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Weber, Der Freischütz:  Soloists,Orchestra and Chorus of Opera Boston, Gil Rose (Conductor), Boston, Massachusetts 21.10.2008 (LS)

Conductor: Gil Rose
Stage Director:  Sam Helfrich
Producer: Carole Charnow
Scenic Designer:  Andrew Holland
Costume Designer: Nancy Leary
Lighting Designer:  Aaron Black
Supertitles and Diction:  Allison Voth

Cast:
Max:  Daniel Snyder
Agathe: Emily Pulley
Kaspar:  Andrew Funk
Annchen: Heather Buck
Samiel/Hermit : Herbert Parry
Ottokar: David Kravitz
Killian:Aaron Engebreth
Kuno: Tom O'Toole
Brautjungfern:  Angela Hines Gooch

Von Weber's Der Freischütz  had a sensational debut in 1821 and became one of the most popular operas in history. It combined beautiful arias and choruses with accompanied recitative and dialogue.  The overture was spectacular featuring a quartet of horns.

The last time it was seen in Boston was 1984.  When I heard it was coming I couldn't wait to get tickets, because even though I'm particularly fond of Italian bel canto, Der Freischütz is one of my favorites.  Luck was with me and for the first time my wife and I ended up in first row seats -dead center.

I'm pleased to report that for the most part the performance was excellent. On the other hand, Director Helfrich had some ideas which I found a bit disconcerting.  To understand my reaction we must review the unusual plot.

The story of Der Freischütz  - the Free Shooter, or as translated by Opera Boston, The Marksman - can be traced back hundreds of years. A tale of a marksman who makes a pact with evil powers to obtain bullets that will do his bidding was circulating in the 15th century.    The term free shooter  was introduced at the trial of Hans Groepelin and Cersten Sasse(1586) for attempting to forge 'Freikugeln' or free bullets. During the next 150 years other examples of supernatural free shooters surfaced, and in 1810 Carl Maria Von Weber heard of these tales and resolved to compose an opera on the subject.  It took eleven years before he completed his masterpiece.

Act I

The opera opens with a shooting contest where the hero Max is bested by the peasant Killian.  Max is very upset, because he knows that he must win the Trial Shot contest the next day in order to marry Agathe, daughter of the Chief Forester Kuno, and eventually succeed Kuno.  The villain Kasper tells Max that if he uses certain magic bullets Max will  win the Trial Shot and Agathe's hand He gives Max his rifle which contains a magic bullet and Max brings down a great golden eagle with a fantastic shot.

Kasper is not trying to help Max out of pity or admiration.  Indeed, Kasper's pact with Samiel, the The Black Hunter who revealed to him the secret of the seven magic bullets, is about to expire and the last of the bullets will be directed by the "evil one".  Kasper is afraid that he will be the victim, so he decides to lure Max into a confrontation with Samiel.   The site will be the Wolf's Glen, where he hopes another seven bullets will be cast.

Act II

Meanwhile, at the beginning of Act II Agathe and her friend Annchen are waiting to hear of Max's victory..  A portrait falls from the wall slightly injuring her at the very moment Max has downed the golden eagle.  Agathe is very worried, and seeks counsel from the local religious hermit.  He advises her to have faith. She is even more upset when Max arrives, tells her he lost the shooting contest, refuses to stay with her, and lies about the reason for  going to the Wolf's Glen at midnight.

The stage is set for one of the highlights of early German romantic opera - the confrontation of Kaspar, Max, and Samiel in the Wolf's Glen.  Kaspar calls for Samiel and asks that their free bullet pact be extended and offers Max or Agathe as the prize.  Samiel  agrees that seven additional bullets will be cast, but says nothing about the victim of the seventh bullet.

Max arrives at midnight during a terrible storm.  He and Kasper cast the seven bullets. As each is completed a terrible event occurs--night birds fly down, a boar comes out of the bushes, a stormy wind snaps the tops of trees, whips cracks and fiery wheels  roll across the  ground, hounds bay and horses whinny, invisible spirits sing, and finally the "storm clouds roll together with a fearsome noise. Flames leap from the earth."  Kaspar cries out for Samiel's help  and the Black Hunter appears grasping at Max's hand. Max makes the sign of the cross and falls to the ground.  Samiel is gone and Kaspar is face down.  Max struggles to his feet as the curtain falls.

Act III

Kaspar and Max agree to divide the bullets. Max uses his three and Kaspar makes certain that Max will have the final seventh bullet.

Meanwhile Agathe prepares for her wedding and confides to Annchen that she  dreamt  she had been changed into a white dove;  Max aimed at her; she fell, and a great bird of prey was there in a pool of blood.  Annchen tries to calm her by singing an aria about a spooky dream that ended hilariously.

The bridesmaids appear to help adorn Agathe with a circlet of flowers.  When Agathe opens the flower box she finds a funeral wreath. Once again Annchen steps in and dismisses it as a mistake at the flower shop. Finally, we come to the the Trial Shot.  Prince Ottokar  tells Max to fire at a white dove in the tree.  Suddenly Agathe cries out to Max "Don't fire. I am the dove". He fires, the dove flies away, and both Agathe and Caspar fall to the ground.

Agathe is only slightly injured, but Caspar is mortally wounded.  He dies cursing both Samiel (whom he alone can see) and Heaven.  Max tells Ottokar that he had  agreed to the pact with Samiel in order to obtain the free bullets.  Ottokar is enraged saying that good must reject evil.  He orders Max to leave.  The townspeople asks Ottokar to be merciful but he thunders," no, no, no".  Suddenly the Hermit appears and in a booming base voice tells the crowd that "even the pious heart can waver from the path of right and duty when love and fear hold virtue in thrall and desperation breaks all bounds. Is it right to stake the happiness of two fine people on a single shot?  And if they are trapped by emotions too strong for their control, who would cast the first stone. Who would not search his own heart first?"  He recommends one year probation, and if Max behaves himself, he and Agathe can marry.  The  Hermit also says the shooting contest should be abandoned, and Prince Ottokar agrees.  All ends happily.

