I enjoyed the trio of Nina Stemme, Kathleen Kim and Sarah Connolly who sang the lead roles in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. Each provided a different richness of voice to the opera. Kathleen Kim following along in the same path from her lighthearted and animated role as Olympia in The Tales of Hoffman sang the role of the worldly and fun-loving Zerbinetta. Her higher and agile soprano voice was of benefit here. Nina Stemme brought a royal presence and deep resonance of voice to the role of the Prima Donna and Ariadne. Sarah Connolly seemed a dependable bridge between the worlds of the other characters in her steady portrayal of the Composer.
Other roles were filled by Michael Devlin as the Major-domo and Lance Ryan as Bacchus. The conductor was Kirill Petrenko. The libretto is by Hugo Von Hofmannsthal.
The Story
Ariadne auf Naxos is the story of an opera within an opera. In the Prologue to the Opera, the Composer of a classical opera seria is told the unfortunate news by the Major-domo that on the given evening a performance of an Italian comedy, an opera buffo will occur directly after the performance of the composer's opera. This is upsetting to the Composer because this will undermine the serious tone of the evening set by his opera. All performances are to be completed by 9 PM in time for the fireworks. Then an additional directive is provided that because dinner has run late and in order to complete performances in time for the fireworks, both productions will have to run simultaneously. There is some discussion about how this might be accomplished. The Prima Donna decides that it would be beneath her to be bothered by the comedy troop. Meanwhile there is a tender moment between the Conductor (which is a pants role) and Zerbinetta.
The Opera follows the Prologue. In the Opera, Ariadne is on a desert island pining away for her lost love, Prince Theseus and hoping to die. She waxes poetic in the style of an opera by Monteverdi or Lully. Zerbinetta and other members of the comedy troop work their way into the performance by trying to comfort Ariadne and amuse her with dance, singing and juggling but to no avail. Ultimately, Bacchus having just escaped from the clutches of Circe arrives and rescues Ariadne from her desire for death.
Parallel Universes
Ariadne auf Naxos describes what in a contemporary vein we might call two parallel universes. One contains the high-brow, sophisticated world of the Prima Donna and the world of abstract and pure, sublime love of Ariadne. The other is the very worldly, sexual and fun-loving world of the comedy troop and Zerbinetta in particular. As time moves on and external pressures mount, these two worlds are forced to be in direct contact with one another. In spite of the best efforts of the comedy troop, in the end these worlds remain separate.
The staging during the Prologue emphasizes the separateness of these universes. The opera group holds court in center stage while the comedy troop works on a second level on stage right. During the Opera, the opera group remains at center stage front while the comedy troop is located at center-stage rear and comes through the curtain on occasion when it chooses to impact the action of the performance and then retreats to their own world.
The clothes the opera performers and the comedy troop wear are different. The opera personages in both the Prologue and Opera are dressed in a sophisticated manner. The comedy troop are dressed in zany, multi-colored outfits.
Each of the characters and groups have a different approach to creativity. In the world of Zerbinetta, creation is more interactional, spontaneous and ad hoc. It is driven by contact with the other. In the world of the Prima Donna, creation is something formal handed to one to be enacted. In the world of Ariadne, creation or choosing one's own destiny seems to be beyond her perception of what she can control.
Interestingly, the Composer's way of composing is spontaneous in terms of quickly capturing and writing down melodies that come to him along the way and also making changes even at the eleventh hour to the opera. This is not as spontaneously creative as that of Zerbinetta and her troop but more spontaneous and proactive than that of the Prima Donna and Ariadne. Is there potential for the Composer to be a force for bridging the two different worlds? Could the Composer become a worm-hole or portal between these two parallel universes?
Each camp views the other with disdain.
Zerbinetta: "We go on directly after the opera. It'll be no easy matter to make the audience laugh again, after they've been bored for so long."
The Composer: "...the mystery of life is revealed to them therein - takes them by the hand - and they order some buffoonery to follow, to wash Eternity clean out of their unspeakably frivolous empty skulls..."
