I
am humbled. I've been singing the praises of non-mainstream opera
“shows” compared to those of “top tier” houses, but the
bubble has popped. I am no longer batting 1000; i.e., consistently
better than average to wonderful performances in the “minor
leagues” of the opera world. But, I was also reminded that with
familiarity can come a kind of contempt, of taking things for
granted, of being overly critical. Here's what happened.
We
met a new friend (that my road buddy had met a couple days ago) at
the Estates Theater here in Prague. We had a box that still had an
empty seat and the lady bought it and met us at the theater. It was
my first time meeting her. She was new to the opera world and we all
talked about The Magic Flute that we were about to see. Soon
enough, the performance began.
The
orchestra seemed off somehow, not quite Mozart it seemed to me. One
expects a livelier, more enthusiastic upbeat overture, but this one
seemed a little, I don't know, tired. So, my critical filters started
to go up and without going into detail the singers didn't seem to
have that spirit that I associate with Mozart's operas. I rarely find
Mozart tedious, but this production seemed to drag here and there.
The singers made an effort, but just weren't up to it, I thought. The
arias lacked brio and the comedy aspect of The Magic Flute
seemed to be relatively lacking. For example, the Queen of the
Night's first aria lacked the power and guile that it needs to be
effective. Der Hölle Rache was better, but still missed the
driving anger and hatred that drives the Queen. The other principles
also lacked the divine spark, sadly. The best performances were by
the Queens three ladies. Their voices blended well and their acting
timing was right on the beat.
At
the intermission road buddy and I started dissecting the first act, oblivious to our new friend. She said that she had had a
hard time following the story and asked us what we thought. We
sheepishly blushed and murmured something like don't-mind-us-we're-too-jaded. So, I went for a pee and let the
ladies discuss the story in Japanese.
After
the bravo-free [on my part] performance, (and I had been hooting
enthusiastically at all the previous performances we have attended),
our new friend had had a revelation. It was her first opera and she
had enjoyed it. Suddenly, she exclaimed: “Why, it's a show!” and
continued to say how it wasn't just stuffy music, but included acting
and dancing and comedy as well—a “show”. Humbled, we could only
respond with equal enthusiasm, that yes, absolutely, she was quite
right. It was theater.
But,
not every performance is a great one. Sad to say. But, hell, this is
the real world. And, overall, dollar for dollar or krona for krona or
euro for euro, I still think the “minor leagues” have it all over
the brand name houses of international repute (sometimes ill, in my
opinion). Like it or not, when you've seen and heard enough of them,
your critical faculty becomes sharpened and you can't help comparing
a performance with others you've heard. As a modest example (modest,
right!), I linked above to the Queen's first aria, O Zittre Nicht, by
Diana Damrau. Exquisite!
No comments:
Post a Comment