Can it be two 20th-century operas in one season? Regular readers know that I love the operas of Janáček, and so you can imagine my delight to see that WNO will mount David Alden's staging of Jenůfa, with the specialist Jiří Bělohlávek leading singers Patricia Racette (highly praised in the premiere of An American Tragedy) and Catherine Malfitano. This may not be my favorite Janáček opera, but it's very good. Of course, the WNO's new Ring cycle, directed by Francesca Zambello, which begins this March with Das Rheingold, will continue with Die Walküre, too. Plácido Domingo and soprano Anja Kampe will reprise their appearances as Siegmund and Sieglinde in 2003, and Alan Held will sing the role of Wotan.What? Two 20th-century operas and a 21st-century opera? Yes, this season will also include the North American premiere of Nicholas Maw's Sophie's Choice, first presented in 2002 at Covent Garden. (See this interview that Gail Wein did with the composer in that year. Maw now lives in Washington and teaches at Peabody.) Marin Alsop, newly appointed music director of the Baltimore Symphony, will conduct. This rather daring programming, for which I congratulate WNO, will be rounded out with a reprise of Mariusz Trelinski's production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly (we loved Trelinski's production of Giordano's Andrea Chénier last fall), Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment (a dippy, little romp we heard from Opera Bel Cantanti this fall), a new production of Verdi's Macbeth. Mini-Critic will have his chance, too, with a new family opera, Dream of the Pacific, about the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Henry, thanks for that! It's important to keep that in mind about Puccini. I agree with you about the pairing, which is definitely odd. I would *love* to see Erwartung much more than Schicchi. I don't know if Maw has revised or will revise Sophie's Choice for next season, but I will try to find out. As for Alden, I may like unusual productions more than you, but I am excited to see what he does with that opera. I agree with you, however, that the conservative audience of Washington may not be as kindly disposed to it as I am.
ReplyDeleteIt is Christopher Alden who gives more prominence to "bare walls, chairs and lots of lightbulbs". it was also Christopher Alden who has worked at the WNO before - not David.
ReplyDeletei understand (to the limit of my ability) what you say more than i can emphatize with it. i am actually working on an article on what 'conservative means in the arts' for a cultural/architectural journal - and i'll be sure to post relevant material here... but my basic point is that the most important part in opera is 'relating to truth' - which i take further to "getting to the intent, the message". in pikova dama, for example, the point is NOT to show it exactly as Tchaik. did, but to work out the social critique that was the essence of the original and to transpose that message so that todays' audience gets it. we cannot, cannot see art the same way now as it was seen 100 years ago (Tosca) - because we cannot unlearn the collective, cummulative experiences since. i mentioned this earlier in a comment when i wrote about ross' mistaken point about the Pierre Menard story of Borges'. understanding that the Menard character actually writes a completely NEW novel is key to understanding why traditional opera productions are only rarely successful.
ReplyDeletebest,
jfl
p.s. you were right: BOTH Alden brothers love, love, love CHAIRS. :)
"after all, it is better to be angry than to be bored!" said winnifred wagner to patrice chereau when he finally got to meet her in 1980 after the very last curtain of his centennial ring. i agree and that is why i welcome the fact that we could not disagree more about opera as a living art form. although we probably agree more than you might think on the ineptitude of execution of many modern productions.
ReplyDeletebest,
jfl
Henry, you're KILLING me! I cannot stop laughing and agree TOTALLY with everything you've been saying! I just could not agree more, and to have it put so directly and, well, you're saying exactly what I've been thinking, every word of it. I'm for traditional yet creative and interesting sets with good program notes.
ReplyDeleteWitness the poor villagers (aka the Chorus) in Baltimore's recent Sonnambula who, having had their all white linen and summer hat and relentlessly folding and unfolding picnic blanket filled "Sunday in the Park with George" Act I ("Where's Bernadette Peters?" I kept wondering) while standing [or limping] around on a badly & raggedly astroturf covered set floor that was sloped like the pitch of a roof, then in Act II find themselves standing either in bleak profile or sitting forlornly on some rocks wearing long sleeved floor length black coats and big hats waiting, it seems, for the next train to Auschwitz.
