Mathis der Maler [Matthias the Painter, Mathis le peintre], Opéra National de Paris (Bastille), November 16 2010
Olivier Py ..... Director
Christoph Eschenbach ..... Conductor
Scott Mac Allister ..... Albrecht von Brandenburg
Matthias Goerne ..... Mathis
Thorsten Grümbel ..... Lorenz von Pommersfelden
Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke ..... Wolfgang Capito
Gregory Reinhart ..... Riedinger
Michael Weinius ..... Hans Schwalb
Antoine Garcin ..... Truchsess von Waldburg
Eric Huchet ..... Sylvester von Schaumberg
Melanie Diener ..... Ursula
Martina Welschenbach ..... Regina
Nadine Weissmann ..... Die Gräfin von Helfenstein
Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Christoph Eschenbach ..... Conductor
Scott Mac Allister ..... Albrecht von Brandenburg
Matthias Goerne ..... Mathis
Thorsten Grümbel ..... Lorenz von Pommersfelden
Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke ..... Wolfgang Capito
Gregory Reinhart ..... Riedinger
Michael Weinius ..... Hans Schwalb
Antoine Garcin ..... Truchsess von Waldburg
Eric Huchet ..... Sylvester von Schaumberg
Melanie Diener ..... Ursula
Martina Welschenbach ..... Regina
Nadine Weissmann ..... Die Gräfin von Helfenstein
Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus
This is an opera built from a symphonic work --of the same eponymic title-- written and composed by Paul Hindemith. To be perfectly honest, I believe the rare interesting patches of music you get to hear in this long opera are actually those you taken from the Symphony [to listen to the whole Symphony see this, this, this and this]. The rest is uninteresting, inane and (in Act-3) downright boring. I'd even say it is much less interesting than the major operatic yawniac - Palestrina by Pfitzner.
I actually studied quite a bit the background of Mathis der Maler, listened to the recording made in Hamburg three years ago, and even managed to find a video recorded at Liceu/Barcelona 16 years ago*. I thought I'd even make two blog-entries about this lesser known opera, but eventually I realized it's not worth it: this opera is obsolete, musically irrelevant, and dramatically rather insignificant. It is not surprising that this work never resonated with public, it's very rarely staged and remains unknown. And yet the Paris Opera decided to mount a rich production and reanimate this opera. Why? I tried very hard but failed to understand the reasons for this weird decision. In the times like these, to invest the taxpayers' money [in one of four genuinely new productions in 2010-2011] to resuscitate a third rate German opera (very much anti-Berg in structure)... no, I simply don't get it!
In any case I hope there is a big enough market of conservative operagoers in Paris thrilled to see and listen to one of 8 programmed shows of Mathis der Maler. I saw the final dress rehearsal and was never this bored in Opera; tonight at the premiere I stayed through the first Act and then left.
I decided not to make a blog-dissertation about the (ir)relevance of this opera to the genesis operatic language or music in general. I'd instead spend a couple of paragraphs about a good side of this particular show.
Its strong point is in fact the work by Olivier Py and Pierre-André Weitz (set & costume designer).
The way the story of this opera is conceived today is that Hindemith --through the story of the renaissance painter Matthias Grünewald-- elaborated on the position of artist in the time of major distress (war, revolution...). The opera is about a painter who, after realizing the scale of social injustice and persecution of peasants questions his art and himself, quits painting and joins the revolutionist peasants. He eventually realizes the reality of revolution and is terrified by the crimes committed by the revenge hungry peasants --which negate all the ideals that incited him to join the peasants' cause-- and he returns to what his God-given-mission is, to paint and to indulge in religion. That's how he completes his major work, Isenheim Altarpiece and then decides to isolate himself from the world. There is a background story that involves persecutions of Lutherans by the Papists who massively burned all the books reformist in spirit.
A parallel with the situation in Germany in 1930's is easy to draw and that's the epoch in which Olivier Py situated his take on Mathis der Maler [if you have time or/and patience, read a (badly written!) synopsis of this opera on Wiki]: in short Py's show is about proletarians and their revolt against the class enemy who happen to be the Nazi rulers who were in addition persecuting the Jews.
