Silvana

Romantic opera by Carl Maria von Weber

Text by Franz Karl Hiemer after the libretto »Das stumme Waldmädchen« by Karl Franz Guolfinger Ritter von Steinsberg

Even though Weber's »Silvana«, first performed in Frankfurt am Main in 1810, was soon superseded by works such as his famous »Freischütz« (1821), this early opera was still very successful, for example in Berlin from 1811 onwards. In terms of the composition's imagery, drama and orchestration, Weber was already clearly approaching his later works here.

The plot is about revenge for spurned love and the associated spiral of violence that must be broken.

Count Adelhart is an embittered old man. He was once robbed of one of his two young daughters by an adversary, whereupon his wife died of grief. He is left with daughter Mechtilde, whom he wants to marry Count Rudolph.

Naturally, Adelhart reacts with extreme irritation when this plan threatens to fail, especially as he is forced to realise that Mechtilde is in love with the son of his adversary instead of Rudolph. And the fact that Count Rudolph has also gone his own way since meeting the seemingly mute Silvana in the forest further infuriates Adelhart. It is clear to him that his adversary's son and the forest girl must die.

Only when it turns out that Silvana is his once-abducted daughter does Adelhart abandon his murder plans and finally brings the two together.

With this production of the opera, which is rarely performed today, the Landesbühnen Sachsen is commemorating the 200th anniversary of Carl Maria von Weber's death in June 2026.