Seriously. Seriously BAD!
Makes me wonder whether some of the performers want to commit directricide.
How about this: Maybe that Tosca would take the .45 out of her cleavage and knock off (in quick succession) the set designer, the director, the marketing guy and *then* Scarpia before making her final leap to her own death. Props manager better check that pistol for live ammo!
Methinks many a modern Toscas would rather die than be stuck having to PERFORM in even one more such production!
And chairs, what is it with freakin' chairs? I saw a production of Reimann's great Lear in Dresden and during the searing scene on the heath, the stage was bare except for.....dozens and dozens of chairs.
ReplyDeleteRight on, Henry! I also saw the Dresden Lear and wondered about all the chairs. But you didn't mention the HUGE kitchen table with the HUGE chairs, spoons, and knives!!
Have you seen the new Baden Baden Parsifal, which will be seen in Berlin, San Francisco, in London (with the ENO), and I think Chicago? The set features a skate-board sloped wall and .... you guessed it, more chairs attached to the slope...
(I enjoyed the Munich/S.F. version of Reimann's Lear more...).
Welcome back Andrea!
i'll take oversized spoons over the old-fashioned shlock that is devoid of new ideas for hundreds of years that the others here seem to prefer. but you all make a wonderful point in the difference between conservative (me) and reactionary (you people). there is nothing inherently good about presenting opera "as 100 years ago" or "as 50 years ago" (in more conservative towns) or "as at the MET" (at the MET) nor is it in any way 'authentic' or "as the composer wanted it". in fact, that's bullshit and an absurd claim. those who are too timid to find new ways of bringing old fucking operas back to life because - god beware - they could come across a couple directions that don't work all that well should find a nieche in the field of taxidermology, for crying out loud. i am so sick of that whineing about replacing knifes with guns... as if that mattered in the least bit. literalist trifles for those who care about costumes more than about truth... for those who rather play it safe than ever take a risk. ultimately you types are the second worst thing to happen to opera right after the people that set opera houses on fire but still ahead of those who don't go in the first place.
ReplyDeleteJens's rant reminds me of the discussion I had with an opera fan about last year's production of Tosca. She was upset because after Scarpia's death scene, Tosca did not place candles around the body, as if that were the only way to stage that scene. Who would want to see the same operas -- because the conservative programming of most American houses especially means that we see a small number of operas way too often -- again and again exactly the same way? The mere thought of it bores me to tears. I agree with Jens: I would rather have a new take on a familiar work and possibly end up angry rather than bored.
ReplyDeleteWo, Jens take it easy there! I don't mind new settings, not at all. I'm all for artistic risk and creativity.
ReplyDeleteWhat I object to is new settings that diminish of the actual plot line or that twist the characters beyond recognition, in the futile search for something "new" and/or "hip".
Pulling a gun out of her cleavage says that Tosca *planned* to kill him. Loaded the gun and figured out where to stash it until she needed it. She does not plan to kill him, in the original libretto, she sees the knife on the table and snaps. Period.
What I hate the most is what I call the "Schprockets" school of opera staging. (remember that old Saturday Night Live skit?)
The fact is, Jens, that a lightbulb, a chair and a black turtleneck in and of themselves do NOT make a new and/or interesting artistic interpretation of say, Tosca.
A lightbulb, a chair and a black tutleneck WITH SOMEONE SINGING WHO IS TECHNICALLY EXPERT AND ARTISTICALLY UNIQUE might, on the other hand, do just that.
ps I don't think we deserve to be lumped into a category of "you people"! [As for the traditional stuff, you try taking a bunch of 13 year olds to their first ever opera (say Figaro) and explaining that usually, there is a real set with some connection to what the composer & librettist intended (ie Mozart/DaPonte), instead of what they're seeing (their FIRST OPERA!!), ie the lightbulb, the chair and the black turtleneck ... That's a near surefire way to lose a couple of generations of potential operagoers, in my book anyway.]
