About the work
A "liberation opera" in three acts, composed in 1848 in Vienna during the revolutionary years, for which Lortzing wrote the libretto himself. Its liberal tendencies kept it from the stage during his lifetime; only in a heavily reworked version by Adolph L'Arronge did it premiere in 1899 at the Königliche Oper Berlin. Lortzing's original version was long thought lost and was not performed until 1998, in Gelsenkirchen.
Plot
In 1848, a strike by factory workers is settled, and the owner betroths his daughter Regina to the works manager Richard. Marauding irregulars disrupt the celebration; the foreman Stephan, who also courts Regina, abducts her and, with the insurgents, occupies the factory. Amid the revolutionary chaos, Regina shoots Stephan to prevent him from blowing up the powder tower.
Cultural significance
"Regina" is considered Lortzing's most unusual work: a politically radical opera, among the first to be set in a factory among striking workers. Peter Konwitschny's 1998 Gelsenkirchen staging that rediscovered the original version drew wide attention and earned him the title of opera director of the year.