Weber: Der Freischütz / René Jacobs

Freischütz freed from dust

With its folk-tale plot and its scenes set in a dark forest and in the world of spirits, Carl Maria von Weber’s »Der Freischütz« was adopted soon after its premiere as a symbol of the German Romantic movement and has been regarded as »the first German national opera« ever since. Accompanied by a lavish and thoroughly Romantic orchestral score, the young huntsman Max fights to win the love of the forester’s daughter Agathe, but finds himself at odds with the Devil instead. After his impressive reading of »Fidelio« last season, this time round René Jacobs blows the dust off Weber’s big opera hit – and makes an apt contribution together with the brilliant Freiburger Barockorchester to the Hamburg International Music Festival, which has »Nature« as its motto this year.