|
Back
Agnes, the Woman Who Defied the Holy Roman Emperor Erfurt
Theater
06/01/2018 - & June 3, 6, 2018
Gaspare Spontini : Agnes von Hohenstaufen
Claudia Sorokina (Agnes von Hohenstaufen), Margrethe Fredheim (Irmengard), Todd Wilander (Philipp von Hohenstaufen), Juri Batukov (Heinrich der Löwe), Bernhard Berchtold (Heinrich Braunschweig), Siyabulela Ntlale (Philipp August), Máté Sólyom-Nagy (Kaiser Heinrich VI), Kakhaber Shavidze (Erzbischof von Mainz), Caleb Yoo (Burggraf der Kaisers), Jörg Rathmann (Theobald), Henry Neill (Kampfrichter)
Opernchor des Theaters Erfurt, Andreas Ketelhut (Chorus Master), Philharmonisches Orchester Erfurt, Zoi Tsokanou (direction musicale)
Marc Adam (Stage Director), Monika Gora (Sets), Florian Hahn (Lighting), Holger Bück (Video), Arne Langer (Dramaturgy)
(© Lutz Edelhoff)
The mounting of a Spontini opera is indeed an event. His least obscure work is La Vestale, an opera premiered in a French version in Paris in 1800. It has been performed sporadically since that time, namely as a vehicle for sopranos to show off Norma-like histrionics without the vocal demands that Bellini’s heroine requires. As for his other major operas from Fernand Cortez, Olimpie to Agnes von Hohenstaufen, they are true rarities. The latter has had some fame, thanks to a recording of its most famous aria (in an Italian version), “O re dei cieli,” by Anita Cerquetti, on her much-sought-after 1957 Decca recital recording. As interpreted by Cerquetti, it is a glorious aria with an immense amount of tension thanks to the shifting tempi in the music and the soprano’s unparalleled understanding of dynamics and nuance. Ever since hearing this aria sung by Cerquetti, it’s been my dream to see this opera performed. Performances in recent history have all been in Italian versions: in Florence in 1954 with Lucille Udovich and Franco Corelli; in Rome in 1970 with Montserrat Caballé; again in Florence in 1974 with Leyla Gencer (the last two under Riccardo Muti’s baton); and in Rome in 1986, again with Montserrat Caballé. Informed of the event several months ago by an avid fellow opera lover, I was intent on going. It is both courageous and commendable that the theatre of a relatively small city in Thuringia, ex-East Germany, is the one to revive Agnes von Hohenstaufen from its undeservedly long slumber.
Spontini was born in Maiolati in the Marche region of Central Italy. The composer had a minor career in his native Italy, followed by a meteoric rise in Paris as compositeur particulier de la chambre of Empress Joséphine. Associated with Napoleon’s reign, he felt unwelcome during the Bourbon restoration and therefore moved to Berlin, capital of the rising Kingdom of Prussia, where he was appointed court composer. His musical style and choice of historical subjects was a precursor to both Meyerbeer’s Grand Opéra and to the German Romantic operas of Weber and Wagner. After its premiere in Berlin in 1827, Agnes von Hohenstaufen had a brief European career and Erfurt was among the first to produce it in 1829. Perhaps this is the reason that the present administration of the Erfurt Opera took the initiative to mount this rare opera.
The opera centers around Agnes, the Holy Roman Emperor’s niece and her tribulations. To gain a political ally in his struggle against the Welfs (a faction that later develops into the Guelfs in Northern Italy, made famous by Romeo and Juliet), the Emperor chooses to break off her engagement with her beloved Heinrich Palatinus, son of opponent Heinrich der Löwe (Henry the Lion) and accepts to marry her to Philippe Auguste, King of France. The relatively complex story is rendered more confusing by having three of the seven main characters named Heinrich and two named Philipp.
The cast was outstanding, especially for a small venue like Erfurt, and also considering the demanding roles the soloists had to prepare, and are unlikely to perform again. Russian soprano Claudia Sorokina performed the title role with conviction and intensity. Her lirico spinto was able to easily traverse the role’s difficult passages. Despite her merits, dynamics and phrasing are not Sorokina’s most salient qualities. A comparison with recorded versions (Cerquetti, Gencer, Caballé) would not be fair as all these are in Italian and the Erfurt performance, in the original German. Norwegian soprano Margrethe Fredheim in the role of Irmengard, Agnes’s mother, had immense stage presence and was able to animate this supporting role thanks to her commanding voice and tremendous charisma. Tenor Bernhard Berchtold was outstanding as Heinrich Palatinus, Agnes’s beloved, a particular achievement, seeing as his was the most demanding role of the opera in terms of duration. He woos Agnes, is imprisoned, escapes, duels and kills the King of France and finally defends the tyrannical Kaiser Heinrich IV, all while expressing the appropriate emotions required of his character. Hungarian baritone Maté Sólyom-Nagy was a commanding Kaiser Heinrich VI, despite Spontini’s weak construction of the role. We are not able to understand the reason behind his arbitrary cruelty against his niece other than frivolous political convenience. South African baritone Siyabulela Ntlale acquitted himself with brio despite the two dimensional character he portrayed. Not yet a Romantic opera, Agnes’ greatest shortcoming is its lack of character development.
The staging was interesting. Mercifully, not too much “innovation” was practiced, as this was,
after all, an unfamiliar work to most of the audience. Revolutionary stagings of Rigoletto, Tosca and La Bohème may be stimulating to a jaded public. Even when offensive, the public still knows the plots of the old warhorses. But Agnes von Hohenstaufen is an opera rarity, and the public would be utterly lost had the production been too adventurous. An interesting idea was mixing three different epochs throughout the opera through different styles of costumes: the Middle Ages, the Napoleonic style costumes in the opening scenes (Spontini’s period), as well as pre-World War I attire. This was supported by a video footage, much of which re-enacted the destruction wrought by that war. The stage director drew a parallel between the tyrannical Holy Roman Emperor and Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last Hohenzollern monarch to rule Germany. This attempt to link the distant tribulations of Agnes to a relatively recent past was effective, and struck the right balance between a straightforward narration of the story line, seducing the audience with a more familiar history.
Ossama el Naggar
|
