Wagner in the Alps in Music and Vision 20 luglio

Wagner in the Alps
GIUSEPPE PENNISI reports from
the 2011 Tiroler Festspiele

Too costly or too difficult (there is a seven year waiting list) to ascend to the 'holy hill' of Bayreuth, the Wagnerian Temple par excellence? There is an alternative: the part of Austria bordering with Bavaria. Well, there is Erl, a little rural village of 1450 year-round residents. Since 1613, Erl's villagers have organized, every seven years, a major Passion Play where all the population is engaged and some additional participants come from nearby hamlets. In the late fifties and early sixties, a modern structure was built to host the Passion Play; the building, named the 'Passionsspielhaus', is beautifully placed in a valley at the foot of the Kaiserberg as well as in meadows where cows and sheep graze. It was designed by Robert Schuller, of the Clemens Holzmeister school. It has 1700 seats in a wooden structure which provided an excellent view and perfect acoustics from any row of seats and ticket prices. Erl is 80km south of Munich and 75km east of Salzburg. An ideal place for music goers.

View of Erl with cows. Photo © Peter Kitzbichler. Click on the image for higher resolution
Some twelve years ago, Salzburg conductor and composer Gustav Kuhn (see M&V, 31 May 2010) conjured up support from local authorities and mostly private business for a Festival of lyric, symphonic and chamber music for a full utilization of the Passionsspielhaus during the six years where there is no Passion Play. Also, local baroque churches are made to work for the Festival. Initially, very few people would have bet on the project. The turning point was 2005 when the Tyrol Festival staged two full cycles of Wagner's Ring in the Passionsspielhaus with a remarkably young and impressive cast, an orchestra of 140 (including six harpists) set on seven huge steps at the back of a simple but effective stage; furthermore the Passionsspielhaus' potential for stereophonic effects was fully exploited with singers and orchestral elements set in various parts of the 1700 seat auditorium. It was an international triumph; some of the singers of that Ring are now regular members of major opera companies. Also, some Erl productions, such as the 2009 Elektra and the 2010 Fidelio, have widely travelled in European Opera Houses.

The Passion Play House at Erl. Photo © Peter Kitzbichler. Click on the image for higher resolution
The enterprise was so successful that, because the Passionsspielhaus cannot be heated, and the Tyrol can be quite cold, a new theatre (with the largest orchestral pit in Western Europe) is being built next to it for winter performances from 26 January 2013. There are rumors that the initial 'season' may include all nine major Wagner operas -- all of them, from Der Fliegender Holländer to Parsifal. Other less grandiose plans call for Verdi's 'popular trilogy' (Rigoletto, Trovatore and Traviata). If interested, start working on the bookings.

A model of new Winter Festival House at Erl. Photo © Delugan Meissl Associated Architects, Vienna. Click on the image for higher resolution
The 2011 Festival includes some forty performances between 7 August and 31 August. Three operas are in the program: a new production of Tannhäuser (Paris version) and a revival of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Parsifal. 'Revival' is not the right term because each time, Kuhn updates the production. He is not only the conductor but the stage director and the designer of sets and costumes. On 15 and 16 July 2011, I attended the performances, respectively, of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Tannhäuser; scheduling problems forced me to postpone listening to and viewing Parsifal to a future visit to the Festival.

Andreas Schager as David (standing, third from left) and Michael Baba as Walther von Stolzing (seated, first from right, in a grey suit) with the Choir Academy of the Tyrolean Festival Erl in 'Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg' at Tiroler Festspiele Erl. Photo © 2011 Tom Benz. Click on the image for higher resolution
Stage directions, sets and costumes entail special problems because, as mentioned, the Passionsspielhaus has top class acoustics but was not conceived to be an opera house. Thus, the orchestra is at the back of the stage and there is no stage machinery to move sets. Also the stage is long but not as deep as in regular theatres.

