{"id":79382,"date":"2015-02-14T17:03:05","date_gmt":"2015-02-14T16:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gbopera.it\/?p=79382"},"modified":"2016-11-25T22:48:08","modified_gmt":"2016-11-25T21:48:08","slug":"berlin-staatsoper-im-schillertheaterder-freischutz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/berlin-staatsoper-im-schillertheaterder-freischutz\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlin, Staatsoper im Schillertheater:”Der Freisch\u00fctz\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Berlin, Deutsche Staatsoper – Season 2014\/2015 <\/em>
\n\u201cDER FREISCH\u00dcTZ\u201d<\/strong>
\nRomantic opera in three acts, Text by Friedrich Kind.
\nMusic by Carl Maria von Weber<\/strong>
\nOttokar <\/em>ROMAN TREKEL
\nKuno <\/em>VICTOR VON HALEM
\nAgathe <\/em>DOROTHEA R\u00d6SCHMANN
\n\u00c4nnchen<\/em> ANNA PROHASKA
\nKaspar <\/em>TOBIAS SCHABEL
\nMax <\/em>BURKHARD FRITZ
\nHermit<\/em> JAN MARITINIK
\nKilian <\/em>MAXIMILIAN KRUMMEN
\nSamiel <\/em>PETER MOLTZEN
\nBridesmaids <\/em>VERENA ALLERTZ, KATHARINA BOLDING, KONSTANZE L\u00d6WE, JULIA MENCKE, CLAUDIA TUCH
\nStaatskapelle Berlin, Staatsopernchor
\nConductor Sebastian Weigle<\/strong>
\nChorus Martin Wright<\/strong>
\nProduction Michael Thalheimer<\/strong>
\nStage Olaf Altmann<\/strong>
\nCostumes Katrin Lea Tag<\/strong>
\nLight Olaf Freese<\/strong>
\nBerlin, 8th February 2015<\/em><\/p>\n

How can director Michael Thalheimer <\/strong>expect of everybody in the audience to know \u201cDer Freisch\u00fctz\u201d by heart? He cannot but he does. I admit that the opera is widely known in Germany and even considered a national opera. But whatever makes it up cannot be found in Thalheimer\u2019s production: romantic forest scenery, picturesque country houses, Biedermeier idyll, horror Romanticism. The iron curtain is down at the beginning and all of a sudden a figure shows up in front of it, a mix of Rumpelstiltskin and a half-naked goblin rather than the terrifying black hunter Samiel, <\/strong>a speaking role played by the actor Peter Moltzen<\/strong>. It is him who Kilian points his rifle at and shoots when the iron curtain is up for the first scene but Samiel remains omnipresent for the rest of the night, which turns out to be a disadvantage for Kaspar whose developing into a villain becomes little comprehensible. As a returning soldier from the Thirty Years\u2018 War he is in some way a victim himself. Kilian is surrounded by the chorus dressed like tree trunks and carrying dry twigs to probably represent the missing forest. They are mocking at Max who is crouching desperately near the orchestra pit where there is no way to escape. The rest of the stage is dark (light by Olaf Freese<\/strong>) and the scene bears some of the other-worldly dimension of the opera. It looks promising to make something out of the mysteries of the plot the more so as it is set in a kind of black cave or tunnel that looks made of brittle slate. It has a circular opening at the end to let the performers come and go. The stage by Olaf Altmann<\/strong> reminds of G\u00f6tz Friedrich\u2019s Ring production at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. What was a brilliant idea for Wagner\u2019s giant work in the 1980s loses its attraction here very soon and confines the singers to a large extent to old-fashioned ramp-singing. The characters hardly interact with each other and the performance reminds more and more of a concert in costumes intensified by the missing dialogues that are essential for the run of the story. Lots of details get lost and the phrases added by Thalheimer for Samiel do not help understand the plot better. The famous Wolf\u2019s Glen scene especially suffers from the uniform stage. Seven hardly discernible women repeatedly crawling across the stage are supposed to represent the seven magic bullets cast by Kaspar who therefore almost abuses the dead eagle shot down by Max at the beginning. The scene does not become more threatening when Samiel is jumping around like in A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream and Kaspar starts smearing blood on himself. Agathe and \u00c4nnchen do the same later having forebodings about the future. In the last act Samiel appears with twigs of green leaves on his head obviously linked to Bacchus rather than the devil. Thalheimer is a well-known theatre director and \u201cDer Freisch\u00fctz\u201d is the fifth opera he has staged but his job this time would probably not be sufficient to pass the entrance examination