Above: FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN set design by Herbert Wernicke
Thursday November 7th, 2013 - I'll never forget the very first time I heard any music from Richard Strauss's fantasy opera DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN (The Woman Without A Shadow): I was on the ticket line for the opening performances of the new Met and the opera was in rehearsal for its Met premiere; someone on the line smuggled out a tape of part of a stage rehearsal of Act III. The voices of Leonie Rysanek and Irene Dalis emanating from that tiny tape recorder filled me with excitement...and curiosity: I knew nothing about FRAU. Fortunately a few weeks later I was at one of the performances with Karl Bohm on the podium and Leonie Rysanek, Christa Ludwig, Irene Dalis, James King and Walter Berry onstage in the principal roles. To say it was an unforgettable evening would be an under-statement.
In bringing FRAU to the Met, Karl Bohm made some substantial cuts in the opera especially in Act III, supposedly with Strauss's approval. Purists love to kvetch over cuts in any musical work, but for me Bohm's version makes for a far more cogent evening and spares the singers - notably the women cast as the Empress and Nurse - some arduous passages that make their already-mega-demanding roles even more strenuous. A long passage in Act III where the main characters wander around the precincts of Keikobad's temple calling out lines like "Where are you?" and "Don't be afraid!" over vast waves of sound from the pit can seem interminable, and a sustained spoken monolog for the Empress as she deliberates her next move - to claim the shadow or not - forces the soprano to yell in her speaking voice, a wholly different kind of vocal demand near the end of an arduous sing, with more singing to come. It's far more compelling if the Empress is only heard speaking one sentence: "Ich will nicht!". Uncut recordings are a way to experience the full score for those who require that kind of completeness; in the theatre, I feel that what was good enough for Dr. Bohm is good enough for me.
There were many empty seats at The Met tonight, and it became emptier with each intermission: FRAU is an opera that demands much both from the audience and the performers. Despite some flaws and a slight feeling that energy was flagging somewhat in Act III, it was an exciting night at the opera with Vladimir Jurowski on the podium gathering the massive forces in the pit and onstage into an organic, propulsive whole. For all its epic sonic grandeur, some of the most marvelous passages of FRAU are the quieter and more intimate stretches, and these Jurowski crafted with delicacy and tenderness. Superb solo playing from Jerry Grossman (cello) and David Chan (violin) illuminated the scenes in which they performed.
The principal cast overall were a somewhat less stentorian lot than we have heard at The Met in past performances of the work. In the title role, debuting soprano Anne Schwanewilms sang with silvery lyricism and a nice vulnerable quality for the first two acts, encompassing the vast range of the Empress's music with success. She was taxed by the demands of Act III, pushing the voice to its limit. That long spoken (yelled) passage could not have done her vocal cords any favors, especially as she still had lots of singing still to do afterwards. Johan Reuter as Barak suffused his singing with the 'humane' quality that makes this character so appealing. He was particularly fine in the touching closing moments of Act I where Barak resigns himself to his lonely fate, and the bass-baritone launched the great duet 'Mir anvertraut' in Act III with ample warmth of sound and clarity of expression. Torsten Kerl as the Emperor sang both his solos very well, clearly narrating his tale of the magical encounter with the gazelle who became a woman (and eventually his wife) in Act I and later suffering the tortures of imagined betrayal in Act II. Kerl's voice, not huge but well-projected, fell pleasingly on the ear in this demanding music.
Ildiko Komlosi, whose Charlotte and Santuzza at The Met I had greatly enjoyed, seemed over-parted by the demands of the Nurse in FRAU tonight. Her voice has become rather fluttery and she lacks the thrusting power to sing this huge Strauss role in the cavernous Met auditorium. She sang all the notes (impressive flexibility at 'Abzutun Mutterschaft!'), which is something in itself, but the cutting venom and wild plunges into chest voice which made someone like Irene Dalis so supreme in the role were not in Komlosi's armory. She did have her moments, notably a secure and sustained B-flat to end the second act, but overall she did not seem an ideal choice for Die Amme (we might have had Jill Grove, Michaela Martens...or Deborah Polaski, who is now tackling the role in Europe). Jurowski helped Komlosi immensely so that she could project her subtleties, but when big vocalism was needed she was rather at sea in the vast space. A singer can literally steal the show as the Nurse, as Irene Dalis proved when she sang it at The Met in a cast of titans. That did not happen tonight, though Ms. Komlosi stuck to her guns and sang it on her own terms. A valiant effort.
Tonight's FRAU was a great personal triumph for Christine Goerke (above) as the Dyer's Wife. This singer has now ventured into opera's heaviest soprano roles - Ortrud, Elektra, the Brunnhildes - and she is an exciting exponent of this repertoire. The voice is vibrant and expressive, and she knew how to use it to maximum effect to sustain this demanding Strauss role from start to finish.
