|
Back
The Grand Chessboard Düsseldorf
Hagen (Theater)
04/06/2025 - & April 13, May 11, June 19, July 13, 2025
Giuseppe Verdi : Don Carlos
Kazuki Yoshida (Don Carlos), Insu Hwang (Rodrigue, marquis de Posa), Marianne Schechtel*/Almerija Delic (La princesse Eboli), Caterina Meldolesi (Elisabeth de Valois), Renatus Mészár (Philippe II), Dong‑Won Seo (Le Grand Inquisiteur, Un moine), Ofeliya Pogosyan (Thibault), Anton Kuzenok (Le Comte de Lerma, Un hérault), Kisum Kim (Une voix céleste), Hagen-Goar Bornmann, Ramon Karolan, Maximilian Schwarzacher, SoJin Yang (Députés flamands)
Chor & Extrachor des Theaters Hagen, Julian Wolf (chorus master), Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen, Joseph Trafton (conductor)
Francis Hüsers (stage director), Mathis Neidhardt (sets), Katharina Weissenborn (costumes), Hans-Joachim Köster, Martin Gehrke (lights), Francesco Vecchione (choreography), Thomas Rufin, Jakob Robert Schepers (dramaturgy)
K. Yoshida, I. Hwang (© Matthias Jung)
Don Carlos is widely considered to be Verdi’s masterpiece. It’s a colossal work, Verdi’s longest, and one of the most demanding of his operas to cast. Premiered in Paris in 1867 in the French language, it was subsequently presented in London and then throughout Europe in its Italian version. After its originally conceived five acts were considered excessive, a four‑act Italian version became the standard. However, the omitted “Fontainebleau” first act, or at least some of its music, found its way into the work in the 1970s, and the 1980s saw a revival of Verdi’s original French version. Though the Italian Don Carlo is now more common than the rarely-performed French version, there’s hope for the original to become more popular. I prefer this one, as it was conceived for the Paris Opera in the “grand opéra” tradition introduced and perfected by the neglected genius Giacomo Meyerbeer.
Meyerbeer’s grand operas had historic themes such as the plight of the Protestants in France in Les Huguenots, or the blasphemous John of Leiden in the Netherlands during the early days of the Reformation in Le Prophète. They also involved dazzlingly grand spectacle and a quintet (or sextet) of singers covering all registers of voice: a tenor and soprano for the amorous couple; a mezzo and a baritone rival; and two basses as parents or evil conspirators. There lies the difficulty in reviving Meyerbeer’s works or those written in his style: it invites a challenging budget to mount any production, as well as the difficulties in finding six first‑tier singers.
As an ardent lover of Don Carlos, I try to see it as often as possible. In the past year alone, I’ve seen it in Düsseldorf, Naples and Paris. Recently I planned a day trip to Hagen, an industrial city of about 200,000 inhabitants, to see Don Carlos. Given the conglomeration of towns in the Ruhr district in Northwestern Germany, there are scores of places like Hagen, and amazingly, all are endowed with opera houses linked by suburban transportation, enabling anyone access to an evening of opera.
Using Düsseldorf as a base, I was easily able to venture into Hagen, some 45 minutes away, to experience a matinée of my favourite Verdi opera. I was certain it was the shorter Italian version, but – surprise! – it was the original, complete French version, lasting (with two intermissions) nearly five hours. A bigger surprise was the high standard of the production: excellent singers, a good orchestra, an intelligent staging and even excellent French diction. It’s hard to believe, but the Gallic diction in this provincial German town surpassed that of the Paris Opera in April!
Hagen boasts a first‑rate theatre, built in 1911, with an appealing art nouveau exterior, and a capacity of 800. The present performance, the last of five, was almost sold out. That’s indeed impressive for a town of this size. For the 2025/2026 season, this multi‑function venue will offer ten operas and musicals, four ballets, eight cabaret shows, twenty‑four symphonic and chamber music concerts, seven plays, twenty shows for the young, and various shows catering to the city’s various migrant communities.
German director (and artistic head of Hagen Theater since 2017) Francis Hüsers’s vision of Don Carlos is as much inspired by the opera’s libretto as by Schiller’s play, Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien (1787) on which the work is based. Hüsers sees the opera as a power play between a mighty monarch and the Catholic Church (in the person of the Grand Inquisitor), as well as between an absolutist monarch and his liberal-minded son Carlos and counsel Rodrigue. A third power play is between the young French queen Elisabeth de Valois and the King’s mistress Princess Eboli. As such, Hüsers and set designer Mathis Neidhardt transformed the Royal Court and the opera’s characters into pawns on a chessboard. The stage is in fact an inclined chessboard with black and white squares. Similar sets were used in Claus Guth’s dull, pretentious production for Naples’s Teatro San Carlo earlier this season. Happily the production at hand was anything but.
Even more appealing were Katharina Weissenborn’s costumes, all of which were dressed as white or black chess pawns. King Philippe II and Queen Elisabeth de Valois were dressed as white King and Queen pawns; Don Carlos and Rodrigue, Bishops (the former white and the latter black); Princesse Eboli, a black Queen; and the Grand Inquisitor, a black King. Secondary characters, such as the page Thibault and Le Comte de Lerma, were white Knights. When Rodrigue was named Duke by the King for having disarmed Don Carlos, who’d raised his weapon against the monarch, he was given white clothes, and when Don Carlos rebelled and was arrested, he transformed into a black knight.
