Photos: Photographer. Wilfried Hösl & Patricia Sigerist / Bayerische Staatsoper
Oxana Arkaeva
The first Premiere of 2019
Opera Festival Season at the Munich State Opera featured one of the most
challenging and exciting operas of the 20th century:
"Salome" by Richard Strauß. Conducted by parting general musical
director Kirill Petrenko and
staged by Polish director Krzysztof
Warlikowski, the evening was a true celebration of the orchestra and the
mastery of ist leader. During its world premiere in 1905, Richard Strauss
instigated an intentional scandal with his third opera, using as a libretto Oscar
Wilde’s one-act drama, that already has been assailed by censorship. Unfortunately, the opening night in Munich was
anything but a scandal and should there be no such a captivating musical reading by Petrenko,
this evening would end up in a kind of fiasco, due to unfortunate staging by Krzysztof
Warlikowski. The Bavarian State Orchestra and its
leader were a true revelation of this
evening. Petrenko manages to pull out an extraterrestrial level of dynamic
balance. He is a master of sounds-colors and acoustic atmosphere, dynamically
never exaggerating: clear, majestic,
powerful (in the interlude) and with barely perceptible, but physically
palpable piano at the beginning of the final scene. In this, as well as in any
other performance, Petrenko is highly appreciated singers’ companion, for he
carries them, so to speak, on his hands, leaving the smallest voices well
audible. Contrary to Petrenko, Warlikowski
has brought out quite a confusing, at times full of diffuse historical references and contextual contradictions,
staging. His honorable attempt to combine the tragic historical facts of the 20-century history (Nazi) and his diffusing
perception of the plot, ended in tangled accumulation of clues and hints,
ultimately neglecting the story itself. Together with Małgorzata Szczęśniak (impressive
stage and flattering costumes), Felice Ross (lighting) and Claude
Bardouil (choreography) Warlikowski created an atmosphere of closeness,
fear, unfulfilled desire, and inescapable death. Warlikowski did not
seem to bother with an establishment of compelling, memorable characters and,
with few acceptions, leaves singers mostly at the front of the stage to
concentrate on singing and music. This is very much perceptible with Wolfgang
Koch as Johannaan. He sings with a
powerful, dramatic voice, but is very static, looking anything but a "withered"
prisoner (there was much laughter in the audience).
Because of his impressive physical size and
breadth, greasy hair and bum makeup, the audience had great difficulties in
retracing Salome's desperate erotic advances towards him. At the end of the
opera, the prophet exited the stage puffing the cigarette, sending the waves of
frustrated "O, no! Why?“ through the audience. The Salome of the opening
night, Marlies Petersen, had little of Salome´s irrational excessiveness
or hysterical attitude, of “mental cruelty, immeasurable lust, and limitless
pervertedness.” (Oscar Wilde). We experience a copy of Berg’s Lulu: cold,
reserved, and emotionless. Vocally, Salome is a border role for Petersen.
Despite some difficulties at the top, she was nonetheless celebrated for her
debut as moody Jewish princess and deserved the praise to have well managed
this demanding role, singing with a rather small voice, but in a smart, well-coached
way. Pavol Breslik as Narraboth (likable, powerful tenor and a great
actor) plays a horny he-goat, who regularly sexually pursues Salome. Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke as Herodes
has sung well but seemed to have difficulties in adjusting to Warlikowski’s vision
of him as a Jewish Rabbi. Michaela
Schuster as Herodias has significant, but the monotonous voice. Although enjoying a remarkable stage
presence, she remains, again due to the non-existing personae interpretation, a
colorless, secondary character. Due to Warlikowski’s
accumulation of hints and clues, mentioned above the famous seven veils dance
is more of a dressing-up formal Jewish wedding, rather than an act of an erotic
divesting. In the final scene, there is no severed head of Johannaan presented
to Salome on the silver plate. Instead, she gets a box full of blood-stained
cloth: an intriguing, but, unfortunately, not a new idea. At the end of the
performance, the stage director and his team were met with massive boos, with
Małgorzata Szczęśniak making an unfortunate disrespectful gesture toward the
audience. Petrenko and Petersen instead were greeted with frantic applause, making
it again even more comprehensive that thoughtful and respectful interpretation of
the score and mastery singing, still are and will remain the only true saviors
of and gift to any opera staging, even the most disastrous one.
***The story
The young princess
Salome is bored with her everyday life and is discussed by her stepfather's Herodes
and other inhabitants of the palace sexual advances. At one moment she is
confronted with the passionate monologue of an imprisoned prophet Jochanaan.
She demands to see him and immediately is taking away by his masculinity and
power of his beliefs. She is sexually attracted to him but is genuinely
interested in getting to know his Got but is fearfully rejected by Johanna as a
daughter of Sodoms. Salome is outraged. Nobody ever had rejected her love. During
a feast at the evening, Herodes requests that Salome dance for him, and in
return promises her to fulfill any of her wishes. Salome consents and following
the dance demands the prisoner’s head. Thus, she can finally kiss Jochanaan’s
lips. Discussed Herodes commands to kill Salome.
