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| Sabina Martin (Armide) Photo: Jochen Quast |
Armide – Sabina Martin
Hidraot – Gerard Quinn
Renaud – Daniel Jenz
Artémidore – Mark McConnell
Ubalde – Steffen Kubach
Danish Knight – Jonghoon You
Phénice – Steinunn Soffia Skjenstad
Sidonie – Evmorfia Metaxaki
Aronte – Kong Seok Choi
Hate – Wioletta Hebrowska
Shepherdess – Frauke Becker
Demon in the form of Lucindes – Imke Looft
Pleasure spirit – Annette Hörle
Child – Antonella Frei
Chorus
& Extra Chorus of Theater Lübeck
Philharmonic
Orchestra of Hansestadt Lübeck
Conductor – Panagiotis Papadopoulos
Director – Michael Wallner
Sets – Heinz Hauser
Costumes – Tanja Liebermann
Dramaturge – Dr. Katharina Kost-Tolmein
Compared to the
anniversary of Strauss – and last year Wagner, Verdi and Britten –
the tercentenary of Gluck’s birth this year is really only just
creeping into consciousness, well behind, it seems, that of C.P.E.
Bach (Gluck only just makes this year’s Proms with an aria and a
dance). But Theater Lübeck has leapt into the void with a rare
production of his 1777 opera Armide. Daringly composed to the
identical libretto that Lully had set with such success for the same
Parisian public a century earlier, Armide was reputedly
Gluck’s favourite among his operas. Wagner famously introduced it
to the Dresden public in the 1840s, but it has rarely seen the
exposure of the composer’s dramas from Classical mythology in the
modern era.
It’s a story that has
often drawn composers, with further operas on the theme by such
diverse figures as Rossini and Dvořák. Against the background of
the crusades, the sorceress Armide bewitches her enemy, Renaud, to
lure him from the battlefield, but finds herself falling for his
charms herself. Rejecting the intervention of the personification of
Hate, in an attempt to rid her of her crush, her magic is overcome,
Renaud deserts her and she is left to regret her chance to kill him
when she had the opportunity.
I will admit to having
difficulties with hearing words sung in French, reading surtitles in
German and at the same time trying to convert either of them in the
mind into English, but Michael Wallner’s staging didn’t, I feel,
do enough to delineate this story and make it clear to his audience
through his direction of the singers. Who, for instance, was the
young girl, whose silent presence followed Armide around? After the
encounter with Hate, she appeared to be a matching incarnation of
Love, as the opera becomes a drama between these two states, but one
was never sure. There were moments of levity, some inappropriate
(often silly business involving Renaud’s fellow soldiers), some
more illuminating (the portrayal of Hate as a cross between Batman’s
Joker and a nightclub hostess). It was all striking to look at, with
Heinz Hauser’s spiralling, primary coloured set visually turning
the screw of fate and emotion. And Tanja Liebermann’s costumes were
inventive, with for instance the soldiers’ uniforms referencing
various styles from the medieval to the modern, and with the magic
shield a disc of perspex and the sword a Jedi light sabre.
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| Sabina Martin (Armide), Wioletta Hebrowska (Hate) Photo: Jochen Quast |
The production had been
prepared and premiered under the baton of early-music specialist
Christoph Spering, but this performance two months after the first
night was in the capable hands of of music staff member Panagiotis
Papadopoulos. Although he took 15 minutes longer than the advertised
running time, which had presumably been based on Spering’s
performances, there was no sense of dragging. Indeed, the music was
driven often at an exciting pace and emphasised the powerful sense of
drama Gluck is able to convey through his music.
Guest principal Sabina
Martin had a few pitch problems, but gave a compelling account of the
title role and summoned plenty of rich tone for a tremendous final
scene. Impressively, the rest of the characters were cast entirely
from the company’s ensemble and chorus, led by an exceptional
Renaud from young tenor Daniel Jenz, a charismatic performer with a
lithe, immensely likeable voice. There were more than mere cameos
from Gerard Quinn’s sinewy Hidraot and Wioletta Hebrowska’s
seductively manipulative Hate and strong support from Steinunn Soffia
Skjenstad and Evmorfia Metaxaki as Armide’s confidantes Phénice
and Sidonie and also from Steffen Kubach (Ubalde) and Jonghoon You
(Danish Knight).
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| Steffen Kubach (Ubalde), Daniel Jenz (Renaud), Jonghoon You (Danish Knight), Sabina Martin (Armide) Photo: Jochen Quast |
It should be noted that
several of the singers were put through quite provocative vocal
situations by the director, with Armide singing an aria while holding
the weight of the child in her arms, Hate singing her pronouncements
while suspended by wires several metres above the stage and Renaud
and his fellow soldiers performing one number while running on the
spot. Needless to say, all of them rose to the challenges, and their
spirit seems to sum up the vibrancy and ambition of this plucky
theatre and opera company.
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