The protagonist in John Polidori’s short story The Vampire is Lord Ruthven, the charming vampire who snatches girls from illustrious families. In 1822, Heinrich Ludwig Ritter adapted the short story for the stage under the title The Vampire, or The Dead Bride – and six years later it served as the basis for the eighth opera to be written by Heinrich Marschner, one of the finest composers of German Romanticism. The work constitutes a bridge spanning the gap between Carl Maria von Weber's Die Freischütz and Richard Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer. In this undeservedly seldom-played piece, the composer creates a hair-raising atmosphere and superb characters while speaking, through irresistible music, of love, passion and the struggle against dark forces. The version revised by Wagner – to include a tenor interlude he wrote for his own brother – will be staged in a concert-format performance at the Erkel Theatre.
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