From left to right: Michael Baba as Walther von Stolzing, Arpiné Rahdjian as Eva and Oskar Hillebrandt as Hans Sachs in 'Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg' at Tiroler Festspiele Erl. Photo © 2011 Tom Benz. Click on the image for higher resolution
This is a major challenge in producing Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, so historically localized even though dealing with such universal themes (tolerance, justice, social capital in a community, and the power of music) that philosopher Theodor Adorn called it 'the best quintessential expression of Western Civilization'. Kuhn resolved this with: a) a single set where a few props move the action from Saint Katherine Church to Nuremberg's small lanes, from Hans Sachs' workshop to the meadow where the singing context is played; b) singers with the physique du rôle and well trained in acting; and c) changes from Renaissance to contemporary costumes as the protagonists moved from scenes where the historical context prevails to moments when the opera deals with universal a-temporal issues. Also the population of Erl, especially the children, are engaged as extras with the view to give everyone a fuller feeling that the Festival belongs to them all -- thus, innovative yet traditional.

Martin Kronthaler as Sixtus Beckmesser, standing, fourth from left (in the centre, with his hand on his chest) in 'Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg' at Tiroler Festspiele Erl. Photo © 2011 Tom Benz. Click on the image for higher resolution
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg requires a huge orchestra, seventeen principals and a double chorus. The 130 members of the orchestra followed Kuhn's vigorous conducting very well. (His Meistersinger lasts ten minutes less than Mehta's, for example.) Oskar Hillebrandt is a very expressive Hans Sachs -- a taxing role because of being almost always on stage during a performance running for four and a half hours, excluding intermissions. Franz Hawlata is a powerful Pogner, Martin Kronthaler a Beckmesser with superb phrasing, and Arpiné Rahdjian a sweet but astute Eva. Walter has the strong and clear timbre of Michael Baba. Perfect in their roles were Andreas Schager as David, Hermine Haselböck as Magdalene and all the others, just too many to be individually mentioned. There were ovations at the end of the performance.

The Bacchanal scene from 'Tannhäuser' at Tiroler Festspiele Erl. Photo © 2011 Tom Benz. Click on the image for higher resolution
Kuhn's baton was intense in Tannhäuser and the orchestra, mostly consisting of young musicians, rendered the grand romantic concept of the opera very well. (For my analysis of its contents, see M&V, 10 March 2010.) He could rely on an excellent musical cast, especially Nancy Weissbach, a real soprano assoluto, simply engrossing as Elisabeth, the young Mexican tenor Luis Chapa on his way to become a high-in-demand heldentenor, and Michael Kupfer, a velvet baritone who moved the audience with his song to the evening star. Mona Somm was a good Venus. The rest of the cast were better than average, and the chorus impressive.

Arpiné Rahdjian as Elisabeth in 'Tannhäuser' at Tiroler Festspiele Erl. Photo © 2011 Tom Benz. Click on the image for higher resolution
The stage direction and the costumes remained a mystery to me, however. The first scene of the first Act pictured the sensual orgy in the Venusberg as a Taliban harem party with the girls wearing burqa and 'kepi' hats. More surprising was the second scene with the Landgrave of Thuringia set as the master clown in a circus; also Tannhäuser and the other knights competing in the 'Sängerkrieg auf der Wartburg' (the song context in the Castle of Warburg) were in attire more suitable to Offenbach's Les Comtes d'Hoffmann than to Wagner's 'grosse romantik oper': shining red jackets, large shoulders and black trousers. Whilst the male chorus members were in 1880s black morning suits, the females were in late 1930s black dresses with smashing green hats. Only the pilgrims looked like pilgrims. Kuhn might have been influenced by Graham Vick's stage direction, sets and costumes of Wagner's Ring in the São Carlos Opera House in Lisbon; there all four operas were, amazingly, set in a three ring circus. Or he might have seen too many of Fellini's movies. In any event, it was sufficient to shut the eyes and to listen to the orchestral flows and to the singing.

Michael Kupfer as Wolfram von Eschenbach (left) and Luis Chapa in the title role of Wagner's 'Tannhäuser' at Tiroler Festspiele Erl. Photo © 2011 Tom Benz. Click on the image for higher resolution
I wish that in revisiting the production for a tour or for an Erl revival, he may rethink the staging. I must admit that the audience did not seem to share my reservations, as the performance was warmly applauded at curtain calls.
Copyright © 20 July 2011 Giuseppe Pennisi,
Rome, Italy

RICHARD WAGNER
AUSTRIA
DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NUERNBERG
TANNHAEUSER
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