For those of us who saw his recent Roméo et Juliette in Amsterdam, it is more than obvious that Olivier Py and Pierre-André Weitz prepared both shows (R&J and Mathis der Maler) simultaneously. In terms of direction and the way the sets are organized, the two shows are very similar. Even the use of German shepherds is the same; instead of the rope stretched between Roméo and Juliette here you can see a red ribbon relating Matthias with Regina... The advantage of this show over the one in Amsterdam (which we liked!) is that Olivier avoided doing too much to get his points across. No extra gadgets, and a few things are left implicit... Excellent work!
The scenic highlights are definitely the first and (next to the) last tableaux, which are actually reconstruction of the Isenheim fresco
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| Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald (Unterlinden Museum, Colmar - France) |
In spite of many déjà vu elements, I found the show remarkably well directed, and the way the rich sets evolve on the immense stage of Opéra Bastille is truly fantastic.
This however does not rescue the show as its musical and narrative content are far too heavy to be counterbalanced by director's brilliance. Four hours of this music (2 intermissions included) was simply too much to stomach for Yours Truly, even though I have nothing but praise for Matthias Goerne, Scott MacAllister, Gregory Reinhart, Melanie Diener, and Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke.
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| Matthias Goerne in one of the last scenes |
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| Grümbel, Reinhart and Ablinger-Sperrhacke |
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| Melanie Diener, Christoph Eschenbach, Patrick Aubert (chorus master), Matthias Goerne, Olivier Py, Scott MacAllister |
[*] Actually it was during one show of Mathis der Maler that the fire destroyed Gran Teatre del Liceu.
Have to agree with you Cake. Saw it last night and while I stayed through to the end I cannot say the time or money was well spent*. The poor material was very well presented but the ineffectivness of the show demonstrates that its beyond salvage.
ReplyDeleteTangentially I'd add that there were some moments of not entirely ineffective (melo)- drama in the second and to a lesser extent the third act.
Also, although you refer to it I think more could be said about the singing, the superb performances Goerne and Diener in particular. They too were very much wasted on this music.
(I read in their bios in the prgram that they will be singing Fidelio in Paris later this year, and that should be more worthwhile.
*I do think the money was well spent on the Figaro restoration which I saw Tuuesday and will again this Sunday, but that's another matter altogether.
Hi Marcillac. I thought you were based in Vienna?!
ReplyDeletePractically all the singers were great. I rarely miss a concert with Matthias Goerne and I was more than glad to see him on stage. Don't forget Scott MacAllister (brilliant as Tannhäuser a year and a half ago in Berlin!) The role of Ursula fits like a glove to Melanie Diener. But, as you say, the overall impression is that they were wasted on this music.
I'm sure there are many folks who will like this opera mostly because of the simple, clear and spectacular staging by Olivier Py.
Also annoying is to read the AFP article about the Mathis' premiere in Paris in which the author falsely implies that the Nazi gvt disliked Hindemith because of this opera too. Propaganda will take you anywhere...
We can go back and forth about the Regie, Cake, but it is a derrivative art form and cannot elevate (or diminish) an opera in the absence of worthy musical and dramatic material. On its own the production did seem impressive and will probably draw much positive comment but it seems Py's talents are better used in other settings.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree that the role fits Diener very well, she has some of the best (least boring) music of the evening and the (relative)highlights of Acts 2 and 3 I mention above referred to her singing. Indeed, her presence is probably the best reason to see the opera. Still, as with Py, there is jus SOOO MUCH better Music where her voice could be deployed (and which is frequently sung much worse than she could sing it).
This applies a fortiori with Goerne whose music is even worse (and this weakness of the title, character alone dooms the opera). The voice is great and he can be a very effective performer but his material here is extremely paultry.
I didn't mean to leave out MacAllister (just to highlight the other two). Indeed, I mentioned the prospective Fidelio and for my $ the Bastille could do us all a fovour, and replace a few Mathis performances with Fidelio (MacAllister as Floristan to Goerne's Pizzaro and Diener's Leonore, with Welschenbach as Marzelline). Not gonna happen, unfortunately. (Needless to say, Fidelio has its own dramatic difficulties but seems a worthier project.)
