In his explanation about his new production of Verdi’s Otello for the Deutsche Oper, director Andreas Kriegenburg says that his concept lies on three axes: updating the story to the present day, bringing to the fore the reality of war that encloses the love story and to portray characters with a realistic psychology. Again I have the impression that directors who stage opera either have no friends or they do have friends, but they hate opera.
First, updating Otello for the days of Internet and Iphone is a seriously risky business. The whole scale of fidelities – between spouses, between friends, between comrades, between citizen and state – seem odd in our contemporary Western individual-oriented societies. Desdemona becomes simply impossible – do the words “radiant”, “innocent”, “chaste” and “patrician” make any sense for modern sensibilities? This aristocratic, pious and lovely lady becomes a piece of ridicule in the XXIst century. Iago’s profession of bad-guy-faith sounds almost coy in the the world post WWI. And Otello’s wildness… well, who really cares about that in a world where self-possession is considered dull? In their own context, these characters still work in a powerfully symbolic way, but out of it, they ultimately loose their power to communicate anything.
Second, the war context. I don’t know about you, but I had the impression William Shakespeare’s geniality involves the fact that his judgment is above the average artist’s when it comes to deciding how much attention war context should get in his play about love and jealousy. Arrigo Boito, for example, who was a rather talented person (for example, instead of messing with other people’s operas, he decided to compose his own) opted for respecting the proportion established by Shakespeare when he wrote this libretto for Verdi. Mr. Kriegenburg, on the other hand, begs to differ. The story is set in some sort of refugee shelter, where Otello has distinguished himself in bravery by… by supervising displaced persons. And Iago envies this job to the point of making compatriots die. Gosh, that’s being really mean. The sceneries are literally the poor man’s version of a Tokyo capsule hotel. So basically we have lots of displaced persons living in these wallless capsules (with their individual tv sets, of course) in the middle of which Otello has an old-style solid wood desk and a set of leather chairs. Plus, they have lots of scotch whisky, which they drink before the eyes of the displaced persons. And there is this Desdemona woman with her party-dress and high heels who basically fondles other people’s children. When Otello throws her to the ground, these people who have no food, no medicine, no housing, no privacy are collectively flabbergasted with her marital problems. Do I need to write more? Do I need to comment on the third axis?
Replacing an ailing Paolo Carignani, Patrick Summers did not do much for helping the credibility issue. Although the house orchestra proved to be in very good shape, producing some wild sounds in the opening scene and expressive solos (including from brass instruments) throughout, the overall impression was of heaviness and dullness. The lack of structural and polyphonic clarity made the score purposeless and built up for no atmosphere. The Otello/Desdemona duet was quite unaffecting, Sì, pel ciel really tame, the complex in the end of act III awkward and the closing scene rather matter-of-fact.
The singers are not entirely innocent of the lack of affection. Outstanding in this cast, Anja Harteros produced the most ethereal high mezza voce in the market and never showed herself less than musicianly, but she did not seem to believe herself in her Desdemona. She did not master this special blend of angelic and glamourous that singers like Renata Tebaldi, Katia Ricciarelli and Mirella Freni could produce in this role by sheer tonal poise, eloquent diction and knowledge of inflection. I might be pressing the same key, but I really do not understand why Harteros is so keen on Italian repertoire, when her strengths are all of them in German roles. Zeljko Lucic is far more idiomatic and his voice is extremely pleasant and secure, if not really incisive as the dictionary definition of Verdi baritone’s. He is also too soft in personality for such a bad-guy role. In any case, it is always good to have someone in the right stylistic context. As for José Cura, after all these years, one must admit that he does have the elements of a tenore di forza in him. If they do not make into a coherent whole, that has probably to do with his technical irregularity. It seems that he has a different placement for every note determined exclusively by necessity of survival. In the process, note values and occasionally pitch are the main victims. Sometimes I could barely understand what he was singing. If I have to say something positive about him, it would be that his macho approach works well in this role and that, in spite of the irregularity, when he has operational space for that, he tries to inject some life in his lines, to soften his tone etc. Dio! mi potevi scagliar, for example, was one moment when everything seemed to concur to an expressive performance.
