Some day her prince will come
I checked back in on the Met’s revival of Ariadne auf Naxos yesterday, after a messy first night one week ago that left much to the imagination. Tenor Lance Ryan had been sick that night, and the cover who took his place was not much healthier, throwing the whole cast into a panic mode that made higher artistic values almost out of the question. Last night’s show was leaps and bounds forward, both musically and theatrically – a win for Strauss aficionados and an excellent save for the company.
Cleaner blocking gave a sense of purpose to the chaos in the busy Prologue. The Major Domo had his lines down pat. Sarah Connolly cut an imposing and confident figure as the Composer, as she did on opening night, and sang with passionate lyricism if not vocal power. Jochen Schmeckenbecher (just try playing the Name Game with him) sang with more vocal might as the Music Master, and Markus Werba made a particularly fine musical impression as Harlekin, often upstaging Kathleen Kim’s Zerbinetta. She is not dreadfully miscast in the role, but that is about all I can muster for a compliment.
Kirill Pentrenko kept the Met Orchestra playing neat and lively, yet stirred then into a sumptuous swirl of sound in the opera’s soaring tuttis. He seems to have cut some deals with his cast, resulting in tempos that appeared more consensual than before.
But the real star of this show is soprano Nina Stemme, whose debut here as Senta a few years ago drew only tentative praise. Though her voice has the size and brawny timbre for larger roles, Ariadne comes easier for her, giving her the luxury of full expressivity. Last night she packed pathos and ardent yearning into her portrayal of the morbid, heartbroken princess. Ryan was also impressive as her hero, wielding a lean, powerful tenor that complimented her darker sound. Both are capable of effortlessly curvaceous phrasing, and moments in their final duet interlocked in telepathic cohesion.
Thought it is a selfish pleasure to have more space in the lobby at intermission, these performances have been very poorly attended. With only five Ariadne nights on the docket this season, it is disappointing — even ominous – to see so many empty seats. Perhaps it’s the economy; perhaps the audience for this repertoire has dwindled. But for the lucky few who were there, these are still the good old days.
Great review. I was there last night…and agree 100%. It’s one of my fav operas…and sorry that it is so poorly attended.
This was a wonderful performance and production of this opear a real winner. I do disagree with La Cieca when it comes to MS. Kim. I feel she has the goods and sang and acted very well. Mr.Werwa was ok and sang well but the voice is small and sitting in family circle one lost the sound as did with Connolly who’s interpertation of the composer left me disappointed. The voice is small for the house and role, perhaps in the orchestra, to Grand Tier you could hear her but once again it matters if you can be heard in the family circle.
MS. Stemme was perfect in this role so much my best friend and I are thinking about going back on Monday to catch her again. What a wonderful robust sound that you could hear without strain in the family circle. Mr. Lance voice was more lyrical than most who sing this role and I could hear him in other Wagner roles, but Melchoir sounded somewhat like him and I’m sure the voice will darken and grow larger with time. All in all a great evening.
I adore Ariadne. I was there the night of it’s premiere at the MET and have gone back many times since. I first heard Ms Stemme at Bayreuth as Freia in 1995 and sent word to friends that she was going to be something down the road (ditto Rene Pape as Fasolt). I hope the poor attendance doesn’t ruin chances for further revivals of this production and/or opera.
Ariadne is an adorable opera (and, with L’Heure espagnole) one of the few comic operas I don’t end up finding irritating, but it doesn’t surprise me that it’s not a huge crowd-puller. Its themes and its scale make it something of a connoisseur’s piece, surely.
Ariadne has never been a big seller at the Met for some reason. It is done very year and sells much better in Vienna (particularly when Gruberova was doing Zerbinetta which she sang there for the 100th and last time in December 2009 at the age of almost 63). Ariadne is on the program for next season at the Met for only 3 performances at the end of the season with an entirely different cast. It will probably not appear at the Met after next year for another 5 years unless some prima donna demands it (Fleming will do it in Baden Baden in the future, 2012 I believe). It is my favorite opera of all though one does not often see a perfect performance of it (such as maybe the Salzburg 1954 Ariadne under Boehm with della Casa, Seefried, Gueden, Schock, with even Rita Streich as Najade, Lisa Otto as Echo and with Berry, Cerwenka, Dickie, Poell, Peter Klein in the cast). But at the Met it never seemed to be sold out even with popular favorites such as Rysanek, Leontyne Price or Caballe in the title role. The Karajan recording (also of 1954) seems to be the classiest on CD (at least to my ears) followed by the Kempe but there are many fine recordings of the opera.
