SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

 
Can anyone explain why Der Freischütz is never given a chance anymore in Britain? Carl Maria von Weber's 1821 melodrama is considered a prototypical nationalistic opera and a landmark of the German Romanticism that reached in zenith in the works of Richard Wagner; I remember fondly performances at Covent Garden in the early 1980’s with Alberto Remedios as Max and Donald McIntyre as Kaspar. Since then I have noted occasional concert performances but nothing more that I can recall. Der Freischütz is still frequently performed across the Channel and particularly in Germany of course.

Weber's opera offers magical settings and the eternal battle between good and evil. It concerns a marksman who makes a pact with the devil to win a shooting contest and, is not therefore very far removed from other similar parables such as Faust or, even the Ring. It is based on a fifteenth-century legend about Bohemian foresters and their contract with the devil for magic bullets (or arrows) which will always find their target but which also bring the risk that the devil will direct one of them at the shooters themselves. In Johann Friedrich Kind’s libretto, all the shots by the young huntsman, Max, seem to miss. A rival hunter, Kaspar – the blackest of black-hearted operatic villains - has earlier made that pact with the devil, trading his soul for the magic bullets. He hopes to exchange Max for himself as Max’s last shot will kill Agathe, the hunter-hero's bride-to-be. There is also a need for a happy ending however, so a holy hermit arranges that Agathe is kept safe by a bridal crown of white roses, Max’s bullet kills Kaspar and the devil claims him. If you think it all sounds a bit Grimm then you are quite right because the Der Freischütz plot springs from the same kind of folklore with just a little more horror and suspense added.

I love this opera and if the story were not enough, it has all the musical ingredients that should ensure continuous popularity: an endlessly melodious score whose tunes are very familiar and include the famous overture, Agathe’s aria ‘Leise, leise’ (Softly, softly), and the wonderfully atmospheric Wolf’s Glen scene. Many other works that are revived endlessly offer much less. On the downside, there is the dialogue that moves the tale along but punctuates the work to make it a ‘number opera’ that is very typical of its time. Then again, dialogue has never prevented Carmen from being, quite probably, the world’s most popular opera.

Midsummer Opera are celebrating their twenty-fifth season but I don’t remember ever encountering them before – so where have they been? To be able to field both an orchestra and a chorus of 50 members each and more is a significant achievement. They also drew to St John’s Church, Waterloo a substantial audience including many friends and family before moving on to the Broadway Theatre, Catford. David Roblou has been MSO’s artistic director since 2000 and his cajoling hands set his extremely competent players a mostly even tempo for this complex score. It did not perhaps always have the rustic spirit and vitality that Weber would wish us to hear but there were no longueurs and the Wolf’s Glen scene - aided by Rupert Pentagon’s baleful, booming utterances as Kaspar and a few ghostly theatrical effects - was as atmospheric as one could hope.

Deborah Stoddart took time to settle as Agathe, yet ‘Leise, leise’ was beautifully internalised and she impressed throughout with her focussed singing and secure top notes. There was much to admire in her simple Act III cavatina ‘Und ob die Wolke’ which had a prayerful sincerity and was underscored with the mellow virtuosity of Maud Hodson’s cello. Agathe’s cousin, Ännchen, was sung by Jane Streeton with a suitably silvery soprano and she was especially good in her duets with her stage relative. John Upperton was a robust-voiced Max, yet was capable of reining in his virile tone to the Mozartian lightness required for his character’s introspection in the Finale. Stephen Holloway’s Hermit, late on the scene as a holy deus ex machina, sang adequately with a resonant bass voice and Julien Debreuil’s Kilian, John Milne’s Kuno and Christopher Hollis’s Prince Ottokar did not disappoint in the secondary male roles. The acoustics were not ideal and there was some volume difficulty for all the principals in ensemble passages, when up against full-throated, robust, choral singing and a rampant orchestra.

Der Freischütz is clearly an opera where soloists, chorus and orchestra are full partners in a very early blueprint for a gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art); the musico-dramatic concept that Richard Wagner, an admirer of Weber’s compositions, would continue in his own operas. Weber was a master of orchestral writing and the range and changes of mood he employs showed the young Wagner just how well music could carry an opera through. It is in the music where most of the magic of Der Freischütz lies and which - along with the great choral pieces and many satisfying arias - make it so rewarding to hear. Midsummer Opera did a great service in reminding an enthusiastic audience of the work's potential, and therefore, its almost incomprehensible neglect.

As a postscript, I hope Midsummer Opera will forgive a couple of moans. Of course, they were correct in ditching most of the dialogue; however, they replaced it with a ‘Narrator’ (Tim Oxbrow, a Robert Downey Jr lookalike, doubling as Samiel) with a ‘street-wise’ script by John Upperton. The mildest word I can use about this is that it was misguided. It really did the opera a great disservice since it is perfectly possible to be ironically humorous without becoming (unintentionally, I hope) puerile. Comments included calling Max an ‘unhappy chappy’ and referring to Kaspar as the ‘shifty one here with the beard’, then adding ‘Oh they’ve all got beards – must be an opera!’ There were then references to Harry Potter and the Sex Pistols before the narrator introduced Ännchen’s Act III aria with ‘Go on Annie stick your oar in – this is beginning to sound like a Western!’ Also note the name John Upperton – wasn’t he Max? Yes, he was and he is also MSO’s chorus master.

MSO naturally do not need any unsolicited advice, but while calling themselves ‘an old-fashioned repertory company, actively fostering mid-career singers who are moving into the dramatic repertoire’ is wholly admirable, we might also ask if they really need to have virtually the same singers involved in all of their productions when there is so much talent around seeking chances to perform. Just a thought.

Jim Pritchard