I HEAR VOICES 
Now I’m really looking forward to this. Ugh. Still, at the relatively manageable Berlin prices, nothing you said about Harteros would make me believe she alone isn’t easily worth the price of admission.
Why she would want to sing this seems fairly obvious: its very great music and your accounts of her in this and in the Simon last fall (and my own experience with her in Traviata) seem to confirm that she hardly makes a fool of herself in this repertoire. Perhaps she isn’t and will never be the equal of all time great Italian singers. Yet just now its hard to think of any Italian or other singer whose relative vocal deficiencies would not, in total, offset any idiomatic infelicities present in Harteros’ portrayal.
There is no question that she would be heard to better effect in German repertoire (her Marschallin next year, will, depending on one’s taste but very much so in my case, be easily numbered among the half dozen most interesting events in the world of opera) but that shouldn’t prevent her from mixing in some number of Italian performances, particularly so if they are limited principally to the “Germanic” Verdi roles we’ve discussed before.
I confess my thoughts followed more or less the same line – I really could not think of other soprano who would be more satisfying in that role, although – you will be quite shocked to hear – I have a very positive impression of Renée Fleming at the Met a couple of years ago (actually, along with Daphne, the best I’ve heard from her live). Although Verdi’s “German” roles do suit Harteros vocally, I guess that the spirit is not really there. Even the third act double aria lacked concentration, even if exquisitely sung. But you are finally right – I would pay twice the price to hear those lovely pianissimi alone.
Finally, it is said to realise that Italy has failed to give us a big-voiced lyric soprano to honour their repertoire – Barbara Frittoli seemed promising for a while but was tempted to heavy repertoire and is referred to in the past sense, although she is still active.
You won’t be surprised to learn that in writing my comment, especially toward the end, I was thinking of precisely those two names but omitted them 1) to keep it relatively short and 2) because I was curious weather you would broach them yourself. Of course I though of them because they are a) respectively the most famous soprano currently singing these roles and the most famous Italian soprano doing same; b) because these are the two most recent Desdemonas I’ve heard and c) because they would be next on my list behind Harteros.
Fleming…ahh…Fleming. Having been a huge fan of hers from the beginning of my interest in Opera and classical music (circa 1993-1994) and from a time when she though having a nice career was yet quite short of being “La Fleming”, I retain a very soft spot for her although there is a great deal to say, not all of it positive. One thing I would say though is that the Daphne and especially the Desdemona in February of 08 (which I almost missed – my ticket was for a night when I had to go be on a business trip to Madrid – where I caught a Gicaconda at the TR – the remaining performances being sold out, retaining the impression of her very disappointing Violetta the previous fall – in the end I forced myself to go, secured a good return ticket and am well pleased that I did) are the best I’ve heard her in the last 8 years. For this reason I’m not at all surprised that so discerning a listener as you would have appreciated that performance as well. (By contrast I still haven’t made up my mind about her Marschallin last season. Frustrating? Disappointing? Superb? All of the above? In that role, however, she really should have been able to blow away so well disposed a listener as myself, and that she didn’t do). Still, I do think she is well worth hearing in many roles, Desdemona being very much one of them, as intimated in my above comment decisively behind Harteros.
I’ve read and heard about Frittoli’s vocal decline from people whose views I always respect (if not always agree with) for at least the last 3 or 4 years. Because I have been a huge fan of hers for over a decade I have tried very hard to overcome my predisposition for her and to listen very critically and can say two things: 1) She has lost some vocal luster and range over that period of time – though just how much is debatable because 2) she is maddeningly inconsistent. Obviously the human voice is a fickle thing, no one can be judged by one or a series of performances (e.g. my recent experience with Hans-Peter Konig in Dresden and New York but there are many others) but Frittoli is especially problematic in this respect. A few years ago I heard her in sublime form in New York and in shockingly poor voice 5 or 6 weeks later in Vienna. Last year in two performances of Don G at the Met she was very shaky in the first Act but magnificent in the second on the first evening and precisely the reverse on the second. If anyone based there opinions of her current vocal form on the Vienna performances (and these were 4 or 5 years ago) or left early from the first Don G and arrived late for the second I can easily understand how the could form the worst impression. Her Micaela at the Met got mixed but I think fair reviews. Two months later, however, I heard her in a performance which could euphemistically be described as sublime and based on that most recent experience – and again I emphasize I have tried, although I may not have succeeded, in listening critically – I must insist that “she’s still go it”. Yes, even in that performance it was incontestable that she had lost “something” (a bit of constriction in the highs, slight intonation problems) and, though at the moment I hardly thought of comparisons, there are on sober reflection two, though only two, people I would rather hear in that role (one of them is, of course, Harteros). I would absolutely say that in Mozart and in Verdi – the “German” roles especially – she is absolutely worth hearing – I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the Boccanegra at the Met next year) though behind Harteros. I would add that if Frittoli were in her absolute vocal prime – and at 43 she really should be – the idiomatic superiority of her vocal colour and approach would actually make her preferable, in my opinion at least, to Harteros. Even in that situation however, I very much doubt she would be a match for the latter in purely vocal terms.