I shall go again on Monday – If the reviewer (above)is correct maybe Lance Ryan improved from his first stint last Monday which was not particularly impressive.
PS – also in the 1954 Salzburg performance, Paul Schoeffler as the Musiklehrer, a classic portrayal.
Does it work in such a big house?
PPS – even La Fille du Regiment at the Met just now is not selling all that well with two bankable stars and a clever production. Elektra earlier this season was quite empty as well.
Vienna had 97 percent of its seats sold last season -the Met does considerably worse these days, I fear, and for certain operas seems to paper the house as well so it appears that more tickets have been sold than has actually been the case. Insiders would know.
MontyNostry – actually Ariadne works also in a big house. It was the genius of Strauss that the smaller orchestra he utilized sounds like a full orchestra in the climaxes. I think though, that Connelly, for example, might sound better in a smaller house for her projection in the marvelous final part of the prologue did not overwhelm (nor did her diction throughout her performance). But to her credit, she did not try to force the voice and for a mezzo, had no trouble with the highest notes as many other Mezzos have had.
LA FILLE or any other Met show for that matter these days, not selling well? That’s not surprising. People in the house have been saying for years already that, as far as Gelb is concerned, it’s enough if the tourists come to fill the MET so they can say they were there and saw an opera live… ONCE (like the Rockettes) … no real concern for repeat customers to sell out every performance. Eventually it will all backfire and people will stay away to watch the HD and buy subsidized rush seats. Young artist who model their technique and attitude on the likes of Dessay, who disdains opera every chance she gets, or Florez who sound like a sheep in distress will dull the expectations of the public. I just don’t go anymore.
I saw the beautiful Met production a while back with Voigt, Dessay and Suzanne Mentzer and it’s amazing how well it works. I can well imagine Sarah Connolly sounding underpowered at the Met, but she is doing it for the first time in the UK with Welsh National Opera next season at the Wales Millennium Centre, which should suit her fine. They’ve been lucky with their Komponisten – last time it was Alice Coote. I’m sure Joyce DiDonato will be sensational when she sings Ariadne at the Met next season: deffo worth travelling for.
The house in Vienna is a lot smaller than the Met, isn’t it? Though, of course, the city is a lot smaller too. I don’t think you can compare an opera-obsessed city like Vienna, and the opera house with its repertory system, with a huge, far more heterogenous city and an opera house with a stagione system. What’s the top price of seats in Vienna? And do they still do regular shows with a cast of ‘house singers’ rather than stars?
A quick bit of research reveals that the Vienna State Opera’s capacity is 2,100.
Wiener Staatsoper – 1,642 seats, 541 standing places.
Up to 1944, prior to the bombing, they had about 1000 standing places. It is only 3 Euros to stand upstairs (used to be 2 Euros) – one of the great all time bargains in the international theater world.
At Vienna they indeed have a smaller capacity, but they also have much more demand for this repertoire. They would not trot Ariadne out for 5 shows, would they not plan 10 at least through the season? – and sell them out?
The piece does work in the larger house, but it’s not ideal. I kindof wished they’d closed the family circle/balcony and offered the lower part of the house at a slightly reduced price. I’ve seen more modern theaters that have this kind of adaptability, going from an orchestra hall to a recital hall with slight modification.
But anyway.
“Wiener Staatsoper – 1,642 seats, 541 standing places.”
That’s extraordinary! I had no idea that almost a quarter of their house was standing. Is that common in Europe?
Cassandra -Sometmes Vienna is listed as having 567 standing places but the number sold varies from night to night as maybe a few are reserved or pree-purchased. Most of the standing tickets are sold one hour prior to the performance that day and for popular performances standees line up in the afternoon or sometimes even the evening before. Everything is done in a ritualized manner which has altered little since the rebuilt house was reopened in 1955 As mentioned earlier, prior to WWII and the near the end of the war march 13th 1945 bombing of the house, there were more than 1000 standing places. Munich has ample standing room spots as well. In Budapest they do not sell standing tickets in either house unless it is some sort of special night (a star guest), but there are spots to stand. I do not recall any standing places in either house in Prague One can also stand at the Musikverein in Vienna and at the Volksoper, Burgtheater, Josefstadt etc. I am not sure about Dresden as I have ordered seats in advance.
