Starving for Gold in Music and Vision 5 August

Starving for Gold GIUSEPPE PENNISI gets a rare chance to hear Richard Strauss' 'Der Liebe der Danae' There was almost a world premiere in Salzburg's Grosses Festspielhaus on 31 July 2016. Die Liebe der Danae ('Danae's Love') by Richard Strauss was on stage. I was among the 2,800 people in the audience. Die Liebe Der Danae is very rarely performed. Due to conditions during World War II, The Salzburg Festival, which had commissioned the opera for Summer 1944, couldn't give the premiere, but a dress rehearsal was performed for a limited number of guests. Thereafter, the opera was staged in Salzburg only twice, in 1952 and in 1980, and very seldom anywhere else in the world. Strauss, usually known to be a very fast composer, had worked on the opera for some fifteen years, with three different librettists: Hugo von Hofmannsthal, who had provided the original story, Stefan Zweig (who, as a Jew, had been forced to emigrate) and finally Joseph Gregor. No doubt, Die Liebe der Danae raises very difficult issues for any theatre willing to stage it: a huge, almost Mahlerian orchestra, two Wagnerian 'heroic' tenors, a high texture lyric tenor, a soprano with the same qualities and skills as the protagonist of Der Rosenkavalier, a deep mezzo, a dozen other soloists, a chorus, corps de ballet, mimes and, in addition, frequent set changes during the opera's three acts. The plot is unusual for Strauss, always very keen in investigating women's psyche and behavior. This time, in my view, the key figure is Jupiter, the king of the gods, getting older and losing the power of attracting women and imposing his will. He wants to seduce King Pollux's daughter, Danae, who is starving for gold. Jupiter persuades a poor donkey driver to impersonate Midas, the mythological figure with the gift of transforming everything he touches into gold. This would open the way to Jupiter conquering the girl's heart. Well, Danae falls in true love with Midas and follows him to his hut, when he is transformed back to his original condition. Gods cannot give what they do not have: real human love. Krassimira Stoyanova as Danae with members of the ensemble in Richard Strauss' 'Die Liebe der Danae' at the Salzburg Festival. Photo © 2016 Monika Forster. Click on the image for higher resolution The plot might seem silly but it acquires meaning if set against the background of World War II in 1944, at the demise of those who thought they were gods. Also, Strauss (then seventy-five years old) was reflecting on his own ageing. A scene from Richard Strauss' 'Die Liebe der Danae' at the Salzburg Festival. Photo © 2016 Monika Forster. Click on the image for higher resolution Without any attempt to make the libretto credible, Alvis Hermanis (stage direction and sets) placed the action in an improbable Rajputstan as can be imagined by an Indian movie director, well familiar with art nouveau and the Austrian 'secession movement' in the twenties. It is a very colorful and plausible way to handle the plot, but some in the audience did not fully appreciate it. Gerhard Siegel as Midas/Chrysopher, Krassimira Stoyanova as Danae and Tomasz Konieczny as Jupiter with members of the ensemble in Richard Strauss' 'Die Liebe der Danae' at the Salzburg Festival. Photo © 2016 Michael Pöhn. Click on the image for higher resolution The score is lush, as always in Strauss' operas, and the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Franz Welser-Möst delivered the balance between comic elements, irony and nostalgia. All the voices were first class. Among them, four were extraordinary: Tomasz Konieczny, Krassimira Stoyanova, Gerhard Siegel and Regine Hangler. Copyright © 5 August 2016 Giuseppe Pennisi, Rome, Italy RICHARD STRAUSS SALZBURG FESTIVAL VIENNA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA FRANZ WELSER-MOEST SALZBURG AUSTRIA  << M&V home       Concert reviews        Daniel Gottfried >>

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