On this page you find a compact summary of the opera.
For more detail please read THE PLOT.
At MUSIC DEMOS you find studio recordings of musical numbers from the opera and a couple of videos from the reading at MuTh Theater, Vienna.
Klick CONTACT INFO to get in touch with the creators and/or the publishers.
L’officina de l’amore
(“The Garage of Love”)
Opera buffa in three acts
Italian with (English) subtitles
Book by Giovanni Remonato and Johannes Glück
Lyrics by Giovanni Remonato
Music by Johannes Glück
Cast
4 female singers (alto, soprano, dramatic soprano, mezzo)
4 male singers (baritone, bass, tenor, bass-baritone)
Choir (min. 8: S1, S2, A1, A2, T1, T2, B1, B2)
Orchestra
1 Fl, 1 Cl, 1 Ob, 1 Bsn, 2 Hrn, 1 Trp, 1 Tbn, Timp/Perc, Cemb, Strings (min. 4-3-2-2-1)
Duration
Playing time approx. 105 minutes. Performance may be with or without intermission
Vienna-Ottakring, 2015
Car repair shop Debeljković. Car mechanic Adem (31), very straight and very single, loves one car more than any woman: Giulietta, the beautiful 1957 Alfa Romeo convertible belonging to his customer – and romantic admirer – Isabella (64). In order to get hold of the car Adem pretends to be interested in marrying Isabella. Montenegrin Drago Debeljković (62), boss of Adem and the closeted gay couple Lolek (26) and Soli (29), is annoyed. He has a soft spot for Isabella but she‘s always been ignoring him. During a rain shower, German student Julia (25) enters the repair shop with her broken bicycle. Adem and Julia make love and fall in love. Out of the blue, Adem‘s mother Fatima (49) and a bunch of Turkish relatives arrive, all peasants from Yozgat. They want to wed Adem to his cousin Cennet (23). He refuses and introduces Isabella as his bride and agrees to marry her. Julia meets Cennet and learns about the marriage swindle. The two young women fall in love with each other. Adem tries to get Julia back but fails. Eventually, Isabella finds out about Adem being a con artist and dies broken-hearted. Drago reanimates her with a car battery. They decide to enjoy their sunset years together on the Mediterranean seaside. Isabella gifts Adem with Giulietta. Adem won the car but lost love.
The best of two worlds
is merged in “L’officina de l’amore“: A classic opera as compact, entertaining and full of melodies as a musical. The characters in our funny, fast moving plot use a lot of contemporary colloquial speech – exclusively in Italian, the most beautiful and singable language in the world, making even words for swearing and car repair tools sound poetic. Subtitles on stage provide entertaining translations. The score is through-composed including recitativi and strumentati, no spoken dialog.
Opera lovers
and music connaisseurs of all ages are going to enjoy “L‘officina de l‘amore“. But our contemporary characters, the entertaining story and the catchy score will also win new audiences for opera.
Johannes Glück
(*1975) is an alumnus of the Vienna Conservatory, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and Celler Schule. The first show he scored for full orchestra was “Das Dingsbums das man Liebe nennt“, an operetta produced in 1996. He composed the songs for „Das Greingold“ (2002) and wrote book, music and lyrics for the hit musical „Krawutzi Kaputzi!“ (2007). Johannes lives and works in Vienna. See www.johannesglueck.com for more info.
Giovanni Remonato
was born 1982 in Italy. He studied German philology at the universities of Undine and Klagenfurt. In 2015 he graduated from the University of Verona with a doctoral thesis on the Holocaust in comics. Giovanni is an active researcher, literary critic and freelance translator and works for a film production company.
Interview with the creators
Otto Jankovich, producer of the reading at the Vienna MuTh Theater talks with Johannes Glück und Giovanni Remonato about “L’officina de l’amore”.
(German with English subtitles)