There is a single row of standing room at Dresden, way up at the top of the house (like the Family Circle, though the house is much smaller that the Met). You can buy it in advance. The house wasn’t full when I was there and I nabbed a seat after the overture.
Yes, MontyNostry, the Staatsoper in Vienna is much smaller than the Met, most opera houses are – one does feel a closer affiliation with the stage in Vienna than at the Met I also prefer the accoustics there though at the Met they are surprisingly good in the Balcony and Family Circle. These days Vienna does usually a series of 3-4 performances of an opera at any given time, unlike the old days when more than 20 operas would be presented within one month or in 1968 when 48 different operas were presented in a two month period. That was wonderful for visitors. Vienna also has ballet evenings unlike the Met. The Met sort of has a mixed stagione system within a repertoire system.
Vienna does sign some singers to a Residenzvertrag – meaning they stay put for a long period in Vienna and sing a variety of roles, also acting as covers for other singers. I guess you could say the recent Rosenkavalier in Vienna under Schneider with Isokoski, Selinger, Fally, Rydl which received such good reviews (Fally an exquisite new Sophie) was sort of a “house cast” but they have their stars as well -Netrebko sings four roles there this Spring in succession, and whatever one thinks of her. performances, she is a star.
I remember a Vienna Forza with the great Anna Gonda! I believe the young Kasarova was Preziosilla. And a Traviata with Sona Ghazarian, somewhat past her best. But then I also saw an Elektra conducted by Abbado with Marton, Studer and Fassbaender. But, as you can tell from these casts, it’s a long time since I went to the Staatsoper.
I think the little theatre at Schoenbrunn would be fabulous for Ariadne.
Let’s not be silly now!
Why’s that silly? It’s an exquisite little theatre with a small pit and it wouldn’t need huge voices to make its effect.
It’s a REALLY little theater and i think, despite Strauss’ small orchestra, it’s intended as something of a big sing. Ok so not outrageous, but not my idea of the piece.
Well, it is meant to take place in the house of the richest man. Even he wouldn’t have a 4,000-seat opera house, or however big the Met is.
… richest man in Vienna, of course. Not Bill Gates.
MontyNostry – I do not think you mean Anna Gonda (unless you are being snide) – Gonda was a Mezzo singing small parts though she sang some Erdas and Suzukis. If Kasarova was the Preziozilla then you may have heard Marton, Tomova-Sintow, Varady, Casolla, Andrea Gruber or a couple of others. Peter Dvorsky was most likely the tenor, Bruson the Carlo and any one of 5 good basses the Pater Guardian.
Anna Gonda did not sing any roles in any Forza. The 1960 Forza premiere in Vienna had Mitropoulos, Stella. Simionato, di Stefano, Bastianini but that high standard has rarely been achieved since in Forzas in Vienna despite some good singers from time to time. Their current Leonora has been Stemme and Westbroek (?) will do it next season in September.
Monty, it’s a dramatic conceit! he does not intend Ariadne the Opera to be performed for us in a theater that would fit in a rich man’s palais.
Ariadne was created for the Kleines Haus (no longer exists) of the two Stuttgart theaters that once made up the Hoftheater. The Grosses Haus (Stuttgart’s current building) seats some 1500, so the kleines may have seated up to 1000. Probably twice as large as the Schönbrunner Schlosstheater.
… and a quarter of the size of the Met. You are being even more illogical by your reasoning than I am
The Schönbrunner Schlosstheater is 300 seats, I think.
I saw a Fledermaus there a couple of years ago and it worked beautifully. And maybe Strauss and Strauß are not always that far apart.
I think the Schloßtheater would be an interesting experiment. Maybe it’s the place for Flemming to satisfy her Ariadne ambitions. (Not to plug, but it’s also the theater pictured in my blog’s sidebar.)
The second version of Ariadne actually premiered at the Wiener Hofoper, today’s Staatsoper–pre-post WWII reconstruction, of course, though I believe the theater is more or less the same size and shape today, though less ornate.
Bill – maybe Gonda was Curra and I just remembered her wonderfully serpentine name.
