Die tote Stadt
In Bruges at the end of the nineteenth century, Paul remains consumed by the memory of his dead wife Marie. He meets Marietta, a dancer who resembles her, and tries to recreate his wife through her. Most of the opera’s latter two acts unfold in a dream vision: Paul becomes jealous, strangles Marietta with Marie’s hair, and wakes to learn that Marietta had only briefly left her umbrella behind. He decides to leave Bruges and accept Marie’s death.