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Ariadne da Palladio Venezia
Vicenza (Teatro Olimpico)
10/24/2024 - & June 28, 30 (Spoleto), September 8, 10, 11 (Budapest), October 26*, 27 (Vicenza), 2024
Richard Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos, opus 60
Emily Magee (Ariadne), Anna-Lena Elbert (Zerbinetta), Andrew Staples (Bacchus), Gurgen Baveyan (Harlekin), Stuart Patterson (Scaramuccio), Daniel Noyola (Truffaldin), Juan de Dios Mateos (Brighella), Samantha Gaul (Najade), Olivia Vermeulen (Dryade), Mirella Hagen (Echo), Utka Gavuzzo, Camilo Daouk (Actors)
Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer (conductor)
Iván Fischer (stage director), Andrea Tocchio (sets), Anna Biagiotti (costumes), Tamás Bányai (lighting)
A. Staples, E. Magee
With the possible exception of Mozart and Da Ponte, the collaboration between composer Richard Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal is the greatest ever in opera. Both achieved that improbable ideal preached by Gluck’s operatic reforms, where music and lyrics achieve a perfect marriage, with neither dominating the other. For music lovers who bother following the libretto of an opera, Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s lyrics are as glorious as Richard Strauss’s music, whether in Elektra’s “Allein, weh ganz allein,” the Marschallin’s “Heut’ oder Morgen,” Arabella’s “Das war sehr gut, Mandryka” or Ariadne’s “Es gibt ein Reich.”
The 1912 Stuttgart premiere of Ariadne auf Naxos was a flop, mainly due to its long duration. It took six hours to perform von Hofmannsthal’s German translation of Molière’s play Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670) followed by the one act opera. Strauss said that most theatergoers had little interest in opera and most opera goers had little interest in theatre. Though this dichotomy might be stark, it’s certain that few have the endurance for such a long performance.
The 1916 reworking of the opera without the play premiered in Vienna and was more successful. A Prologue, explaining why a commedia dell’arte and a Greek tragedy were performed simultaneously, was added. In that Prologue, omitted in this production, the libretto mocks the nouveaux riches and the stuffiness of an overly hierarchical society epitomized by the Haushofmeister, but the essence of the work is the ambiguity of human emotions.
Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete, helped Athenian Prince Theseus vanquish the Minotaur by giving him a ball of yarn to unroll to find his way throughout the labyrinth. In return, Theseus was supposed to take her away from her native Crete, but the fickle Athenian abandoned her on the island of Naxos. All this precedes the opera.
Longing for death, Ariadne mistakes the God of wine Bacchus for Death. She mistakes rapture through carnal love with Bacchus for Death. Isn’t this the cruelest and most sublime of jokes that Providence can play? Think of a love affair: one perceives it as the greatest passion ever, while the other thinks it a forgettable adventure. From Donna Elvira and Don Giovanni to Narraboth and Salome, this is the eternal joke of reality versus perception. This perspective is perhaps the ideal outlook into Ariadne auf Naxos.
Iván Fischer, who is both the conductor and the director of this production, opts for restoring the 1912 version, i.e. the opera without the Prologue. However, he prefaces the opera with the orchestral suite, Der Bürger als Edelmann, in which Strauss had recycled much of the incidental music written for the play in the original 1912 version. In opting to do away with the Prologue, the character of the Composer, one of Strauss/Hofmannsthal’s most affecting, is no longer there. This is a huge loss, as the Composer links the worlds of performance and the creative process. This juxtaposition parallels commedia dell’arte/Greek tragedy, fickle love/tragically passionate love and even death/love, all chiaroscuro mirror images quintessential to this opera. The absence of the Composer disturbs the balance in the opera. However, the substitution of the Prologue with Der Bürger als Edelmann gives Iván Fischer’s orchestra the chance to shine in an unusual work which has a baroque flavour as a clin d’œil to French composer Jean‑Baptiste Lully (1632‑1687). The latter had composed the incidental music to Molière’s play. Truth be told, the Budapest Festival Orchestra played delightfully. Poise and effervescence beautifully contrasted as tragedy and comedy contrast in the subsequent opera segment.