But please give me credit: I think I would have remembered if the Leonora had been a name of the calibre of Marton, Tomowa-Sintow, Varady, Andrea Gruber or even Casolla.
The standard on repertoire nights at the Staatsoper can be very ropey – but the Viennese will go bananas about anything on the Staatsoper stage because they still believe it’s the best in the world which it manifestly isn’t. It can be on properly rehearsed premiere with a big-name conductor and star-casts, but the house ensemble nowadays would sound poor compared to ENO in the 1970s, when ENO had an ensemble. The Met is a much more serious institution, as is Covent Garden.
Stuttgart’s Kleines Haus was a playhouse so I doubt if it would have been as big as 1000 seats. Closer to 800, I would guesstimate around the size of the old Glyndebourne where Ariadne was always such a treat. It’s a scandal they haven’t done it since 1981 (Maria Ewing as the Komponist, the future Lady (Andrew) Davis as Zerbinetta and Helena Doese as Ariadne. The Bacchus was an American tenor who sounded as if he might be the next big heldentenor at the time, but his career fizzled out and I can’t even remember his name). I saw Ariadne in the Prinz-Regenten-Theatre a couple of summers ago – and that, too, was a treat. In the early Salzburg days, Ariadne was often done at the Landestheater (600 seats) later at the Kleine Festspielhaus. Nowadays, it’s so popular in Austria that the Landestheater company hired the Haus für Mozart (1600 seats) to stage their Ariadne there. I agree with Monty that it always works best in a small theatre.
Regina — I think the Glyndebourne Bacchus was Dennis Bailey. Strange Ariadne hasn’t been done for such a long time there — It even has a natural dinner break, which is a priority for so many of the regulars.
I think there’s something very charming about the Wiener Staatsoper’s flying by the seat of their pants, it’s international opera with a bit of community theater. The singing I heard there ranged from fantastic to unmemorable to downright bad, often in the course of a single evening. I don’t think I’d want to live with it all the time (I only spent a few months in Vienna), but it was fun. Especially when you only paid a few Euros for a Stehplatz.
MontyNostry – there were 3 other Leonoras in Vienna in the time frame and I did not mention them:
Maria Abajan who sang the role 3 times, Stefka Evstatieva who sang it once and a certain Katalin Szendrenyi (obviously Hungarian) who made a single performance in Vienna in 1990 as Leonora. Gonda never sang Curra either – Waltraud Winsauer had a foothold on that role. I do not believe that Forza has had a glorious history at the Staatsoper since the middle 1960s or so, Muti did conduct a new production there in 1974 with Gilda-Cruz Romo’s Leonora and Siepi, Paskalis, Bonisolli. Other good singers such as Caballe or Carreras sang it later but few of the casts would excite anyone today. The last new production a couple of years ago done cowboy style was a genuine flop.
Bill, you are encyclopaedic. I think it must have been Maria Abajan.
I love the thought of Waltraud Winsauer having a foothold on the role of Curra — one of the great ‘e poi’ characters in opera and no doubt a showcase at one time for our very own Elizabeth Bainbridge.
I was there last night as well and had a wonderful time. Nina Stemme was everything I hoped she would be and believe we should petition the Met to bring her back to sing some Wagner. Her Isolde is magnificent.
Kathleen Kim was okay but I found her to be a couple of notches short of being grating. She does, however, have a lot of stage presence for someone of such diminutive size. But then again, I’ve noticed a lot of short people seem to demand a lot of attention so I’m not sure if her stage presence was due to her prowess as a singer or actress.
Sarah Connolly was a wonderful surprise. Her portrayl of the sensitive, angst-ridden, young composer was spot-on and she delivered a few of the most true laugh outloud moments I’ve ever had at the Met.
I’m also in agreement re: the pleasure of having an emptier opera house. I reveled in it a few weeks back for the performance of Stiffelio (which was excellent) and again here with Ariadne. I’m actually thinking of changing my Saturday matinee subscription to a weeknight because of how much of a circus it is on the weekends.
Anyway, great review.
Looking forward to reading your take on future performances.
Amazing – a fucking Brit who didn’t completely bomb at the Met. The Vicar should be told!
Thanks for the review, Squirrel. I wish I was going to be around to see this one.
