, was banned by the Nazis. Braunfels withdrew into inner emigration. It is only since the 1970s that this great opera of the end of Romanticism has slowly experienced its well-deserved renaissance.