The chess concept worked logically and was aesthetically pleasing, and budget‑wise, made sense, as a stage filled with appealingly-attired performers meant there was no need for sets other than the chess board – a major cost‑cutting measure for what can be ruinously expensive. The only weak scene was the normally imposing “Auto da fé” in Act III, where Flemish heretics are publicly paraded, tortured and finally burnt at the stake. Instead of the usual six, three Flemish deputies (without chess pawn attire, signifying their hors concours status), were humiliated, given daggers and forced to kill each other. Another disappointing choice, which may have resulted from the lack of appropriate singers, was the assignment of Le Comte de Lerma and the Herald to the same tenor, and the roles of the Grand Inquisitor and the Monk in Act II to the same bass. The latter was more seriously flawed as those roles aren’t on the same moral side. The latter is a reminder of divine power on Earth and of human insignificance, while the former is (according to most) evil incarnate.
Given the superlative quality of Verdi’s music, it was a delight to hear Don Carlos without any cuts (at least so I thought). In past French version productions, major cuts were made to address the work’s considerable length. In the present production, there were scenes new to me, some of great musical beauty, making the plot smooth and accessible. A good example was when Elisabeth and Eboli were in the Queen’s garden and exchanged masks (as the tired Queen wished to retire), which made more sense when Don Carlos mistook Eboli for Elisabeth in the subsequent scene. The long exchange between Elisabeth and Don Carlos in the final act was most enlightening, and made more sense when Elisabeth helped Don Carlos escape. The only scene I would have been happy to see cut was the ballet, which was quite tedious. Musically, it’s bad Verdi, falling between the second rate Umpapa of his earlier years and the Second Empire light music of the period, imitation Waldteufel, after Emile Waldteufel (1837‑1915), composer of The Skater’s Waltz (1882) and other trivial works.
The mostly superlative cast was dominated by Japanese tenor Kazuki Yoshida, as Don Carlos. Endowed with a virile and powerful spinto tenor with ease in the upper register, and good French diction, he magnificently conveyed the tormented prince’s passion. Elisabeth de Valois was sung by Italian spinto soprano Caterina Meldolesi, who has a splendid voice but tendency to sing sharp. Her diction was good but not exceptional. She had great chemistry with Yoshida in their duets, Act I’s “De quels transports poignants et doux,” and Act II’s “Je viens solliciter de la Reine une grâce”. She was most effective in the brief Act II aria “O ma chère compagne, ne pleurez pas, ma sœur,” where she consoles her friend and conveys both dramatically and vocally her dignity in the face of the King’s public humiliation. Her Act V aria, “Toi qui sus le néant des grandeurs de ce monde,” was impeccably sung, soliciting much applause.
South Korean baritone Insu Hwang was an impressive Rodrigue, marquis de Posa, Don Carlos’s friend and the King’s Counsel. His high baritone is virile and elegant and his diction impeccable. His voice blended well with Yoshida’s in their Act II duet “Dieu, tu semas dans nos âmes” where the two men swear eternal friendship. The most beautiful and moving moment of the performance was his Act IV duet when Rodrigue senses his death is imminent, bidding farewell to Carlos in “Oui Carlos ! C’est mon jour suprême,” as he’s shot by the Inquisitor’s agents. In the aria’s second part, his phrasing of “Ah, je meurs l’âme joyeuse” was fabulous. I look forward to hearing this exceptional baritone again.
Before the performance started, it was announced that Princesse Eboli, German mezzo Marianne Schechtel, was unwell, yet present. However, no hint of her condition was evidenced in her fine performance. Her Act II sarcastic aria “Chanson du voile” (veil song) or “Dans le beau jardin du palais sarrasin” was both sensual and ironic. Her trio, “Malheur sur toi, fils adultère !,” with Carlos and Rodrigue, was the dramatic high point of the performance, in large part thanks to her poignancy. Her sarcastic phrasing of the line “Et moi qui tremblais devant elle !,” mocking the Queen’s virtue, was brutally corrosive. Eboli’s Act IV signature aria “Oh ! Je ne verrai plus la Reine ! O Don fatal et détesté,” lamenting her fatal beauty, and swearing to save Carlos from prison, brought the house down. It’s often the most appreciated aria of the work.
German bass Renatus Mészár was a fittingly noble Philippe II. His basso cantante may be somewhat past its prime, but he’s nonetheless a truly expressive singer. His deportment was appropriately regal while still maintaining his fragility vis‑à‑vis his rebellious son and young wife, particularly in Act IV’s “Elle ne m’aime pas.” Dramatically, the aria was diminished by the presence of Eboli in his bed, and her reaction to his sorrowful lines. This is a soliloquy, not a showpiece for spectators.
South Korean Dong‑Won Seo was a truly menacing Grand Inquisitor, a real basso profondo with deep frightening notes. With the exception of Russian opera, where basses are legion, this is the only known duet for two basses in the repertoire. It’s important the pair not sound alike, and it’s more effective if the Grand Inquisitor has the lower voice, to convey the latter’s imperiousness. Seo sounded so menacing in admonishing Philippe II that one felt concerned for the King. Though he enunciated clearly, he missed colouring his lines properly. The pivotal lines “La paix du monde vaut le sang d’un fils rebelle” and “Dieu, pour nous sauver tous, sacrifia le sien” could have been more poignantly delivered.
Of the four productions of Don Carlos seen in a year, this was the strongest. To witness such professionalism in a relatively small town, to a music loving public is heartwarming. In most theatres, many in the audience leave after the second intermission; not in Hagen! The quality of the singers would be the envy of any opera house. And the staging proved yet again that with an intelligent director and set designer, miracles can be accomplished on a limited budget. It is marvellous to witness such a revelation.
Ossama el Naggar
|
