Berghaus, Ruth

▪ 1997

      German director and choreographer (b. July 2, 1927, Dresden, Ger.—d. Jan. 25, 1996, Zeuthen, Ger.), developed techniques of body language and movement that she taught and incorporated into her direction of opera and theatre productions for over three decades. Her personal, radical approach inspired both controversy and admiration throughout her career. Berghaus studied dance and choreography in Dresden and in 1951, impressed by a Berliner Ensemble production of Bertolt Brecht's Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder, moved to East Berlin. She continued her studies, first with Wolfgang Langhoff and then at the Berliner Ensemble, where she met the composer Paul Dessau, with whom she collaborated until his death in 1979. They were married in 1954. Berghaus gained international attention with her battle scene choreography for the Berliner Ensemble's production of Coriolanus (1964), combining acting and dancing in a radical new way. She became head of the company in 1971 and served until 1977. After that, most of her work was in opera direction, regularly with the Deutsche Staatsoper but also for other companies internationally. Her production of Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung tetralogy in Frankfurt in the mid-1980s was a cult event, and the last performance of the series, Götterdämmerung (1987), was given a 75-minute standing ovation. Among the last works that Berghaus directed were Rolf Liebermann's Freedom for Medea in Hamburg and Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus in Leipzig, both in 1995.

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