Eros versus Thanatos in Music & Vision 8 gennaio

Eros versus Thanatos
'Ariadne auf Naxos' in Paris,
experienced by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss, based on a Hugo von Hofmannsthal text, is one of the pinnacles of twentieth century opera. It has all the elements of a highly sophisticated intellectual divertissement: theatre within the theatre; opera seria (or rather tragédie lyrique) mixed with comic opera (or more exactly, commedia dell'arte, rather than opera buffa); a comparatively small orchestra of thirty-seven) with the capacity to make a Mozartean sound as well as that of the grand Wagnerian symphonic approach to musikdrama (which generally requires 120 instrumentalists in the pit), both coloratura and Wagnerian singers, and an intriguing libretto made up of a forty-five minute 'Prologue' and a ninety minute one act 'Opera'. Thus, it is not easy to understand why the current Paris Opera production is attracting such a large audience that it has already had as many as twenty-six performances in the huge Opéra Bastille (2700 seats). The production was initially devised for the smaller glittering Palais Garnier in 2003; it was so successful that it was revived, at the Opéra Bastille, in 2004. It was back again at the Opéra Bastille in December 2010 -- this review is based on the 30 December performance -- and most likely will return there during one of the next 'seasons' after a tour of other European Opera Houses.
The plot is rather complicated. In the 'Prologue', we are in the salon of 'the richest man in Vienna', where preparations are in progress for a new opera seria based on the Ariadne legend, with which the master of the house will divert his guests after a sumptuous dinner. Laurent Pelly (stage director and constume designer) and Chantal Thomas (set designer) move the action from the seventeenth century (as per the original Strauss-Hofmannsthal opera) to our times; the mansion is grossly grand and modern as appropriate for a member of the 'nouveau riche', mostly probably wealthy due to complicated financial trading before the 2007 financial crisis. The Music Master accosts the pompous Major-domo, having heard that a foolish comedy is to follow his pupil's opera, and warns that the Composer will never tolerate such an arrangement. The Major-domo is unimpressed. No sooner have they gone than the young Composer comes in for a final rehearsal, but an impudent lackey informs him that the violins are playing at dinner. A sudden inspiration brings him a new melody, but the Tenor is too busy arguing with the Wigmaker to listen to it.

Ricarda Merbeth as Ariadne and Jane Archibald as Zerbinetta in 'Ariadne auf Naxos' at the Opéra national de Paris. Photo © 2010 Julien Benhamou. Click on the image for higher resolution
Zerbinetta, leader of some comedians, emerges from her dressing room with an officer just as the Prima Donna comes out asking the Music Master to send for 'the Count'. At first attracted to Zerbinetta, the Composer is outraged when he learns she and her troupe are to share the bill with his masterpiece. Zerbinetta and the Prima Donna lock horns while dissension spreads. As the commotion reaches its height, the Major-domo returns to announce that because of limited time, the opera and the comedy are to be played simultaneously, succeeded by a fireworks display. At first dumbstruck, the artists try to collect themselves and plan: the Dancing Master extracts musical cuts from the despairing Composer, with the lead singers each urging that the other's parts be abridged, while the comedians are given a briefing on the opera's plot. Ariadne, they are told, after being abandoned by Theseus, has come to Naxos alone to wait for death. No, says Zerbinetta -- she only wants a new lover.
The comedienne decides her troupe will portray a band of travelers trapped on the island by chance. Zerbinetta assures the Composer that she too longs for a lasting romance, like Ariadne, but as the young artist's interest in the actress grows, she suddenly dashes off to join her colleagues. The final scene of the 'Prologue' is the key to Ariadne both musically and dramatically. Musically, Strauss allocates the characters or crucial words differentiating the contrasting approaches to a subject through major or minor keys. Optimist and down-to-earth Zerbinetta sings Tod ('Death') on a major chord, whilst the Composer sings it on a minor chord. Then a crescendo develops with the Composer's solemn explanation of the meaning of Ariadne's myth; the solemn explanation slides gently into his flirtation duet scene with Zerbinetta and then leads to his apostrophe Musik ist eine heilige Kunst, which is both the climax of 'The Prologue' and the bridge to 'The Opera'.
In this production, Naxos island -- where 'The Opera' is set -- is a rundown banlieue where buildings look either half built or half destroyed -- light years away from the pompous mansion of 'The Prologue'; this heightens the contrasts that are, as seen, one of the key dramatic and musical determinants of Ariadne. Ariadne is seen first at her grotto, watched over by three nymphs who sympathize with her grief. Enter the buffoons, who attempt to cheer her up -- to no avail. As if in a trance, Ariadne resolves to await Hermes, messenger of death (Ein Schönes war); he will take her to another world, the realm of death. When the comedians still fail to divert Ariadne, Zerbinetta addresses her directly (Grossmächitge Prinzessin). In a long and highly difficult coloratura rondo, she describes the frailty of women, the willfulness of men and the human compulsion to change an old love for a new. Insulted, Ariadne retires to her cave. Again, Zerbinetta is given sharp keys and Ariadne flat throughout. When Zerbinetta concludes her address, her cronies leap on for more sport. Harlequin tries to embrace her while Scaramuccio, Truffaldino and Brighella compete for her attention, but it is Harlequin to whom she at last surrenders.

