William Littler on ancient and modern.
MUNICH IS A CITY CONSTANTLY IN DIALOGUE WITH ITS PAST, not least on the Max-Joseph-Platz, where the columned facade of the Nationaltheater speaks of tradition while the stage behind it plays host to productions many opera-goers in North America would regard as outrageously modern. During this summer's Munich Opera Festival, I witnessed eight productions on that stage, modernist in varying degrees, but all of them in striking visual contrast to their elegantly Neo-Classical surroundings.Neo Classicism is very much alive in Munich, the heritage of Ludwig I having experienced a phoenix-like rebirth from the ashes of World War II. You see it perhaps most strikingly in the antique museum complex flanking the Konigsplatz. Other historical styles survive as well, reminding the visitor that Bavaria's capital and southern Germany's most cosmopolitan city was once the seat of a king, sired for centuries by the Wittelsbach family.
Though no longer Bavaria's rulers, the Wittelsbachs retain a box at the Nationaltheater, where the Bavarian State Opera confronts them nightly with what is currently said to be the largest repertory in the operatic world. Yet under the direction of Sir Peter Jonas, the current, soon-to-retire Intendant, it is a repertoire presented for the most part in--by North American standards--a radical, non-historical manner, under the supervision of such avant-garde directors as Doris Dorrie and David Alden.
Curious about this seeming paradox, I visited Jonas in his spacious office overlooking the fashionable Maximillianstrasse and learned something of what makes Munich operatically unique. It is, he explained, a function of population. When the Nationaltheater opened its doors in 1818, offering more than 2,000 seats nightly, Munich was a town of only 54,000 people. Even today, it is a smaller city than comparable operatic centres, not to mention such Canadian cities as Toronto and Montreal. What this means is that Munich lacks the population base of a London or New York to sustain long runs of a small number of productions, and consequently produces more operas with individually shorter runs.
In a recent survey, the Bavarian State Opera learned that more than 30 percent of its audience spends at least 20 nights at the opera each season. Most opera companies do not even produce 20 operas per season. The Canadian Opera Company, Canada's largest, produces seven. Munich also boasts an operatic tradition of remarkable length. A recent history was published under the title The Power of Emotions: 350 Years of Opera in Munich.
And you wonder why Dorrie's opera festival production of Verdi's Rigoletto was set on the Planet of the Apes and David Alden's production of Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades in communist rather than czarist Russia? Munich's public has lived so long with these operas that producers appear to feel obliged to give them a fresh look. This is why it is so often easier to find a traditional production in North America than in Europe, and especially in a European house such as Munich's.
In North America, most opera companies draw a significant portion of their audience from relative neophytes and take a more conservative approach in staging the likes of Verdi and Tchaikovsky. That is why Seattle Opera mounted its first production of Wagner's Ring Cycle in a comfortably naturalistic style before inviting director Francois Rochaix and designer Robert Israel to revisit the tetralogy in the post-modern manner in 1986. And it is also likely why Seattle Opera has reverted to a naturalistic approach in its latest production.
Leafing through the pages of The Power of Emotions: 350 Years of Opera in Munich, the reader quickly appreciates how the Bavarian State Opera has moved stylistically from comfort to challenge. Challenge now appears to be the Munich public's expectation. I didn't especially enjoy my challenging night on the Planet of the Apes--the production seemed to have more to do with being sensational than with serving Verdi's music--but Jonas had chosen it for the Bavarian State Opera's annual Opera for All presentation, projecting the live stage performance on giant video screens before an audience of many thousands crowded into Max-Joseph-Platz. Their reaction? Vociferous delight.
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| Publication: | Opera Canada |
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| Date: | Nov 1, 2005 |
| Words: | 678 |
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