Sex orgy at the opera

After a side trip to the winter wonderland of Fussen to see the castles (Schloss Hohenschwangau and Schloss Neuschwanstein)we returned to Munich to attend two operas: Wagner's Das Rhinegold and Donizetti's Roberto Devereux.

Das Rhinegold , ably conducted by Kent Nagano, was the second performance after the premier of a new production of Wagner's opening opera in the four-opera cycle of the Ring of the Nibelungen. It was a top tier performance by the entire cast but notably by the baritone Wolfgang Koch who played the bad guy Alberich and the tenor Stefan Margita who played the fire god Loge.

dancers on stage before Overture

closing scene with dancers clothed

It was especially notable for the avant-garde use of nearly naked human bodies to underline and emphasize various elements of the opera, such as the flow of water in the Rhine River in the opening scenes. The stage wasn't curtained and the dancers who were to do the non-singing elements of the opera were sitting and milling around the stage before the start of the music and undressed onstage and smeared each others bodies with blue paint as the overture began. They then began to emulate the flow of the river in what also looked like a sex orgy with entwined bodies writhing to the music. It was quite mesmerizing and erotic.

Roberto Devereau, conducted by Friedrich Haider, included the coloratura soprano Edita Gruberova (known to her fans as “la coloratura assoluta”) in the role of the aging Queen Elizabeth I of England. Although in her mid-60's, Gruberova's voice has lost none of the power, tone and subtle nuances in the very high register that she is rightly famous for. Never one of her strong points, her lower register seems to be weakening, but she still commands the stage as the artist and professional that she is.

Gruberova and incongruous crown

I do have one small point of contention. Although an opera about the 16^th Century, this production is in modern dress with Elizabeth as a company CEO. You will notice an incongruous crown in the photo which doesn't fit the modern business theme. Maybe, just maybe mind you, they should do period dramas in period costumes, or find another prop more appropriate to modern business.

After the show, we were speaking with another operagoer at the tram stop outside the theater. She had come from Zurich specifically to see Gruberova, and she voiced a sentiment that the SO and I both share: to wit that no one else now singing can handle the very difficult Bellini and Donizetti roles that she seems to do so effortlessly.

She was ably supported by an outstanding cast that included the fine mezo-soprano Sonia Ganassi. She is able to hold her own in duets with Gruberova and that alone speaks volumes for her talent. The men also turned in stellar performances: baritone Fabio Mario Capitanacci as Nottingham and tenor Joseph Calleja as Roberto Devereux.