What did Director Helfrich do with this plot?  First, he combined Samiel and the Hermit into one person explaining: "Kaspar asks Samiel to aid his revenge plot, but Samiel the "evil" character instead turns his bullet on Kaspar himself, and, in his final act effectively expunges the true evil from the community.  The Hermit is a "good" figure, but when he appears, it is to admonish the community and its leaders for having driven Max to want to cheat.  In his final  act, the Hermit forces an end to the ridiculous shooting competition and a clean break with ancestral tradition.  The community, both deeply shamed and newly enlightened, agree, forgiving Max and making the break. Together the two characters are neither a force of good nor evil, but one of change. In fact, I found this so intriguing that I decided to have one performer play both roles."

In my opinion Helfrich's decision weakened the production significantly.  The traditional contrast between the non-singing evil Samiel and the basso Holy Hermit disappeared. Normally the Hermit appears only in the final scene with his dramatic resolution of Max's  dilemma.   But Helfrich's Samiel/Hermit appeared first during the overture giving a bridal bouquet to Agathe, and of course played a major role in the  Wolf Glen scene.  By the time the final scene arrived he was physically well known to the audience as Samiel, yet suddenly became the Hermit. Even more disturbing was Helfrich's treatment of the Wolf's Glen scene.

The power of Weber's Wolf's Glen is the intimacy of Kaspar, Max, and the non singing Samiel in the terrifying glen accompanied by appropriately spooky but beautiful music and an eerie invisible chorus. But Helfrich preferred to view the scene as some sort of psychological drama whereby each of Max's real or imagined enemies cast individual bullets. For example, the creation of one bullet was accompanied by all kinds of sexual shenanigans by the village maidens. Another bullet was delivered by the townspeople etc. etc.. Helfrich's Glen had so many people on stage the action could just have well have taken place in the town square.

The production had both modern and classical elements TV antennae were on the roofs of the stylized German houses. Agathe's house had open windows and various characters were hopping in and out all night. The Wolf's Glen scenery was not convincing. Nor were the dozen or so portraits of ancestors on the wall of Agathe's house. Agathe and many of the characters wore traditional dress, whereas Annchen emphasized her youth and independence attired in jeans and a tank top.  The Hermit was clad in some sort of unhermit like garment.

Casting Der Freischütz represents a difficult challenge.  For example, the role of Max requires a singer with both a lyrical and powerful heldentenor voice.   In the 1985 Dresden performance Reiner Goldberg demonstrated that  it is possible to have both.

In Boston Daniel Snyder displayed a powerful voice, but was somewhat less effective on the lyrical dimension. However Snyder had excellent presence and looked exactly like I'd expect Max to be.  The audience  responded with much applause. Snyder's credits include Jimmy MacIntyre in Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (for Opera Boston); Hoffman in  Les Contes d'Hoffman, and Radames in Aída; and numerous concert performances and recitals.

Andrew Funk gave a wonderful performance as Kaspar with excellent acting and singing, although his top in the fiendishly difficult 'Schweig,  Schweig' aria was pressed to the limit.  Funk has recently performed in Die Frau ohne Schatten at Los Angeles Opera,  Beatrice and Benedict at Santa Fe Opera; and Hagen in Götterdämmerung at Seattle Opera.  He was chosen by Philip Glass to sing the world premier of  Galileo Gallilei  during the 2008-2009 season.

Emily Pulley sang a beautiful Agathe including the  two show stopping arias 'Leise, Leise fromme Weise' and 'Und Ober die Wolke.'  She demonstrated both power and lyricism. A frequent artist at the Metropolitan Opera she has sung Marguerite in Faust, Nedda in I pagliacci, Blance in Dialogues des Carmelites, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Musetta in La Bohème, and Valencienne in The Merry Widow.

Heather Buck  gave a bright lively performance as Annchen . Her big aria 'Einst traumte meiner sel'gen Base'  was delivered with just the right blend of seriousness and comedy.  She looked and acted the part of a happy young maiden always trying to cheer up the morose Agathe. Buck will be singing the Queen of the Night at the Metropolitan Opera this season.  Her repertoire has been quite varied including Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Connecticut Opera), Valencienne in The Merry Widow (Florentine Opera), Belinda in Dido and Aeneas (Spoleto Festival), and Rosina in The Barber of Seville (Birmingham Opera).

Herbert Perry sang and declaimed the Samiel/Hermit role well.  He has appeared with many of the world's opera companies including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera and Opera Company of Saint Louis. David Kravitz (Ottokar), Aaron Engebreth (Killian) and Tom O'Tolle (Kuno) all sang with competence.

Gil Rose led the orchestra with vigor and  insight, and it responded well, although there were a couple of minor horn glitches.  Cellist David Russell and violist  Kate Vincent were particularly outstanding.

Last but certainly not least were the male and female choruses. Not only did they sing beautifully, they moved and acted superbly - a dramatic contrast to the static choruses sometimes encountered in other productions. Ultimately the music and singing overcame my concerns with the production and my wife and I happily exited the theatre humming ta ta-ta ta ta ta ta ta-ta ta-ta -ta -ta ta ta…….

Lew Schneider

Pictures © 2008 Clive Grainger.

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