Is there an afterlife? Does our soul live on after death? Is there love that lasts beyond the grave? Although no one knows the answer, many people would say yes, but even those who do not believe in this somehow hope that our lives do not end with our physical departure. It would be nice to know that when we leave this earthly world here, somewhere else we can meet our loved ones who have passed away and there we can wait for those whom it pained us to leave here. This hope is the subject of György Kurtág's new opera, which he began writing in 2023 to a libretto by Christoph Hein based on the letters and writings of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799).
Kurtág has always paid close attention to the life and work of the German polymath (mathematician, physicist, philosopher and writer). In 1996, he composed a 22-movement song cycle on Lichtenberg's aphorisms, but he was equally moved by Lichtenberg's relationship with his first great love, Maria Dorothea Stechard (1765-1782). The uneducated and illiterate flower girl was 12 years old when the already respected Göttingen professor met her and began teaching her. The teacher-student relationship soon turned into love, and the girl moved in with Lichtenberg at the age of 14, who then considered her his wife, although there was no question of a church blessing until the girl came of age. The story of their love, which ended with her death at the age of 17, was preserved in Lichtenberg's letters. Although Lichtenberg later married and had children, ‘little Stechardin’ undoubtedly had a lifelong influence on him. According to one of his letters to Christian Garve, ‘... she reconciled me to humanity.’ (November 3, 1782) [„…Sie hat mich mit dem gantzen menschlichen Geschlecht ausgesöhnt.“]
The opera is set in another world, which could be heaven, an alternate reality, or any imaginary place according to the listener's beliefs. It is actually a single monologue, divided into three parts (1. Eine andere Welt / Another World; 2. Die Vorgeschichte / The Backstory; 3. About Love), in which Maria Dorothea Stechard waits for the love she left behind in the earthly world to find her again. Her memories come alive of the beginning of their love, the people around them, the memorable moments of their life together, and their happiness, which was ended by illness and death.
The reason for the choice of theme is obvious: György Kurtág lost his wife, Márta, in 2019, who was his companion for 72 years and from whom he received the most inspiration and help throughout his long career. While his opera Fin de partie, completed in 2018, is a kind of artistic testament, the music of Die Stechardin is a farewell, conveying the beauty of life and love and the acceptance of death.
The work is commissioned by Budapest Music Center, to be premiered on February 20, 2026, in Budapest as part of the Kurtág 100 Festival at the Palace of Arts. The title role is sung by Maria Husmann, and the Concerto Budapest Orchestra is conducted by András Keller. György Kurtág is currently working on the orchestration with the collaboration of composer Zsolt Serei.

Tünde Mózes-Szitha