The Prima Donna: "Me, on the same stage with a person like that! Whatever are you thinking of!...Drive that creature off of the stage or I won't answer for what i'll do."
Bridging Universes
During the Opera, Zerbinetta does try various approaches to get the attention of Ariadne to offer an expression of empathy and support for Ariadne's plight. Zerbinetta empathizes as she sings, "Oh, such desert islands are numberless, even in the midst of men, I, I myself, I have inhabited such more than once..."
Zerbinetta tries unsuccessfully to make eye contact with Ariadne. In this production, she moves to sit next to Ariadne and while at one point they both seem to be looking at the same thing and smiling, their smiles are independent and their worlds still do not intersect. There is no eye contact. Zerbinetta says: "She didn't raise her head once!"
Zerbinetta tries using the language and frame of reference of Ariadne in order to make contact with her. She speaks of love from a perspective that Ariadne could understand: "Each one came like a god, each one transported me, when he kissed my lips and cheeks, I surrendered without a word." But in the end, Ariadne concludes: "Yes, it seems the lady and I don't speak the same language. And Zerbinetta raises the question: "...whether, in the end, she won't learn to speak mine."
The Role of Music In Bridging Universes
Interestingly, there is an interaction of singing between the Composer and Zerbinetta during the Prologue which again raises the question of the potential of the Composer to be an integrating force. In fact, the Composer is ambivalent. He voices his willingness to see the world differently. To Zerbinetta he says: "...you are like me - things earthly have no place in your soul." He expresses his view that music could be a bridging element between worlds: "Music is a sacred art, which brings together all men of courage, like cherubim around a shining throne, and for this reason it is the most holy of the arts!" But then he evinces his reluctance to share his world with Zerbinetta's troop. "These creatures! In my holy sanctuary cutting their capers! Ah!"
This ambivalence appears to be resolved on a musical level. Initially in the interaction that takes place between the Composer and Zerbinetta in Nein, Herr so kommt es nicht, the Composer sings in a very lyrical mode, with slow phrasing and with an orchestral accompaniment that follows a path of crescendo and decrescendo to reflect increasing power in the music. Zerbinetta sings in a faster, more staccato vein almost recitative at times and mostly accompanied by just a piano or a few instruments.
There is a transition during this section. First, we hear what will be a central theme in this section appearing in the orchestra accompanying the singing of the Composer. The transition point appears to be when (in accordance with the libretto) Zerbinetta looks into the Composer's eyes and expresses her empathy: "Courage! Common sense will bring you down to earth from those heights!" The sound of the orchestra builds and we hear the theme again though independent of the singing of either character. At that moment, Zerbinetta begins singing in the style of the Composer by singing in slow, lyrical phrases.
By the end of this section, Zerbinetta has begun singing in this more lyrical mode and the orchestra has picked up the theme first heard from the Composer as background to both singers. By the end of the following section, Ein Eugenblick ist wenig, we hear both Zerbinetta and the Composer singing in sync in the lyrical style with slow phrasing and with a pronounced role for the orchestra. The orchestra carries the theme in accompanying Zerbinetta's singing. We hear the sweet sound of the strings and the poignant sound of the woodwinds in this accompaniment. (The above link includes both sections.)
As the opera nears its end, the singing of Ariadne and Zerbinetta exist separately and, thus, still reflects the lack of integration. There is no interactive singing. Ariadne sings Es gibt ein Reich. Here performed by Nina Stemme. Zerbinetta sings GroBmachtige Prinzessin. Here Edita Gruberova sings Part 2. In the Met performance, the characters of Ariadne and Zerbinetta remain in their different worlds. In this marvelous other performance by Natalie Dessay, the characters are shown in physical interaction. Though Dessay is wonderful to watch, I do not think that this interpretation is consistent with the libretto.
Finally, on a larger scale, the music of Strauss in this opera is a continual flow from beginning to end. Ultimately, there is a larger integration through not one that the characters are able to experience.
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