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Music Performance Reviews
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center, NY
www.lincolncenter.org
DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN
Music: Richard Strauss
Libretto: Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Conductor: Philippe Auguin
Director: Herbert Wernicke
Cast
The Empress: Deborah Voigt
The Emperor: Glenn Winslade
Barak, The Dyer: Wolfgang Brendel
The Dyer’s Wife: Deborah Polaski
The Nurse: Jane Henschel
The Messenger: Mark Delavan
Chandak Ghosh
12/03/2003 Arguably, no opera divides aficionados like Die Frau Ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow). Admirers embrace the opera’s rich, haunting music and laud its symbol-strewn plot as representative of all facets of the human condition. Detractors feel the opera remains among the stage’s most pretentious with music droning monotonously through an utterly nonsensical plot for four very long hours. Either way, the current production at the Metropolitan stands among the opera house’s most magnificent achievements.
Die Frau Ohne Schatten follows the journey of the Empress--half mortal, half spirit--as she tries to gain a shadow. The "shadow" alternately represents the ability to bear children and the human soul (just the beginning of the "symbol versus nonsense" debate!). If she does not find a shadow in three days, her father, the Spirit God Keikobad, will turn her husband to stone. The Empress ventures to the mortal world, meets the Dyer (one who dyes for a living) and his wife, learns about the human trait of self-sacrifice, and ultimately triumphs over the evil and deceit that surrounds her.
Herbert Wernicke’s colossal mirrored set and imaginative lighting gave the spirit level a cold, yet mysterious, allure. As the Empress joined the mortals, from beneath the stage rose a dank and decrepit home in which the Dyer and his wife exist with only hope. The intermittently-appearing falcon’s bright red feathers brought flashes of majesty and warmth to this otherwise sterile world.
When this production first premiered two years ago, Conductor Christian Thielemann found deep poetry in the music. Now, with Conductor Philippe Auguin, the music lacked some spark. Auguin seemed to enjoy drawing out the solo self-reflection scenes, while hurrying through the grander moments, leading to less musical consistency and cohesiveness.
Soprano Deborah Voigt stands as the great dramatic Straussian of our time. The way she caresses each line reveals an artist absolutely comfortable with the composer’s dramatic and musical choices. Although her high notes no longer come so easily (possibly due to her recent undertaking of the role of Isolde and, thus, not boding well for the Verdian roles she has scheduled in upcoming seasons), her timbre has become surprisingly warmer since she was last at the MET. This made her scenes, such as that rebuffing the Nurse, startlingly real, not only for the power Voigt brought to it, but for the sense of vulnerability she could simultaneously express.
Deborah Polaski has recently staked her claim for operatic superstardom with a maniacal Elektra and a domineering Kostelnicka recently at the MET. Her Dyer’s Wife was less successful, due mainly to generic characterization. A few flat high notes added to the disappointing performance. Jane Henschel strong mezzo gave the Nurse great focus while Wolfgang Brendel mellifluous baritone made the Dyer the most sympathetic character. Glenn Winslade, debuting at the MET as the Emperor, sounded strained in the first act but improved significantly afterwords. Still, the part requires more heft than he could muster. Mark Delavan continues prove that he remains among our best baritones with a commanding Messenger.
With this opera baffling even the most ardent opera fans, the MET auditorium has been only about 3/4ths full throughout the current run. It remains doubtful that the MET will bring this work back for a while, particularly if, in the current evolution of Voigt’s career, she decides to retire this signature role. Die Frau Ohne Schatten may be a difficult opera to understand fully, but one cannot deny the superlative stagecraft and the glorious singing that inhabit this incarnation.
Check www.metopera.org or call (212) 362-6000 for tickets and information about further performances of this and other operas like Benvenuto Cellini, Mose und Aron, Nozze di Figaro, Nabucco, and Merry Widow.
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