for studies of opera production. There are two interesting aspects though. Max is so desperate at the beginning of \u201cDurch die W\u00e4lder\u201d that he nearly wants to shoot himself and \u00c4nnchen as Agathe\u2019s counterpart has so much zest for life that she even starts some hanky-panky with Samiel during her aria \u201cKommt ein schlanker Bursch gegangen\u201d. The costumes by Katrin Lea Tag <\/strong>are rather traditional with Agathe and \u00c4nnchen having the privilege to wear cheerfully coloured dresses. The production is more satisfactory from the musical point of view. The overture starts with some slow but beautiful unison followed by little uncertainties from the wind players. Conductor Sebastian Weigle<\/strong> sets slow tempos sometimes and even tries to create expressionistic moments so that the Staatskapelle Berlin<\/strong> occasionally sounds piercing and direct rather than romantic. The Staatsopernchor<\/strong> (chorus master<\/strong> Martin Wright<\/strong>) proves once again to be first class already in the opening scene as well as in the Wolf\u2019s Glen and for the tunefulness of the popular Hunters\u2019 Chorus sung with big beer glasses in their hands. Among the singers Burkhard Fritz <\/strong>stands out as Max, an early Heldentenor role. His vocal emission is steady and effortless and he masters all lyrical and dramatic aspects of the part excellently. A great performance! Depicted by the production in a constant state of despair and fear of losing Agathe he remains a little one-dimensional as a character. Another plus is Anna Prohaska <\/strong>as \u00c4nnchen whose lyrical rather than light soprano impresses through its clarity and delicacy. Her sometimes slightly piercing tone goes with the role very well. The bass-baritone Tobias Schabel <\/strong>makes most out of Kaspar with his dark-timbered voice singing an exciting revenge aria in the first act. I honestly have mixed feelings about Dorothea R\u00f6schmann<\/strong>\u2019s Agathe. Her soprano has grown darker and sounds colourful in the middle range. Thus she sings a superb \u201cLeise, leise\u201d with an unorthodox breathing technique that is typical of her but the fast second part of the aria turns into a challenge and the final phrase sounded inappropriately veristic. Her \u201cUnd ob die Wolke sie verh\u00fclle\u201d is not sung without some effort, either. I admit that singers such as Elfride Tr\u00f6tschel and Elisabeth Gr\u00fcmmer set a nearly unattainable standard whenever it comes to vocal radiance and intimate singing. The young bass Jan Martin\u00edk <\/strong>is anybody but an old man as the wise Hermit even though he has sufficient vocal weight. As his counterpart Roman Trekel<\/strong> is the keenly ordering local prince Ottokar <\/strong>whose striking baritone makes clear that he obeys the hermit\u2019s advice only because God is still above him in the pecking order. After decades of absence bass veteran Victor von Halem<\/strong> returns to the Berlin opera stage in sonorous voice as Agathe\u2019s father Kuno. The baritone Maximilian Krummen <\/strong>sings the peasant Kilian in a robust way and Verena Allertz<\/strong>, Katharina Bolding<\/strong>,<\/strong> Konstanze L\u00f6we<\/strong>,<\/strong> Julia Mencke <\/strong>and Claudia Tuch<\/strong> complete the cast as harmonizing bridesmaids in old-fashioned country dresses. Photo Katrin Ribbe<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Berlin, Deutsche Staatsoper – Season 2014\/2015 \u201cDER FREISCH\u00dcTZ\u201d Romantic opera in three acts, Text by Friedrich Kind. Music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":79384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4428,6167,440,4790,9669,5348,9354,10494,10806,13467,13468,145,9667,12710,13466],"class_list":["post-79382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-senza-categoria","tag-anna-prohaska","tag-burkhard-fritz","tag-carl-maria-von-weber","tag-der-freischutz","tag-deutsche-staatsoper-berlin","tag-dorothea-roschmann","tag-foreign-readers","tag-jan-martinik","tag-katrin-lea-tag","tag-maximilian-krummen","tag-olaf-altmann","tag-opera-lirica","tag-roman-trekel","tag-sebastian-weigle","tag-victor-von-halem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/177"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79391,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79382\/revisions\/79391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studioroldo.it\/gbopera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}