On the subject of non-Italians in Verdi’s “Germanic” roles – this is something I didn’t think of last night but which occurred to me as I just checked the DOB website – it appears the later set of Otello performances will be sung by Michaela Kaune and next year by Piaczonka and Isoskoski, not technically German but certainly “Germanic in voice type and repertoire”. Kaune, I gather is the DOB House full lyric, jugndlisch-dramatisch soprano of whom I know little other than that I found her Eva from Bayreuth to be disappointing, but the invitations for the latter two would seem to confirm the lack of adequate, or at least adequately recognized Italians in the role. Isokoski is interesting in particular in that she is the oldest of almost all of the singers mentioned in this comment – I think she may even be older than Fleming – but that she has very much kept her tonal sheen and technical security despite singing relatively heavy roles like Elsa for, I believe, over a decade.
Rodrigo,
Can someone make a law in the EU to arrest these directors? Your review was one of the rare cases that the review is more interesting than the performance. I have zero interest to see any German or Austrian production, based on the reviews and pictures that I see. I understand that a lot has been said about these productions (I think that the detractors gave up). But it just doesn’t appeal to me.
Thank G’d this trend never caught in the US. In average, I am pleased with the new Peter Gelb’s productions. I think they are a good compromise. I particularly liked the new Butterfly, La Cenerentola and Carmen.
As for Fleming, I saw the recent Rosenkavalier (old production) on the movie theater and I was impressed. I don’t speak German, so I can’t say too much. I liked Graham a lot too. However, the sound from the movie theater can be quite misleading.
As for Otello, it is my favorite post-Traviata Verdi. Although, I never cared much for the Otello character. He is interesting in the first act and at the end. Who caries this opera is Iago. Desdemona has the best moments (musically speaking). It is really amazing what Tebaldi did for Desdemona. But we cannot forget Te Kanawa. I wish that Convent Garden production that is available in DVD was recorded. She was also a great Maria/Amelia.
1 – I’ll be seeing both Frittoli and Isokoski in the next 30 days. For Isokoski, it is going to be a first time – I have never had the opportunity before. As for Frittoli, I’ve seen her three times – once as Donna Elvira in Vienna back in 1999 (I particularly remember being impressed by her low notes – she was the soprano Elvira with the best low register I have ever seen) and twice as Fiordiligi at the Met, when the vibrato was in the limit of acceptability in this repertoire, but otherwise beautifully, stylishly and sensitively sung.
2 – As for Fleming, I saw the Otello three days later than you, Cavalier! I have re-read what I wrote and the memory came back to me. It was indeed an all-round satisfying performance. And that Daphne, that was truly something. As for the Feldmarschallin, I believe that vocally it is very accomplished, but to my mind she is not and never going to be the character written by Hofmannsthal. The Feldmarschallin ist racée, not trendy. She is not putting a glamour number to anyone, she is not trying to impress anyone. Her spontaneous self out of her background and education exude a certain fascination, a certain chic. It is a regal rather than seductive attitude. And Fleming is too bourgeois for me – trying too hard to please, too full of mannerisms to suggest any spontaneity, too overtly sexy to suggest distinction. There is nothing wrong with the “instrument” in Fleming’s case, but the “player” simply has an idea of the role and the music that does not go with what I read in the score and in the libretto. But that’s a matter of taste.