Thanks, all! And apologies for the typos in the first sentence! Fixed now (fixed hours ago too, but clicking “save” apparently didn’t work)
Thanks for the review–if the stars align, I might make it in for the Monday performance, which would be the third cast I’ve seen this production with. Love the production.
“But for the lucky few who were there, these are still the good old days.”
Um…traeum’st du, Eichhörnchen?
……………
January 22, 1963
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS {4}
Ariadne……………..Lisa Della Casa
Bacchus……………..Jess Thomas
Zerbinetta…………..Roberta Peters
Composer…………….Kerstin Meyer
Music Master…………Paul Schoeffler
Harlekin…………….Theodor Uppman
Conductor……………Karl Boehm
March 12, 1970
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS {17}
R. Strauss-Hofmannsthal
Ariadne……………..Leonie Rysanek
Bacchus……………..James King
Zerbinetta…………..Reri Grist
Composer…………….Evelyn Lear
Music Master…………Walter Berry
Harlekin…………….Theodor Uppman
Conductor……………Karl Boehm
February 22, 1979
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS {28}
Ariadne……………..Johanna Meier
Bacchus……………..Rene Kollo
Zerbinetta…………..Edita Gruberova
Composer…………….Tatiana Troyanos
Music Master…………John Shirley-Quirk
Harlekin…………….Dale Duesing [Debut]
Conductor……………James Levine
Metropolitan Opera House
April 9, 2003
ARIADNE AUF NAXOS [77]
Ariadne………………..Christine Brewer [Debut]
Bacchus………………..Richard Margison
Zerbinetta……………..Natalie Dessay
Composer……………….Kristine Jepson
Music Master……………Wolfgang Brendel
Harlekin……………….Nathan Gunn
Conductor………………James Levine
Saw all of these though maybe not the same dates but Lear was out of voice as the Composer when I saw her
and sang wretchedly. I expected much more of her
Yeah yeah… all of these people were once unknown at the Met. Stemme has a voice for the ages. Petrenko might live up to his promise as a great Strauss conductor. All the work I’ve seen from him has been excellent. The tenor was really solid.
You’re basically voting against the current casts because they aren’t already petrified in the history books. You’ll love them once they’re dead!
Spot on. I suspect there are some dullish cast lists from the Golden Age which aren’t being quoted.
Besides, isn’t the Golden Age always in the past, ex definitione, so to say?
Where’s the Vicar with details of the English-language performances at ?Scottish? Opera with Dame Granite as the composer?
I heard the Radio 3 broadcast and the real shock was hearing Helga Dernesch at the point when she could no longer manage soprano roles and coming a horrible cropper live on air at Theseus heissen sie ihn (or whatever it was in English). It was after her Scottish Opera Ariadne that she decided to retrain as a mezzo – even though she sang mezzo roles before Karajan discovered her: Marina in Boris and there is a very weird Elektrola Grosse Querschnitt of Die Macht des Schicksals with Grace in her mainly mezzo days as Leonora and Dernesch as Preziosilla. The Dame’s Composer sounded wonderful from the intimate Theatre Royal – pity she never sang it again.
Psst: Hermes, not Theseus.
There’s an mp3 of Dernesch coming to grief at that point knocking around the internet somewhere- I think it might even have been hosted here.
Everybody except RYAN. Cant stand that voice!!
Nemo, Amen!!!! It’s a truly non-musical
sound; I hate it too. I hope he improves.
No you don’t. You’re much happier pointing out how bad you think he is.
Nicht doch. These people *were* known and by and large practised in their roles when they sang these roles at the Met. I have read that Lear was in crisis in 1970 and below form. But she knew the role, and Grist, Damrau, Peters and Gruberova were not novices to the role when they sang Zerbinetta there.
In the case of the 2003 cast, Margison was/is no Golden Ager but he was excellent in that revival.
I agree that Stemme and possibly Werba belong in this company, though “voice for the ages” may be pushing things. And i like Petrenko. Not the rest, sorry.
Or these, from my performance log:
12,29,62 MET Rysanek, d’Angelo, Meyer, Thomas, Cassel; Bohm (MET premiere performance)
4,18,64 MET/BOS della Casa, d’Angelo, Miller, Thomas, Cassel; Varviso (MET tour)
9,26,87 MET Norman, Battle, Troyanos, Frey, Prey, Dickson, Cole; Levine