Opera Reviews
29 March 2024
Untitled Document

Pure Bliss



by Arlene Judith Klotzko
Mozart: Die Entfűhrung aus dem Serail
Metropolitan Opera
April 2016

James Levine’s last production as Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera is a fitting one. Mozart has always been a composer close to his heart. So much so that he brought back to the Met, after a 33 year absence, one of Mozart’s most glorious works – Die Entfűhrung aus dem Serail.

Although as Music Director Emeritus, Levine will continue to conduct in the house there is a sea change in progress. The mood of the audience was celebratory with the deep affection Levine inspires virtually palpable. His appearance on the podium elicited not just huge applause but cheers. Clearly touched, he beamed and waved but then quickly got down to the business of conducting the orchestra he has made into one of the best. While there were occasional rushed tempi making it difficult for the singers to keep up, it was a marvelous and memorable performance. The major shortcoming was the 1979 John Dexter production, now superintended by Stephen Pickover with sets designed by Jocelyn Herbert. The sets were bright and simple. Sometimes less is more; here it was just less.

In 1781, having shaken off both the paternal domination of his father and the condescending attitude of the Archbishop in Salzburg, Mozart struck off to make his fortune in Vienna. The following year saw the premiere of his Die Entfűhrung, a singspiel (with sung arias or numbers interspersed with spoken dialogue) Mozart’s first operatic work for the Burg theatre, founded by the Emperor Joseph to stage German opera. This was not Mozart’s first singspiel; he wrote Bastien und Bastienne at age 12 and Zaide, a mere two years earlier. But Die Entfűhrung was a huge step forward artistically and, indeed, became the most performed of Mozart’s operas during his all too short life.

The libretto by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner was modified by Gottfried Stephanie and Mozart himself. The basic story line would have been familiar to audiences at the time: European women are kidnapped by pirates and taken to a Turkish harem. From there they are rescued by a European hero.

Mozart, as usual, wrote the main roles for specific singers. His Osmin, Ludwig Fischer, was perhaps the most famous bass in Europe. And Mozart gave him a role requiring great virtuosity. Osmin is an irascible and angry fellow who is not very bright. His is a large and intimidating presence, yet he is inherently comic. Hans Peter Kőnig, memorable in past performances at the Met in all four operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen, is a formidable Wagnerian. He is as good or better as Osmin, a rage fueled bully, with an unfortunate penchant for alcohol and unrequited love  - or at least lust -  for Blonchen, With his finely honed comic instincts and booming bass voice, Kőnig was simply superb

Osmin is pushed around by Blonchen, the European maid of the upper class Konstanze, who is the love interest of Belmonte, the hero and rescuer of the damsels in distress. Blonchen was sung by the adorable and diminutive Kathleen Kim, with lightning fast and stratospherically high coloratura. Kim has a sparkling stage presence full of life and movement and spunky defiance. Both her character and her singing were fearless. Pedrillo, her love interest and the gardener in the seraglio, was Brenton Ryan, making his Met debut. He was as lively as Kim - no mean feat - with a propensity to jump on and off the varied props. He has good comic instincts and a pleasant mellifluous tenor voice. It was a creditable debut.

The musical and emotional heart of the opera is Konstanze, here sung by Albina Shagimuratova, making her role debut. She exhibited utter technical command of the almost impossibly difficult music of her showpiece aria, “Martern aller Arten.” She has been an excellent Queen of the Night at the Met, and it seemed to me as the evening progressed that she was more comfortable or at least suited for that role than this one. The portrayal of the Queen requires just one emotional stance – rage filled determination. What Shagimuratova’s Konstanze conveyed most convincingly was her implacable refusal of the Pasha’s advances. But there was no real softness or gentleness.

Her unconvincing tenderness manifested itself in both her singing and her stage presence. And this deficit was magnified by the contrast with her leading man for this performance of the run, the marvelous Ben Bliss—a true Mozart tenor. He has sung Belmonte with Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Ferrando with Gustavo Dudamel and Tamino with the Los Angeles Opera. Bliss sang with a purity of tone, eloquent phrasing, and superb breath control. He was believably ardent and anguished, and he did full justice to all of his arias, including the very challenging “Ich baue ganz.” He also acted extremely well – loving to Konstanze, suitably arrogant with Pedrillo (who had been his servant) and dignified in the last act confrontation with Pasha Selim, even when it turned out that Belmonte’s own father had been the Pasha’s worst enemy. I am very much looking forward to his Tamino with the Met next season.

Revenge was to be expected but the Pasha pardons Belmonte and allows them to sail away. In choosing forgiveness as the best response to hurt and betrayal the Pasha proves to be a man of the Enlightenment. He also embodies a view that would appear in later Mozart works, most memorably the last scene of Le nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte.

It was a privilege and a pleasure to hear this brilliant and unjustly neglected work, masterfully realized by the orchestra with fine performances by the singers, Ben Bliss in particular. But they and we - and Mozart - were let down by a simplistic production that skimmed the surface of this sublime work, a production content to mine the richly comic aspects and neglect the profound. 

Text © Arlene Judith Klotzko
Photos © Ken Howard / Metropolitan Opera
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