By Shirley Apthorp [Financial Times, 18 November 2008]

Presumably there was no curse upon the Berlin Staatsoper, but there might as well have been one. When Peter Mussbach penned the libretto for Peter Ruzicka’s new opera, Hölderlin, the Intendant of the Berlin Staatsoper meant to stage it himself. Six months before the planned opening, political ructions led to Mussbach’s ousting.