Study, Die Tote Stadt

Staged 2010, Finnish National Opera, Helsinki, Finland

“Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s 1920 opera Die Tote Stadt is a meditation on grief for a lost loved one. Director Kasper Holten and I framed the protagonist’s grief within a vast aperture that revealed a miniature recreation of Bruges, Belgium, with its brain-like maze of medieval streets. The protagonist appeared trapped.”

—Es Devlin

A person lying in a bed is at the center of a blue-lit room with slanted walls. Projected on the back wall is a dynamic image of floating buildings with yellow lights in the windows. The two other walls and floor are full of small house models with yellow lights, picture frames, and flowers in vases.
Production photograph, Die Tote Stadt
By Erich Wolfgang Korngold, staged 2010, Finnish National Opera, Helsinki, Finland
Courtesy of Es Devlin
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A clear case housing three rectangular objects; from left to right: a white map-like cutout, a white aerial view of a town, and a blue and gray top view of a city.
Es Devlin, Studies, Memory Palace, Free Your Mind, and Die Tote Stadt
Photo: Elliot Goldstein © Smithsonian Institution
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A blue and gray rectangular model of the top view of a city. Two red figures are included: one is at the bottom left corner and the other stands towards the top right.
Es Devlin, Study model, Die Tote Stadt, Cardstock, foam core, and 3D-printed acrylic.
By Erich Wolfgang Korngold, staged 2010, Finnish National Opera, Helsinki, Finland
Courtesy of Es Devlin
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