"Nemorino in Heidelberg" Top 5 Page for this destination Heidelberg by Nemorino


Heidelberg Travel Guide: 1,257 reviews and 2,675 photos

Ioannes Casimirus welcoming visitors to Heidelberg

Every summer the singers, musicians and actors of the Heidelberg City Theater move up the hill to the courtyard of the castle ruins and put on a summer festival with an opera, concerts, a play and an operetta. They have a different program every summer except for the operetta, which is nearly always the iconic one that takes place in Heidelberg, The Student Prince by Sigmund Romberg, sung in the original English but with the spoken dialogues in German translation.

In 2010 I opted for the opera, however, and saw the final performance of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore (The Elixir of Love) in a wacky production by the Andorran stage director Joan Anton Rechi.

L'elisir d'amore by Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) is a comic opera which I have seen numerous times in Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt, Gießen, Halle, Paris, Prague and Vienna -- and now in Heidelberg -- over the past few years.

Nemorino in this opera is a guy who does everything wrong but gets the girl anyway, which is more or less the story of my life up to now, so I decided that his name would be an appropriate member-name for me here on VirtualTourist.

Adina, Belcore and Dulcamara are also characters in the same opera.

The lady in the red dress in this photo is the soprano Silke Schwarz, who sang Adina in the Heidelberg performance of L'elisir d'amore.

The man in the glittery suit is the baritone Sebastian Geyer, who sang Belcore. This was his last performance in Heidelberg, because after four years in the Heidelberg opera ensemble he was leaving to become an ensemble member in Frankfurt am Main. So I saw his last performance in Heidelberg and a few weeks later his first one in Frankfurt, as Count Almaviva in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, and two weeks after that he came as a guest to one of my opera courses.

Except for a few weeks in the summer, plays and operas in Heidelberg are performed down in the Old Town at the City Theater.

The one opera I have seen there so far was Salome by Richard Strauss, but I was disappointed with the performance. The story of this was here on my Heidelberg intro page for several years, but I have now moved it to a travelogue entitled Zehra Yildiz (1956-1997).

Currently the City Theater is being expanded and thoroughly rebuilt. Construction work began in June 2010 and is scheduled to be completed by the autumn of 2012. In the meantime, performances will be held in an opera tent -- the same tent that was previously used in Freiburg, Erfurt and Kassel for the same purpose.

  • Last visit to Heidelberg: Jun 2010
  • Intro Updated Aug 3, 2011
  • Add to Trip Planner (?)
  • Report Abuse

Reviews (31)

Comments (69)

Post a Comment   Submit Comment  
  • Regina1965's Profile Photo
    Regina1965 Oct 16, 2011 at 3:20 PM Report Abuse

    Heidelberg seems like a lovely city, like so many German cities. I like your cooking tip hehe ;)

  • breughel's Profile Photo
    breughel Sep 14, 2011 at 10:02 AM Report Abuse

    A virtual tour of Heidelberg. I should visit more of Germany.

  • ettiewyn's Profile Photo
    ettiewyn Jul 12, 2011 at 2:00 AM Report Abuse

    Very good page on Heidelberg that gives a good impression of the town and what is to see there besides the castle! I will go there next week for a day. Thank you :-)

  • 850prc's Profile Photo
    850prc Nov 8, 2010 at 10:56 AM Report Abuse

    Nemorino, in life as on stage, is the good guy. :) Good talking to you again, Don.

  • Kuznetsov_Sergey's Profile Photo
    Kuznetsov_Sergey Oct 8, 2010 at 8:55 AM Report Abuse

    Thank you Don for bringing back memory about this wonderful town. I well remember the view from the Scheffel's Terrace. Loved your tip "Don't let your stepdaughter read this!" about Salomea.

  • richiecdisc's Profile Photo
    richiecdisc Oct 6, 2010 at 8:41 AM Report Abuse

    Was pleasantly surprised to see a restaurant tip by you and as expected an entertaining one to go along with your usual informative travel/historical tips. Not sure why I've never been to Heidelberg but this page has me wanting to rectify that!

  • unaS's Profile Photo
    unaS Oct 5, 2010 at 2:59 AM Report Abuse

    Interesting info on Mr. Johannes Casimir !

  • toonsarah's Profile Photo
    toonsarah Oct 3, 2010 at 11:31 AM Report Abuse

    I really enjoyed your recent updates, perhaps all the more so because since my last visit to this page I have actually seen Heidelberg for myself, albeit briefly! In fact we drank at the cafe with red parasols in your Marktplatz photo I believe :-)

  • german_eagle's Profile Photo
    german_eagle Oct 2, 2010 at 10:05 AM Report Abuse

    Excellent updates here, Don. I'd love to see an opera in the castle's courtyard once. The Pharmacy museum looks very interesting, too. Ahh, no luck with the referendum in Stuttgart :(

  • Trekki's Profile Photo
    Trekki Oct 1, 2010 at 3:34 AM Report Abuse

    Ah, great updates, Don :-) Nemorino in Heidelberg - I like that! How did you manage to take photos in the Pharmacy Museum? I thought they don't allow it. Oh, and I also ate in Goldener Falke (and have once almost burnt my kitchen....)

Nemorino

“A bicycle is . . . the freedom you thought you were getting when you bought a car.”

Online Now

Male

Top 1,000 Travel Writer
Member Rank:
0 0 0 3 3

Badges & Stats in Heidelberg

  • 31 Reviews
  • 45 Photos
  • 20 Forum posts
  • 71 Comments
  • 7,619PageViews

Have you been to Heidelberg?

  Share Your Travels  

Latest Activity in Heidelberg

Travel Interests

See All Travel Interests (5)

Latest Heidelberg hotel reviews

Crowne Plaza Heidelberg
136 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 18, 2012
Hotel Tannhauser - Theaterhotel Heidelberg
4 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 13, 2012
Hotel Hollander Hof
79 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 13, 2012
Knoesel Cafe-Hotel
3 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: Apr 19, 2012
Hotel Anlage
21 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: Mar 1, 2012
Hotel Goldener Hecht
43 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: Feb 12, 2012
Hotel Garni Kurpfalzhof
109 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: Apr 22, 2012
Gasthaus Hotel Backmulde
32 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: Feb 21, 2012
NH Hotel Heidelberg
50 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 23, 2012
Hotel Goldene Rose
37 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 4, 2012
Hotel Alt Heidelberg
12 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: Dec 17, 2011
Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten
43 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: Apr 25, 2012