Ars Musica 2007 Brussels (1) - Benoît Mernier, Frühlings Erwachen: Soloists, La Choraline, La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, Jonas Alber (conductor) La Monnaie, Brussels, 9.03. 2007 (HC)

 

As far as I am concerned, the first performance of Benoît Mernier’s opera was one of the highlights of the 2007 Ars Musica festival in Brussels. Over the last few years, I have reviewed several recordings of his music; and one of them (“An die Nacht” – Cyprès CYP 4624) includes two vocal works, that clearly show that Mernier writes effectively and quite sympathetically for the voice. So, the prospect of an opera by this young composer was very exciting.

The libretto by Jacques De Decker is drawn from Frank Wedekind’s eponymous play. As might be expected, Wedekind’s text had to be pruned down drastically and has been quite intelligently condensed, dropping – as I take it – a number of asides as well as several digressions likely to slow down the unfolding drama. Basically, the subject of Wedekind’s play and of Mernier’s opera is about adolescents becoming aware of their sexuality. Adolescence is often considered as a rather difficult period in anyone’s life, and a period when every youngster needs to find a number of answers about concerns, that might influence their adult life in the long term. Parents have an important role to play in this, and one of the striking features of the libretto is the absence or – at best – the useless presence of the parents. In the opera, parents are either absent (e.g. in the opening scene, which is in fact a one-way dialogue, if I can put it like that) or mere shadowy figures overheard by the adolescents (e.g. in the second scene of Act I or the third scene of Act II).

Other subjects also part of the whole, are love, homosexuality, rape and abortion. These might be handled crudely and realistically, which could make some direct impact, but would keep any more subtle approach at bay. Librettist, director and composer managed to eschew any attempt at crude expressionism. They succeeded in bringing a good deal of humanity and understanding into what might have been a frightful drama. In this, Mernier’s beautifully expressive and subtle music did much to enhance the poetic aspect of the drama. One of the finest and most moving examples is to be heard in the sixth scene of Act III in which Hänschen and Ernst have their first – and maybe last – homosexual experience. The music here is superbly lyrical and tender, so that the entire scene is one of most deeply moving love songs that I have ever heard. The opera, however, abounds with many such fine moments that never fail to move, although some light irony and humour may surface from time to time to enliven the basically dark and disillusioned character of Wedekind’s play.

The opera is primarily centred on three characters : Wendla, Melchior and Moritz. Wendla is fascinated by Melchior, whereas Moritz is an adolescent so full of doubts that he eventually commits suicide. Raped by Melchior, Wendla has to resort to illegal abortion, and dies of “anaemia” as she puts it, not daring to confess to her mother. Melchior survives and is the only one to enter into adult life.

The three acts generally consist of fairly short scenes, which poses some problems in terms of scene changes and of overall rhythm. These were not all resolved during the first performance that I attended. Breaks between scenes were sometimes a bit too long, thus disrupting the flow of the action; but further performances were – so I was told – more satisfying from this point of view. Another difficulty with this opera is that singers had to be both young and experienced. The cast of the first night was globally quite fine and quite convincing, both in their singing and their acting. Kerstin Avemo as Wendla certainly stole the show, and was deservedly warmly acclaimed. However, the first night’s cast did a wonderful job. Janos Alber conducted a well-prepared reading bringing out the many subtleties of the score while keeping a watchful eye on its global structure.

Benoît Mernier’s opera is undoubtedly one of his major scores so far and a high water mark in his present output. The music has all that one has come to expect from this most endearing composer, and never fails to move and appeal in spite of its complexity. Mernier’s music, however, is never dogmatic and possesses enough suppleness and warmth to remain readily accessible.

These performances have been recorded and the discs should be available commercially next Autumn. This is good news,  for it will give me an opportunity to go into some more details about this major achievement by one of the finest Belgian composers of his generation.

 

Hubert Culot

 

 

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