In Bluebeard's Shadow: Premiere at the Salzburg Festival
Created: 07/28/2022, 14:52
Fun play with the elements: Ausrine Stundyte and Mika Kares in Bluebeard's Castle.
© MONIKA RITTERSHAUS
Demonstrations in front of the house, mystical things in darkness and a badly aged work: "Bluebeard's Castle" by Bartók and Orff's "De temporum find comoedia" at the Salzburg Festival.
Roaring under the thunder of drums and trombones, Carl Orff lets the world come to an end in his end-time play "De temporum fine comoedia".
It was heard for the first time in 1973 at the Salzburg Festival, which – quite appropriate to the current situation – has now put the monumental work on the program as the first opera premiere of the summer.
On the Salzach, however, one should not have expected the no less loud protest choirs and whistles in the Hofstallgasse, which spoiled the joy of the prominent festival guests on Tuesday.
The motivations of the demonstrators varied and, according to a police spokeswoman, ranged “from Corona to war”.
An unholy alliance, which has been observed several times in recent months.
Among other things, there was a banner in the middle of the crowd that criticized the elitist “art in the ivory tower”.
Teodor Currentzis had his big moment before the break
Inside there was little of all this, where the audience celebrated the choral opera staged as a great spectacle by Romeo Castellucci as well as the conductor Teodor Currentzis, who was by no means undisputed beforehand.
His big moment on this double evening was more likely to be located before the break.
Here Béla Bartók's two-person drama "Herzog Blaubarts Burg" (Bluebeard's Castle), which was once premiered by Herbert von Karajan, was preceded by Orff, for which the director and set designer in a personal union embarked on a path of extreme reduction.
Castellucci takes the darkness conjured up in the libretto at its word and lets the first stage take place in mystical darkness.
Later it is carefully pierced by a narrow column of flames, whose dim light confirms what the ear already guessed after splashing footsteps: Castellucci has completely flooded the stage and is playing with the contrast of the elements with relish.
Burning circles, lines and symbols reflected on the wet floor mark the forward groping through the seven chambers in which Judith gradually reveals the dark secrets of Bluebeard.
Choreographed by Cindy Van Acker, the pair perform an increasingly tense dance of death in this diffuse, uncomfortable space.
Ausrine Stundyte, in particular, performed intensely, who sometimes sacrifices the beautiful sound of her gripping role portrayal for expression, but who knows how to emotionally withdraw her voice at the right moment and lets the audience sympathize with her character.
Fortunately, Mika Kares moves far away from the cliché of the brutal murderer of women, whose edgy bass repeatedly allows vulnerable moments.
The two are emotionally accompanied by Currentzis, who mostly carefully dampens the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and thus steers towards an all the more effective crescendo to the climax of the drama.
Orff's work leaves a dull impression
There are also striking images in the slightly lighter second part of the evening, which extends the couple's tragedy to all of humanity.
Orff's loosely arranged, apocalyptic episodes are dominated by his typical chanting.
They are thrown out with fervent pathos by the musicAeterna Choirs and the members of the Salzburg Bach Choir.
After the prophecies of the Sibyls, the scene of the anchorites, performed with clear diction by actor Gero Nievelstein, is particularly impressive.
With all the effort and the sometimes striking decibel thunderstorms that Currentzis fires off in the ditch, Orff's work, which has not aged too well, leaves a rather dull impression.
Despite some scenic brackets with which Castellucci tries to establish a connection, the shadow of the scenically densely worked and sensitively conducted Bartók one-act play is simply too overpowering here in the truest sense of the word.
Tobias Hell
Further performances
on July 31 and August 2, 6, 15 and 20;
Telephone 0043/662/8045 500.