For the first time on a German stage: Georges Bizet’s opera “Ivan IV” – culture

That on the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine a Opera about Ivan IV premiered at the Meiningen State Theater might seem bizarre. But maybe it’s just symbolic. It wasn’t planned anyway. The whole thing is an adventurous story of discovery. In the years 1863 to 1865 Georges Bizet worked on his opera “Ivan IV”; he never completed them. It is said that a visit by Tsar Alexander II to Paris for the world exhibition ruined the premiere, because the ruler was not to be disturbed with a sounding psychogram of one of his predecessors. Or perhaps the Théâtre Lyrique, where the opera was to be released, was simply broke at the time. Bizet abandoned “Ivan” and never touched the work again. Ten years later he wrote “Carmen”.