Too Clever by Half in Music and Vision 16 April

Too Clever by Half
A very British version of Mozart's
'Die Entführung aus dem Serail' returns to Rome,
experienced by GIUSEPPE PENNISI

Die Entführung aus dem Serail ('The Abduction from the Seraglio') is Mozart's first real masterwork. On a personal basis, your reviewer prefers the composer's previous opera, Idomeneo Re di Creta. However, only in Die Entführung did Mozart fully display all his talent in dealing with musical theatre. Mozart composed it for the National Singspiel Theatre at the Vienna Burgtheater in 1782. The libretto really fired his genius. Mozart had not dared to suggest modifications to the librettist of Idomeneo but he took a very active part in constructing the libretto of Die Entführung. Whilst in Idomeneo (see M&V: 3 March 2010) the key to the music, more than to the plot, was Mozart's neurotic relationship with his father (as well as with his women), in Die Entführung the twenty-six-year-old composer threw all his joy for life, his lust, his sexual appetite and his ambiguities. As in later Mozart operas, Die Entführung has an 'open ending': we will never know whether Konstanze and Belmonte will live happily together ever after or whether she will regret not having had wild sex -- and maybe also love -- with Selim.

Charles Castronovo as Belmonte in Mozart's 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail' at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
Mozart's epistolary shows how concerned he was with both the musical and dramatic construction of the text and how precisely he knew which dialogue scene could be built into a vocal ensemble. He laid great emphasis on clear and consistent delineation of characters so that he could intensify their personalities with the music. Way back in 1782, the Vienna première of Die Entführung was a smashing success. In 1783, there were as many as nine different productions in the Germanic world. In 1784, the Singspiel was translated into Polish for a major staging in Warsaw. In 1785, there were as many as forty new productions, in 1798 it was performed in French in Paris. It reached London (in a rhythmic translation into English) only in 1827; there is a record of sold out performances in New York in 1860 (when Mozart operas were little known on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean).

Charles Castronovo as Belmonte and Maria Grazia Schiavo as Konstanze in Mozart's 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail' at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
It was staged for the first time in Italy as late as in 1935 as a part of the Florentine Musical May Festival; by then, the twentieth century Mozart revival was well underway and had its center in Glyndebourne. This can be explained by the fact that it was very late when Italy came to appreciate the Singspiel form, where spoken parts alternate with musical numbers -- just the very opposite of 'comic opera' and 'melodramma giocoso'. Only in the late 1960s was a magnificent La Scala production -- staged by Giorgio Strehler -- first seen in all major opera houses. Later, in 2002, there was a very good production in Florence (Mehta -- Grams). Many of the other Italian productions have not left any important marks.

Rodney Clarke as Selim in Mozart's 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail' at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
Die Entführung is now catching up in Italy. This season there are three different productions: two are touring Provincial 'traditional' theatres and one was unveiled on 12 April 2011 in Rome's Teatro dell'Opera. This review is based on the 12 April performance -- a real event because Die Entführung returned to Rome's major opera house after nearly forty years of absence. It is a first-class production. This is why the staging deserves to be seen and heard in the Italian capital and to travel to other opera houses in Italy and abroad.

Jaco Huijpen as Osmin in Mozart's 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail' at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
The plot is well-known: how a group of clever Christians (Konstanze, Blonde, Belmonte and Pedrillo) escape from captivity under a Muslim Bey (Selim) and his terrible (and sadistic) henchman (Osmin). In Mozart's time, the background was the territorial and cultural intersection of the Islamic lands and the older Christian civilization of Europe, especially Spain; Belmonte's father is the Governor of Oran on the coast of North Africa. In the background, there was also the menacing, albeit unsuccessful, siege of Vienna by the Turks in 1683. More fundamentally, there was the Enlightenment, but -- careful! -- Selim is the Enlightened despot not the Christian lot. Most likely this is a mirror of infighting between Christian Freemason lodges within Bavaria, Austria and part of Switzerland in Mozart's time. This is another aspect of Die Entführung's ambiguity, difficult to seize unless one is very familiar with the religious politics of the time. Now, stage directors have the strong temptation to update the plot and to show a clash of civilization (as it was recently done in Berlin and Naples with mixed results). This is a grossly oversimplified view.

Rodney Clarke as Selim with, behind, left to right, Cosmin Ifrim as Pedrillo, Beate Ritter as Blonde, Maria Grazia Schiavo as Konstanze and Charles Castronovo as Belmonte in Mozart's 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail' at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
The stage director of this Rome production, Graham Vick, does not fall into this trap. He provides, in a way, a very British Die Entführung. The Serail is a cube. Even though, in conversation, Vick says that the idea comes from Fellini's Casanova, this is his own special trademark: in 1997 a huge cube was the focal point of his staging of Verdi's Macbeth at La Scala. Around the cube (which became an iPad in the third act) and under a shining blue sky, Die Entführung becomes a comedy of intrigues and errors without any political undertones or overtones. It is not, however, an Italian comedy with a fair amount of slapstick. The stage set and costumes are by Richard Hudson; lighting is by Giuseppe Di Iorio. The acting is quite stylized and elegant, suitable for a lightweight play rather than for a Singspiel featuring arias such as 'Martern aller Arten' which belong to the opera seria universe. It's a precious show where Vick is too clever by half, and much too British. Some of the ambiguity gets lost in the staging.

Beate Ritter as Blonde and Cosmin Ifrim as Pedrillo in Mozart's 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail' at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
However, it fully recouped in the musical direction (Gabriele Ferro) and in the singing. Under Ferro's baton, the overture is a bubbling Allegro in C major with a martial and colorful Turkish style. Yet it is subject to abrupt changes of mood; the crescendo lurches into the dominant minor, anticipating the confusion, and the ambiguity, of the action to come. The Allegro resumes after a low middle section in C minor with a foretaste of the sentiment, with a hesitant but passionate melody. Thus, Ferro sets from the outset how we deal with two different worlds: Konstanze (Maria Grazia Schiavo), Belmonte (Charles Castronovo) (and Selim) belong to that of an opera seria such as Idomeneo, whilst Pedrillo (Cosmin Ifrim), Blonde (Beate Ritter) and especially Osmin (Jaco Huijpen) are midway between melodramma giocoso and opera buffa. Between these two worlds, the musical invention is lavish: from Belmonte's gentle opening aria to Konstanze's cluster of arias in the second act, from Blonde and Pedrillo's duets to Osmin's cavatina. Ferro emphasizes the use of piccolo and triangle to provide further Turkish atmosphere.

Maria Grazia Schiavo as Konstanze in Mozart's 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail' at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera. Photo © 2011 Corrado Maria Falsini. Click on the image for higher resolution
Maria Grazia Schiavo is a soprano assoluto; she came to prominence for her skills in the Baroque repertoire; now she masters a very wide range from coloratura to mezza voce; she ascends easily to top notes and descends from them with equal ease. She received well deserved accolades after her arias. Charles Castronovo is a young but already well-known American lyric tenor, but his performances in Italy are rare. This was an excellent opportunity to get to know his phrasing, his legato and his high Cs. He too was warmly applauded open stage. The others were all of a good high level. It was an excellent idea to have a bass-baritone (Rodney Clarke) in the spoken role of Selim.
A flaw: not one of the singers is German; their singing and their dialogue can be understood, but their diction leaves quite a bit to be desired. However, only German speaking audiences will notice this.
Copyright © 16 April 2011 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
TURKEY
AUSTRIA
UNITED KINGDOM
ROME
ITALY
GRAHAM VICK
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