What a celebration! The wedding ceremony of Count Paul Anton Esterházy and Countess Maria Therese Erdödy in Vienna was followed by days of festivities in Eisenstadt in January 1763. The father of the bridegroom, Prince Nikolaus the Magnificent, made good on his name, providing ham, sausages, smoked meat, and bread for the assembled people. On the second day, a newspaper at the time reported, 'a beautiful Walch opera entitled Acide' was staged at the Palace. This was what the 30-year-old Joseph Haydn was to call his 'very first opera', based on the Greek myth of Acis and Galatea. The yearning, jealous Cyclops Polyphemus slays his rival Acis, who transforms into a river at the request of the grieving Galatea and flows into the sea, where she lovingly receives him as a nymph. Following their great success with Mozart's 'Bastien und Bastienne' last year, Carolin Pienkos & Cornelius Obonya, together with Heinz Ferlesch and Barucco, return with a young cast of singers to revive this exquisite opera rarity.

Shuttlebus Tickets:

18:00: Shuttlebus departs from Albertina (Operngasse 4-8), EUR 35,- buy here