Jens, we were talking about chairs!! ... I can't speak for Henry and Ariadne, but I myself am hardly a reactionary. Some know me as a flaming... Moderate!
ReplyDeleteI loved the San Fransisco Opera avant-garde production of Reimann's "Lear", as well as the avant-garde Dresden production of the Mussbach - Ruzicka "Paul Celan" that featured the work of an avant-garde local video art collective.
I also loved the Koln production of Nono's Intolleranza which enlisted computer-video projections from the local graduate school of Media Studies.
Oh yeah... and there was also the great Daniel Libeskind production of Messiaen's Saint Francois, in Berlin. I'll challenge the WNO or the MET to stage that beautiful production!
It occurs to me as I review this comment thread again that the root of this problem is that we have so few new operas being staged. As I suggested earlier (Productions Instead of Premieres, January 7) in response to a post by Alex Ross, "the energy and money spent on creating and defending radical new productions of old works should probably be spent instead on creating and defending new operas." Are both the rejection and embracing of director-driven opera ultimately about the lack of new operas?
ReplyDeleteI think that premieres and twentieth-century repertory are signs of a progressive spirit..."
ReplyDelete-- Alex Ross
I couldn't agree more. I guess its OK if you call me a progressive, rather than a moderate!
Charles, people have been discussing whether "directors' opera" has risen to international prominence at the expense of premieres and a core American operatic canon for at least the past 25 years!!
That is one reason why I have so strongly felt the importance of all American opera companies -- including the MET, the SFO, and the Chicago Lyric -- doing one American opera, or one premiere, each and every season -- season in, season out!
(Where is Apollyon... I mean Henry Holland?)
i am glad that my rant (i got a little carried away there, to the end - even if i stand by what i said) didn't offend all-too-much. the chairs and lightbulbs and turtle-necks (welcome to sprockets - you may not touch my monkey..... Klaus! it's time to daanz now!) are red herrings . they are used to indict modern productions as a whole without offering a solution beyond a return to the old fashioned. my position, however, is that a mere return to the old fashioned is guaranteed failure and a modern production is - depending on the director - just likely failure. and a failure of a type that i'd much rather see than the predictable.
ReplyDeleteabsolutely superb singing and acting, in any case, can always rescue a production - no matter how "Brecht" or dusty.
jfl
Jens, I do not think that more than 5 or 7 years ago, one would have seen the Washington National Opera do a Zambello "Ring", a David Alden "Jenufa", or even a Mariusz Trelinski "Madame Butterfly" (which I generally liked but found a little fussy; and which my guests liked even more than I did). (The Washington Opera Verdi MacBeth, of 1981 under Christopher Alden, was, I recall, a pretty tame affair. I was in it as a super.)
ReplyDelete[The MET started its journey into "directorial opera" a few years earlier than did the WNO, after some Paris Opera Ballets staged by Robert Wilson were a huge success, and when the MET realized that they didn't want to follow up Philip Glass's and David Henry Hwang's "The Voyage" with a serious commitment to American opera and American operatic premieres.)
And where is the WNO's promised American opera in 2006-07???
... Oh, I almost forgot -- there is the Lewis and Clark work for families; and for which Charles didn't even give the name of the (American) composer or librettist. :)
*
(Was it Henry Holland or another poster here who wanted my "Animating American Opera" (TM) concept to fail?)
Bluebeard's Castle needs to be paired with something like Zemlinsky's Florentine Tragedy or the more common Schoenberg Erwartung.
ReplyDeleteH.H.
Somewhere, recently, I suggested a pairing at the MET of "Bluebeard's Castle", followed by Karol Szymanowski's "King Roger" (which the Wolf Trap opera once did, in concert version, after the terrible fire there of the early 1980s.) The Bluebeard is about an hour, and the King Roger is a little over 80 minutes.
-- gt