Daniel Wagner / Reseñas

The premiere of Henry Purcell's only opera Dido and Aeneas in 2022 will not take place in a girls' boarding school - as was the case for the London premiere in 1689. Nevertheless, the manageable number of premiere guests in the Aalto Musiktheater Essen gives the impression of being private. Chatting casually, shaking off the dust of the past year from your costume and suit, an exciting expectation hovers in the foyer. Will the Aalto protagonists and the opera-goers finally be able to expect more light in the pandemic-clouded sky this year? Purcell's one-hour tour de force through Greek mythology with the dramatic focus on the unhappy love of a woman for a man who carelessly spurns this love promises a musically ambitious, entertaining gallop into the second half of the 2021/22 season. The constellation between Dido , the queen of Carthage, who, despite her passion, sees herself as having state responsibility, and Aeneas , the Trojan hero who is destined by the gods to found a new Troy in Rome, combines happiness and sorrow into a tragedy . A material par excellence, made for a moving, inspired opera story. The libretto by Nahum Tate based on the 4th canto of Virgil 's Aeneid tells the story of the Roman odyssey of Aeneas after the Trojan War. He flees across the Mediterranean to Carthage with Jupiter's commission to found a new empire in Italy. Jupiter's will and claim to power become the fate of the burgeoning love between Aeneas and the widowed Queen Dido . The hero is ordered to sail to Italy immediately and follow divine destiny. Caught in self-doubt between divine mission and earthly love, he is caught by Mercury disguised as a witchunequivocally reminded of its mission. Aeneas sails to Rome to fulfill the founding myth - and sacrifices his love for a woman. Dido rejects his half-hearted offer to stay in Carthage anyway, pointing to infidelity as a punishment from heaven. She dies. Whether heartbroken or suicide is told differently in mythology. This romantically dazzling, tragically moving story is cast in colorless and powerless blackness in Essen. No sparkling sparks, no matter how hard Andrea Sanguineti tries with a chamber ensemble of the Essen Philharmonic to let these sparks jump onto the stage. Sometimes there is a leaden tiredness over Ben Baur 's uninspired production. The fact that one of the musicians repeatedly sinks into a nap in the long breaks between their performances and hardly resists the sleepiness does not make a good impression on the audience, who sits directly opposite the ensemble at eye level. In the long run, felt subliminally, an attention-braking eye-catcher that distracts from the music and what's happening on stage. If one considers that Dido and Aeneas is a semi-opera in the context of the courtly Singspiel of the 17th century, which has its (subordinate) place after the main program of theater and dance, questions arise logically: Can such a semi-opera work as an opera alone without the preludes? So must Baur 's attempt in Essen inevitably miss the mark? To approach Purcell’s semi-opera from a perspective of cultural-historical complexity or to approach it reflexively with a production, productions such as those by Sasha Waltz at the Berlin State Opera ( Strong Women Left Alone , November 6th, 2019) or those byDavid Marton as part of the Ruhrtriennale ( Martons Purcell- Kraftzentrale , August 31, 2019, both published here) with more convincing dramaturgy ( Christian Schreiber ) and staging stringency. A black-robed, often hooded opera choir from the Aalto Theater dominates the Essen stage . However , their harmoniously woven, atmospherically dense carpet of sound (rehearsed by Patrick Jaskolka ) does not succeed in anticipating light moments and possibilities beyond the dull gloom. For the audience, practiced in social distancing and connected to each other as masked fellow sufferers for two years, the negative darkness of the staging and equipment is very unconvincing. Looking at the solo vocal parts, it is noticeable that men tend to play more inconspicuous roles. Strong women dominate, left alone by men. Tobias Greenhalgh as Aeneas is the only man on the stage apart from the musically ungrateful marginal figure of the first sailor ( Ian Spinetti ). Purcell's composition gives Greenhalgh few opportunities to let the richly colored middle of his baritone shine. Even Jessica Muirhead in the role of Dido , contrary to the suggested expectation of the title, has relatively limited roles. Muirhead tops off with her Ah! Belinda I am prest after the overture at the beginning of the first act the field of action. Her silhouette, reflected on the bare stage background, evokes a cross image. Destiny takes its divine course. Dido's lament - When I am laid in earth - , one of the most famous baroque soprano arias, is performed with expressiveness that gets under your skin. Her silky, shimmering soprano proves the emotional power of music. Composer Purcell and librettist Tate give the acting and singing parts after Belinda ( Giulia Montanari ), Dido's confidante (also 1st witch and ghost) and the 2nd woman and 2nd witch ( Christina Clark) a greater plot presence overall. Her sopranos shine with a melancholic and powerful timbre. The applause for this premiere is more elegantly reserved than enthusiastically overflowing.

Marc Seitz remains undisputed as Winnetouch, and he is received with thunderous applause from the very first appearance. In a pink costume, he prances across the stage while the rainbow-colored parasols rotate next to him. Whether he walks to the cocktail bar or files his nails - Winnetouch moves as if he had invented the word "Prosecco" himself. A charming figure in Herbig's story because he refuses war and violence and remains true to what he does best until the end: enjoying life on his Powder Rosa Ranch. For example, singing in a flying bathtub while soap bubbles float down next to him.