A scene from 'Ariadne auf Naxos' at the Opéra national de Paris. Photo © 2010 Julien Benhamou. Click on the image for higher resolution
In the treatment of the commedia dell'arte, Strauss was clearly ahead of his contemporary fashion; 1916 was the time of seventeenth and eighteenth century recreation by Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Busoni, Respighi and Casella, not to mention Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire. The nymphs return, heralding the approach of a ship. It bears the young god Bacchus, who has escaped the enchantress Circe for Ariadne. Bacchus is heard in the distance, and Ariadne prepares to greet her visitor -- surely death at last. When he appears, she thinks him Theseus come back to her, but he majestically proclaims his godhood. Entranced by her, he claims he would sooner see the stars banish than give her up. In the duet, the contrast between flat and sharp is the main element to convey misunderstanding: bitonality is used here -- D flat and A major. Although reconciled to a new, exalted existence, Ariadne joins Bacchus in an ascent to the heavens with the ending in D flat major, while Zerbinetta sneaks in to have the last word: 'When a new god comes along, we're dumbstruck.'
What is the meaning of this singular text and very special vocal and orchestral score? 'Music is a sacred art' (Musik ist eine heilige Kunst), 'gathering the wildest follies like cherubim around a gleaming throne!' Such is the Composer's article of faith, vehemently proclaimed at the end of the Prologue. Boldness is hardly lacking in Strauss and Hofmannsthal's masterpiece, consisting of a long prologue that shows the process of artistic creation at work followed by a one-act opera in which the serious and the comic mingle with heady freedom. More than an illustration of the mixing of styles, Ariadne auf Naxos is its radiant embodiment. Displaying their poetic art, Hofmannsthal and Strauss also offer us a cast of unforgettable characters: the young, idealistic and amorous Composer, brother of both Mozart and Wagner; the luminous Zerbinetta, with her breathtaking coloratura originating in a peal of laughter; and the noble Ariadne, a character from lyric tragedy singing to the stars but shown in 'The Prologue' in the less flattering but so very amusing guise of a capricious diva. The world is a delightful hotchpotch to which art brings order, though art cannot and will not smooth its rough edges or resolve its intractable contradictions.
The holy beauty of music, though, is the theme of many an opera -- from Monteverdi's L'Orfeo to Mozart's Die Zauberflöte and eventually to Menotti's Help, Help, the Globolinks. In Ariadne, this element is married to another leitmotif, very topical in 1916 when World War I was destroying the best crop of European youth and Sigmund Freud was active in Vienna. Ariadne is an anthem to the victory of Eros over Thanatos both in the lyrics (eg the triumph of Zerbinetta's lust for sex over Ariadne's intention to commit suicide) and in the music -- a lush sensual score beautifully directed by Philippe Jordan and played by the Orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris with the right balance between Mozart's and Wagner's styles.

From left to right: Michael Laurenz as Brighella, François Piolino as Scaramuccio, François Lis as Truffaldino, Jane Archibald as Zerbinetta, Edwin Crossley-Mercer as Harlequin and Xavier Mas as the dancing master in 'Ariadne auf Naxos' at the Opéra national de Paris. Photo © 2010 Julien Benhamou. Click on the image for higher resolution
The stage director, Laurent Pelly, and the conductor, Philippe Jordan, have a top-notch, well experienced cast to perform with: all good actors and excellent singers, well-endowed with the right physique du role. As with many operas by Strauss, Ariadne is a women's opera -- Strauss detested tenors but appreciated baritones and loved all women's voices. Zerbinetta is the young Canadian Jane Archibald, a coloratura soprano likely to become the heir of Natalie Dessay, Cecilia Bartoli and Desirée Rancatore; she received accolades after the rondo. Ariadne is the Wagnerian, albeit slim, Ricarda Merbeth with a fabulous acute. The real surprise is the mezzo: Sophie Koch in the trouser part of the Composer -- tender and sweet like an adolescent. Bacchus is Stefan Vinke who takes the impervious part with many high Cs well, and all the baritones and basses are of a high level. Due to the quality of acting, singing and orchestral work, the audience has a lot of fun and, thus, runs to this highly sophisticated -- but very meaningful -- divertissment conceived for the German and Austrian world of nearly a century ago.
Copyright © 8 January 2011 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

RICHARD STRAUSS
GERMANY
PARIS
FRANCE