It was very brave of Opera North, in these chancy times, to revive Strauss’ hard-sell mixture of
opera seria and opera buffo. There are several critics (not this one) who consider Strauss’s 1912
work an artistic disaster that fails to be either sufficiently comedic or adequately tragic, in addition to
including arguably the most thankless role ever written for a dramatic tenor.
There may be some validity in these charges - several tenors are on record as loathing the
high-lying role of Bacchus, with its vertiginous tessitura and lack of dramatic involvement (‘You
just stand there’, said James King, one of its most famous exponents); and Hugo Von
Hofmannsthal’s libretto is (arguably) too literary and esoteric to work in the theatre (and it doesn’t
make a whole lot of sense, either: ON’s surtitles represented a very free adaptation!).
None of this mattered, for no-one who witnessed last night’s performance in Nottingham
could be in any doubt that Rodula Gaitanou’s production, first seen in Vienna in 2016, was an
artistic triumph - an imaginative but respectful new look at a sometimes under-appreciated work.
Transplanting the action of the Prologue from 18th century Vienna to 1950s Rome was an
effective call and the atmosphere of the Cinecitta film studio, presided over by an unseen but
Croesus-rich movie mogul was lovingly re-created: but, a harder feat, Gaitanou also managed to
nail the atmosphere of post-war exuberance. Another good call, if more of a mixed blessing, was
to offer the Prologue in English. This worked well in setting up the comic plot of a serious opera
composer being required to combine his new mythologically- inspired work with a lowbrow
vaudeville. John Savournin relished the speaking role of the ever-pompous Major Domo, while
Hanna Hipp is marvellous in the breeches role of the Composer, even if the philosophical content of
that character’s musings translated less well than the comedy.
With the Prologue over, the second half of the opera received a more straightforward
treatment, but with some imaginative touches, as the Composer and the Music Master remained as
silent on-stage presences, reacting as their masterpiece was desecrated. For the first time in the
present reviewer’s experience, the interruption of Ariadne’s monologue by the ‘rude mechanicals’
was actually funny and Jennifer France’s Zerbinetta was a real star turn with a gloriously physical
rendition of her long aria.
Elizabeth Llewleyn’s Ariadne was another impressive central performance, making as much
as can be made of one of opera’s most static roles (she spends most of her time lamenting atop a
rock); David Butt Phillip’s Bacchus also impressed and if he did very occasionally get drowned out
by the orchestra, that’s an occupational hazard in this role.
Opera North’s Principal Guest Conductor Antony Hermus conducted a rapt account of a
score he obviously adores and the orchestra responded with their finest playing of this season. This
was the crowning achievement of ON’s spring.
Reviewer - Paul Ashcroft
on - 17.3.23
on - 17.3.23
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