Power and subtlety were both Goerke's to command, and while the fiery outbursts of this high-strung character (the role starts on a high B-flat) were delivered with total assurance, it was in the more reflective passages where Goerke showed that there's more to the role than bitchy selfishness. In fact, the Dyer's Wife's transformation is actually more moving than that of the Empress; Goerke seemed to realize this and put a lot of colour and nuance into her vocalism, drawing on the more sympathetic aspects of the unhappy wife.
Ms. Goerke's first illuminating passage came as she quietly tells Barak that, while they have been married for over three years, she has not become pregnant: in this scene, less than a minute long, the soprano touched on the rift between husband and wife with candid simplicity. Soon after, dazzled by the prospect of jewels and a handsome young lover that the Nurse has conjured up, Goerke sailed brilliantly into the magnificent "Welt in der Welt, traum im wachen!" ('World within the world, o waking dream!') with searing power.
Moving on to the character's most vivid and powerful scene, at Act II's hair-raising conclusion, the Dyer's Wife reveals that she has nearly sold her shadow ("Barak! Ich has es nicht getan!") but she has stopped short of the act, and - overcome by guilt - she begs her husband to kill her. Goerke whipped up tremendous excitement in this scene, both in terms of vocal generosity and emotional fervor. In Act III, the soprano reached yet another high point in the great duet 'Mir anvertraut'; she and Mr. Reuter sounded wonderful together and their joint melodic outpouring was nothing less than thrilling.
Christine Goerke's solo bow at the end of the evening was very pleasing to behold - and to be a participant in the avalanche of cheers that greeted her was its own reward. She had given her all, and the audience repaid her with massive enthusiasm. I look forward to my second FRAU - which will feature Meagan Miller's Met debut as the Empress - and to actually seeing the Goerke Farberin. Ms. Goerke, a soprano who once blew up a harpsichord on the stage of the State Theater, always delivers. And now may we ask for her Isolde, Elektra and Ortrud at The Met?
Among the many cameo/characters who appear (or don't, but are heard from anyway) in FRAU, Richard Paul Fink as the cantankerous Spirit Messenger stood out for sheer vocal thrust and power. Maria Zifchak intoned the lines of the Voice from Above, a brief but musically intriguing moment. Jennifer Check, who should be singing all kinds of major roles on The Met stage, did well as the Voice of the Falcon, and tenor Anthony Kalil (any relation to Margaret Kalil, who sang in the Met premiere of FRAU?) sang clearly as the Young Man. Andrey Nemzer's rather metallic sounding Guardian of the Threshold was less ingratiating, but the lovely trio of female servants (Haeran Hong, Disella Larusdottir and Edyta Kulzak) sang prettily. The sextet of 'unborns' who close the opera were Jihee Kim, Ashley Emerson, Monica Yunus, Megan Marino, Renee Tatum and Danielle Talamantes.
One of the opera's most gorgeous moments comes at the end of Act I where Barak, having just been forbidden his wife's bed, listens sadly to a passing trio of Nightwatchmen who extol the delights of conjugal love. David Won (vastly under-used at The Met) was joined by Jeongcheol Cha and Brandon Cedel (both making debuts) in this moving passage.
Metropolitan Opera House
November 7, 2013
DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN
Richard Strauss-Hugo Von Hofmannsthal
Empress.................Anne Schwanewilms [Debut]
Emperor.................Torsten Kerl
Dyer's Wife.............Christine Goerke
Barak...................Johan Reuter
Nurse...................Ildiko Komlosi
Messenger...............Richard Paul Fink
Falcon..................Jennifer Check
Hunchback...............Allan Glassman
One-Eyed................Daniel Sutin
One-Armed...............Nathan Stark [Debut]
Servant.................Haeran Hong
Servant.................Disella Larusdottir
Servant.................Edyta Kulczak
Apparition..............Anthony Kalil [Debut]
Unborn..................Jihee Kim (debut)
Unborn..................Ashley Emerson
Unborn..................Monica Yunus
Unborn..................Megan Marino [Debut]
Unborn..................Renee Tatum
Unborn..................Danielle Talamantes [Debut]
Watchman................David Won
Watchman................Jeongcheol Cha [Debut]
Watchman................Brandon Cedel [Debut]
Voice...................Maria Zifchak
Guardian................Andrey Nemzer [Debut]
Falcon Mime.............Scott Weber
Young Man Mime..........Matt Gibson
Violin Solo.............David Chan
Cello Solo..............Jerry Grossman
Conductor...............Vladimir Jurowski