Author : Jos Hermans
"Lohengrin is a unique reflection on the concept of redemption: a savior falling from the skies is of incredible topicality today," intendant Serge Dorny says but the director he chose for this production says something completely different: "Why are people so stupid to want someone to redeem them, especially in this day and age?" According to Kornél Mundruczó, no extraterrestrial force but the people themselves choose their charismatic leaders from within their own ranks. That is certainly true, but that is not what this opera is about. The director realizes very well that the music tells a different story. It does not prevent him from adressing the opera's "problematic action" by turning the meaning of most of the characters upside down. The result is flat, rarely engaging, partly forced. It is a weak concept that leads to poor staging.
Lohengrin is set by Wagner within the climate of an impending war situation. Unfortunately, for our directors, certain forms of war are taboo. They fear being sucked into the composer's morally indefensible quagmire. Heinrich der Vogler became famous as the unifier of the Germanic states of his time. Unfortunately, he was also one of Adolf Hitler's idols. And so most directors trying to stage Lohengrin today don't know what to do with Heinrich. Many productions then resort to abstraction to hide the historical facts. By sweeping the war rhetoric and expression of national consciousness in Lohengrin under the rug, they may think they are morally elevating themselves above the composer's intentions. It is a combination of cowardice and hypocrisy, and it leads time and time again to artistic failures. As in this case.
Violent conflicts are inseparable from the human condition. UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter puts it this way : "I believe in both the need for war and, frankly speaking, the inevitability of war. To think otherwise is to be ignorant of the human condition. I believe that any society worth defending should be prepared to wage war in its legitimate self-defense." And that is exactly what King Heinrich is doing on this particular morning on the banks of the Scheldt when he informs his nobles and the people of the impending danger from Hungary. No one should feel uncomfortable with this, even if there are flags around and the nationalist rhetoric sounds as Wagner intended.
And so King Heinrich is once again a weak ruler, uncritically believing everything from those around him, when in fact it is a sign of strength that he has a listening ear for everyone and lets God decide in a matter that is beyond his judgment. Mundruczó's Heinrich is nothing like a king, not even a scouts leader. He is a wanton joker and fortunately Mika Kares has enough natural authority and the accompanying voice ("Mein Herr und Gott") to still enjoy the character.
We learn that Ortrud is not a one-dimensional witch but the most human figure in the opera. She is also right when she refuses to pay homage to a new God. Mundruczó even finds her sympathetic, despite the "furchtbare Grossartigkeit" and "entsetzlicher Wahnsinn" of this specimen of the female politician that Wagner found so repulsive.
Elsa is a traumatized person, mentally unstable, and Johanni van Oostrum knows how to shape that very intensely. Her acting talent is fascinating. She plucks her hair and scratches her arm to make her despair tangible. She does not know how to escape the suspicion of murder and she does not know what happened to her when suddenly this alien knight ("aus Glanz und Wonne") is suddenly in front of her.
The prelude shows a depressed crowd sitting on two small hills under a tree, heads bowed and uniformly dressed in pastel-colored sweat shirts and jeans. Who is this crowd? And what makes them straighten up when the first crescendo rises from the orchestra pit? It is the first but not the last scene that takes place in an absolute vacuum. The staging problem of the arrival of the swan is cleverly avoided by selecting Elsa's savior from within the men's ranks. The toe-curling moment of the first act is the duel fought with two spark-spitting angle grinders! See for yourself, if you think I'm making this up.
A Renaissance portal with balcony and solid oak door, flanked by two street lamps and shrouded in red mood lighting, is the setting for the second act's revenge duet. The people who step up an invisible staircase for minutes in transparent plastic raincoats are redundant and intrusive. The scheming couple is given insufficient profile; the duet itself is tensionless and weakly directed. Neither scenically nor vocally is this the highlight of the evening.
Elsa and Ortrud smoke a joint but their duet "Es gibt ein Glück" cannot really enchant. "Macht Platz! Der König naht!" sung by four boys (Tölzer Knabenchor) from the balcony added a nice touch. "Gesegnet soll sie schreiten" failed to be a procession but became a celebration with red garlands hanging from the balcony and from the 26 opened windows. It reminded me of Nazi kitsch. Elsa is given a wedding dress with wings like a golden butterfly that she throws back off like a straitjacket at the beginning of the third act. With lipstick she draws a question mark on her chest.
Only once do Elsa and Lohengrin find themselves alone but the director allows the chorus to watch. How irritatingly redundant are Telramund's reactions among the chorus present in the "bridal chamber." He becomes the victim of a collective stoning: the group dynamic is unstoppable, the director seems to say.
The giant meteorite that descends from the stage tower during the grail narrative is linked to the extraterrestrial after all. It looks like a UFO taking Elsa to Montsalvat after the people, Lohengrin included, have succumbed under the eyes of young Gottfried, "Führer von Brabant." Surprisingly, the Hungarian team does not participate in the controversy that flared up again in Bayreuth last summer around the word “Führer”.
Lohengrin on duty, Klaus Florian Vogt, really is a special case. His technique must be very solid because after all these years there is still no wear on his vocal abilities. The vibrato is perfect, the articulation crystal clear, the piano passages he spins like silk threads and yet he projects them effortlessly into the auditorium. But it never becomes truly captivating or exciting, rather routine and in the long run his androgynous recitation becomes frustrating. Surely "Höchstes Vertrauen" and "In fernem Land" require a tenor of a different caliber and one wonders if those who canonize him today as the ideal Lohengrin have ever heard tenors from the league of Sándor Kónya? It is not always Hungarians who make Lohengrin a nightmare. Johanni van Oostrum could not convince me across the board as with Agathe in Amsterdam, a role with completely different vocal requirements. Her Elsa was certainly attractive but she might still grow in the role.
Anja Kampe sings Ortrud without the color of a mezzo, mostly unimaginative and with little personality which is partly due to the director. Rarely have I heard her final hysterical intervention ("Fahr heim!") sung so flawlessly. Johan Reuters Telramund does not sound very clear and his articulation is rarely engaging.
François-Xavier Roth provides for a singer-friendly reading but unfortunately he often leaves the orchestra dramatically underpowered, at least that is how I experienced the orchestral balance in this relay. During "Es gibt ein Gluck," the orchestra fell too quietly out of balance. It therefore did not become compelling. During "Das süsse Lied verhallt," some synchronicity problems could be heard between orchestra and soloists. The fanfares disappear into thin air because they have no meaning in this production. The men's chorus was in good shape and the women's chorus was excellent in "Treulich geführt."
Meanwhile, it seems that Lohengrin can no longer be staged in German theaters. What is the point of producing the opera with directors who do not have the backbone to believe in Wagner? So one has to look forward to the Bolshoi-Metropolitan production of François Girard, a director who does believe in Wagner and who we would assume will try to exploit the romantic potential of the piece. His Parsifal was one of the best performances seen in Lyon under Serge Dorny.
Watch the show at BR Klassik or Medici TV.
If I ever get to convince any theater to look at my Ring conception, I will let you know. For now, I am a humble reader and lover of your site. Tonight, I will see Boris Godunov @ La Scala ... opening night. Thank you for your reply.
Thanking you at Leidmotief for this excellent review. Always exhaustive, seeming fair, and erudite. I did not see this Lohengrin in the theater. But did suffer through Der Ring in Bayreuth, and in Berlin. In essence, the Chereau Ring of 1976 was classical.
I never understood the commotion as its being so revolutionary. It was a great Ring for me. Sorry I missed the 1876 version at Bayreuth - would have loved being there.