Director Fischer had the ingenious idea of integrating the commedia dell’arte characters into Der Bürger als Edelmann, with the actors freely roaming around the stage during the orchestral piece. The flirtatious Zerbinetta was driving Harlekin/Arlecchino, Scaramuccio, Truffaldin and Brighella crazy. All five characters and two additional actors interacted playfully with the musicians and even the conductor. Overall, this light‑hearted divertimento was tasteful save for an utter vulgarity where one of the male characters ingratiates himself under Zerbinetta’s skirt to perform a sexual act that drives the coquette to orgasm. Gratuitous and vulgar!
As this a touring show hailing from Budapest, the sets were rudimentary: some rocks for Ariadne, on which to sit and lament; Matisse-inspired waves representing the sea; a stylized contraption representing Bacchus’s ship, and all this in papier mâché. Anna Biagiotti’s costumes were more appealing: bright and colourful for Zerbinetta and her friends, Grecian for Bacchus and the three nymphs and stoicly “in mourning” for Ariadne.
American soprano Emily Magee was Ariadne, a role for which she is renowned, having performed it in Zurich and at the Salzburg Festival. Despite inhabiting the role for two decades, Magee is still a ravishing Ariadne. Her lirico spinto is beautiful, her high notes secure and her German diction impeccable. Most impressive was her acting; a truly melancholy abandoned princess, a supercilious grande dame erstwhile irritated and later bemused by Zerlinetta’s advice and finally a passionate woman inebriated to discover carnal love with no less than a god. Her “Ein Schönes war” was heart wrenching, while her somber “Es gibt ein Reich” was the highlight of the evening.
British tenor Andrew Staples was the revelation of the evening. Endowed with a beautiful voice, he was a perfect Bacchus. This exceptionally versatile lyric tenor is able to sing any Fach, for Bacchus is a substantially heavier role than the Mozart roles with which he is most associated (Tamino, Don Ottavio, Ferrando). He is also a Lieder and oratorio singer. An amusing detail: as Bacchus was entering the stage to reach Ariadne, one of the orchestra musicians stood up and grabbed a grape from the god of wine’s crown. This amazing singer is also a stage director. I wonder what he thought of the staging of this production.
German soprano Anna-Lena Elbert was a delightful Zerbinetta, mainly for her amazing stage presence. A signature role for prominent coloraturas, Zerbinetta must dazzle not just for voice aficionados, but must also convey the effervescent nature of the soubrette, and lastly to shine, to counter Ariadne’s gloom and despair. Elbert certainly peppered the words of wisdom offered to Ariadne in the bravura aria “Grossmächtige Prinzessin.” Her emphasis on phrases like “Prinzessin, hören Sie mich an–nicht Sie allein”, “Treulos–sie sind’s! Ungeheuer, ohne Grenzen” and “Noch bin ich wahr, und doch ist es gelogen” was bang on. Though not the most stratospheric coloratura, Elbert more than compensated with her extraordinary charisma.
Equally delightful were Zerbinetta’s four admirers, whose stage presence was formidable and their interplay spirited and tasteful. Armenian baritone Gurgen Baveyan was a vocally outstanding Harlekin, while Spanish tenor Juan de Dios Mateos, who portrayed Brighella, was mischief and charm personified. Likewise, the three nymphs were enchanting both vocally and dramatically. Their presence onstage at the Renaissance Teatro Olimpico was most evocative.
Proposing Der Bürger als Edelmann in lieu of the Prologue is not really convincing. The commedia dell’arte characters cavorting onstage, interacting with the musicians is amusing for a while, but grows tedious, as the orchestral suite lasts over thirty minutes. Nonetheless, seeing the “opera” segment of Ariadne auf Naxos without the Prologue gives one a different perspective. As always, the setting of the stunning Teatro Olimpico, designed by the great Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio (1508‑1580), enhances the beauty and artistry of any work, especially one with roots in classical mythology.
Ossama el Naggar
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