I'm actually based in New York but sometimes end up on this side of the pond (far too rarely in Vienna though, which means I have to pay my own way to get there. Booo!).
Hello Opera Cake,
ReplyDeleteThe rest is uninteresting, inane and (in Act-3) downright boring. I'd even say it is much less interesting than the major operatic yawniac - Palestrina by Pfitzner.
[....]
This opera is obsolete, musically irrelevant, and dramatically rather insignificant. It is not surprising that this work never resonated with public
[....]
To resuscitate a third rate German opera (very much anti-Berg in structure)... no, I simply don't get it!
*****
Oh come on my friend, Mathis der Maler and Palestrina both are fine operas! Give em another try, preferably at home via CD.
:-)
Cheers.
Oh I did to both of them before going to actually see them. With Palestrina I did an extra mile and tried to listen to it carefully once again.
ReplyDeleteNo that's dead art - zero creativity, and a composer headless trying to breath some life into the musics totally bounded by the rules of post-Wagnerian opera making. Lifeless, amorphous... Berg and Weill were inevitable.
But hey, that's just my way of seeing things. I respect everyone's choice [as long as there is more than one ;)]
Cheers
Hello OC,
ReplyDelete"No that's dead art - zero creativity"
Mr. Cake stands his ground... ;-)
"a composer headless trying to breath some life into the musics totally bounded by the rules of post-Wagnerian opera making"
So does that mean you won't be giving Die Rose vom Liebesgarten a try anytime soon... ?
:-)
You are right though... And there must be a good reason that Palestrina is almost never performed outside of Germany.
Even Zerbinetta (from Likely Impossibilities) who seems to have very wide operatic tastes has said that:
"You could not pay me cold hard cash to see Pfitzner’s Palestrina again..."
(Oh well, I still love em)
Cheers.
Always amusing to read a couple of nobodies trash a great work of art (in this case Hindemith's Mathis der Maler") that will be listened to and appreciated long after its detractors are forgotten.
ReplyDeleteAlways amusing to read a couple of nobodies trash a great work of art (in this case Hindemith's Mathis der Maler") that will be listened to and appreciated long after its detractors are forgotten
DeleteAin't that the truth!!
Mathis der Maler is undoubtedly a wonderful opera but it does seem that it will remain (along with Pfitzner's Palestrina) a connoisseur’s opera.
Pfitzner and Hindemith should be left alone, to rest in peace. Berg showed a way out of that [atrocious] post-wagnerian era in opera. Kurt Weill too.
DeleteOC,
ReplyDeletePfitzner and Hindemith should be left alone, to rest in peace.
Heavens no!! One of my 'hobbies' is to advocate on their behalf.
It astounds me how even many prominent critics dismiss Palestrina as... "hours of gentle tedium". As for its “inordinate length” what’s the problem? It’s exactly 3 hours and 20 minutes long, the same as Boris Godunov (Rimsky version)
Here is the general sentiment:
"I suspect that much of the praise given to the piece results more from an uncritical acceptance of its philosophical underpinnings and seriousness of purpose than from enjoyment of its musical content. It is through-composed and largely declamatory, with no clearly marked arias and few extended melodic lines. The confrontation between the outside world of hustle and bustle (the confrontations of contending factions in the Council of Trent) and the inner world of the composer turns out to be fairly effective dramatically, and there are moments of beauty, notably the choruses of dead composers and angels toward the end of Act I. But the opera is long, long-winded, and (to me) for the most part boring"
Well I have NEVER questioned its greatness and as a 20th century work I love it even MORE than 'Lulu' or 'Peter Grimes'. Sure it has its musically weak / unmemorable sections (the first 20 minutes in Act 1 after the prelude - Silla and Ighino) but it does quickly improve. I love it to pieces.... Ditto Mathis der Maler. And the only real weakness in the score I can think of is Regina’s folk song early in the first tableau: “Es Wollt ein Maidlein waschen gehn Bei einem kuhlen Brunnen”.
It's a pity also that almost nobody at Parterre Box loves either work.