About the work
Der Traumgörge ("Görge the Dreamer") is an opera in two acts with an epilogue by Alexander von Zemlinsky, to a libretto by Leo Feld. Composed between 1903 and 1906, the work was to be premiered in 1907 under Gustav Mahler at the Vienna Court Opera — but after Mahler's departure the premiere fell through, and the actual first performance did not take place until 1980 in Nuremberg. Zemlinsky combines late-Romantic orchestral splendour with a psychologically subtle portrait of a dreamer searching, between fantasy and reality, for his place in life.
Plot
Görge, a young bookish dreamer in the village, lives more in fairy tales than in real life and is betrothed to the down-to-earth Grete. A mysterious dream-princess lures him away: he leaves village and bride to seek his fortune. Years later he falls in among rebellious peasants and meets the lonely Gertraud, shunned as a witch's daughter. In her he recognises the fulfilment of his dream and steps forward to protect her. Transformed, Görge returns with Gertraud and finds in real life the poetry he had long only dreamed of.
Cultural significance
Der Traumgörge is regarded as one of Zemlinsky's most important and long-lost works, the composer's output having been rediscovered only late. The failed premiere of 1907 became emblematic of the difficult fate of this figure who stood between Brahms, Mahler and Schoenberg. Since the belated premiere in 1980 and productions including one at Oper Frankfurt, the work has been prized as a precious rediscovery of late Romanticism.