3 – I like Kiri Te Kanawa’s Amelia, it is the one that comes to my mind when I think about the role. I found her particularly convincing in her stage persona. When Simon summons her determined to woo her for Paolo, her loveliness alone makes him side with her even before she says anything or even before he discover she is actually his daughter. I think Te Kanawa knew how to create this disarming, vulnerable but determined impression. And she sang the role beautifully too. I like her Desdemona too, but less than her Amelia. It is exquisitely crafted, but rather blank. In the Covent Garden production, I have to say that I am quite fonder of her stage persona – one can understand the effect of a beautiful and elegant noble lady from Venice in a backward place like Cyprus back then.
The “sublime” Frittoli New York performances I refer to must have been the same Cosi, since she’s sung it in New York only once (fall 05 I believe – I think the Fleming Daphne was contemporary as well). Because I also went to two its very possible one of them may have corresponded to a performance you attended. I don’t disagree with any part of your description except the “acceptability” of the vibrato, the breadth of which, while certainly suboptimal, didn’t seem to bother me as much. I completely associate myself with your other points, and, as a reference point, those performances were, for me, the “good Frittoli”. I’m very interested in your take on the upcoming performances.
As for Fleming no, “there’s nothing wrong with the “”instrument””, even by the very highest standards and a slight weakness in the lower register and some lost luster from what shehad 8 or 10 years previously certainly doesn’t negate that judgement. The problems was more interpretive and for precisely the reason you so insightfully describe. Not that I regret going, would enthusiastically see her in the part again, but the experience was, unfortunately more frustrating than fully satisfying.
We don’t of course know what approach Harteros will take or how her interpretation will develop over the years but we can be at least hopeful and perhaps even quite confident that she will sound gloriously resplendent doing it. In the meantime her Desdemona, whatever its shortcomings, should be quite a treat.
(Speaking of idiomatic mismatches and – and setting aside vocal considerations and the likelyhood that it will never happen – how about Frittoli as the Marschallin? Aesthetically, and one suspects temperamentally, she might be just the thing.)
1 – I have re-published from the old blog the reviews of the Così with Frittoli from 21.10.2005 and the Daphne from 15.10.2005: https://ihearvoices.wordpress.com/2005/10/15/o-wie-gerne-bleibe-ich-bei-dir/ and https://ihearvoices.wordpress.com/2005/10/21/cosi-si-fa/ .
2 – I might be wrong, but I don’t think Harteros will find any stylistic or interpretative problem in her Marschallin, as her recordings of R. Strauss’s Lieder (including the 4LL) show. We’ll be talking about that soon!
3 – Frittoli as the Marschallin. Well, I have to confess that Renata Scotto’s Marschallin fared better than what I expected (judging from the unofficial recording), but Mirella Freni’s 4LL (which had great potential in purely vocal terms) is frankly bizarre. I don’t know how Frittoli’s German is (or if she has ever tried to sing anything in German at all) – I guess the only active Italian sopranos whom I could hear in German repertoire were Anna Catarina Antonacci (in Hans Heiling), Mariella Devia (in Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Eva Mei (also in Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Desirée Rancatore (as Königin der Nacht and Blondchen) and Patrizia Ciofi (Blondchen – she has sung Sophie, but I don’t know if anyone recorded that). Anyway, if Italian singers had been more into German stuff, I would have certainly enjoyed a Marschallin from Katia Ricciarelli! With Karajan! 🙂 Back to Frittoli, in terms of theatre, she would certainly cut an interesting figure in that role on stage.
Now I have a question for you, Cavalier – what would you think of the prospects of a Marschallin by Véronique Gens? I confess I have a secret fantasy about that.
Gens? Are you kidding? Absolutely perfect look and to the extent one can surmise she should act the part extremely well. I’ve heard her only as Elvira (twice – about 8 years apart) and she was quite sensational. Of course, as with Frittoli, stylistically and linguistically there must be some reservations and I don’t know of anything she’s done in German. Some slight question about the heft of the voice – its been a little over 4 years but in 2006 it was in perfect shape and seemed to have lost no flexibility or range while gaining some heft. Yes, if I were running an opera house I would certainly inquiries about that.