Opera in Vienna: The old, the very old and the new

The Staatstoper in Vienna is normally the busiest opera house in the world, so it was no surprise that it announced it intended to mount a full programme of opera for the 2020/21 season despite Covid 19.  Austria has suffered the virus like everywhere in Europe but owing to sensible policies it has recorded much lower infection and death rates than the UK, making it ironic that we were quarantined on our return from Austria by the UK government! The opera house had taken sensible precautions for Covid. Socially distanced seating meant they were seating roughly one thousand instead of two thousand people, with gaps between seats. You had to wear masks when entering the opera house until you were seated, and then you could choose whether to take them off during the performance, although some people kept them on throughout. They also stopped standing room, instead placing numbered chairs for the young people who are used to getting into the opera for 10 Euros. Like Covent Garden's upper slips (which is where I go for £10) Vienna believes in keeping opera accessible. Of course, there is a cost to this, but then this is the state opera house and the Austrian state are committed to culture and are picking up the bill for socially distanced opera.  

The Vienna Staatstoper

We saw 4 operas over 4 nights and there aren't many other places in the world where you can do that just now. ‘Elektra’, which was streamed round the world on the 11th of September, the night we were there, is of course very much a Viennese opera, composed by Richard Strauss and written by Hugo Von Hofmannsthal based on Sophocles’ play but heavily influenced by that famous Vienna resident Sigmund Freud. The production was an old one by German director Harry Kupfer; apparently a more recent modern production was so bad that it was scrapped immediately after its performance!  The set and the opera were pretty static dominated by a giant statue of Agamemnon with his decapitated head lying nearby on the stage. Around it the singers created the weird world that is ‘Elektra’. Someone asked me if I enjoyed Elektra - I said, " I think you experience Elektra rather than enjoying it!” Elektra herself was well sung by Ricarda Merbeth, who has a very good reputation for Strauss and sang a very good Isolde recently at Covent Garden. The 72-year-old Doris Soffel sang Clytemnestra very ably, and other roles were OK, though the star of the evening for me was the orchestra under the skilled baton of Franz Welser-Most. I have heard and seen lots of streamed performances over the last 6 months and have a brilliant B&O 9000 amp, but nothing compares to hearing a great orchestra live in a fine opera house. The Vienna Philharmonic are a great orchestra despite their misogyny (we counted only 6 women amongst the musicians!), but they are masters (yes!) of Strauss and the music was a delight, although the opera is I think much inferior to Strauss's ‘Salome’ of which there are many echoes. 

Our second night at Vienna starred one of the oldest and perhaps most famous opera singers of all, 79-year-old Placido Domingo, singing in Verdi's ‘Simon Boccanegra’.  Domingo now sings baritone roles, but he really isn't a baritone, just a tenor who finds reaching the high notes more difficult and can't quite get the depth and darkness of the lower notes. Having said that he remains a fine actor and carried of the role of the ageing Doge of Genoa very convincingly. However, if you have seen him in his prime as I have over 40 years at Covent Garden it is a little sad to see him today. However, this was lost on the Domingo ‘groupies’ who were present in great numbers and gave Domingo at least 10 curtain calls. Domingo has announced his farewell to opera in Vienna next January (and maybe the world, given how few opera houses will take him in the ‘Me Too’ world) and can be sure of getting a warm send-off, Covid permitting. This was a revival of an old Peter Stein production and looked and sounded very good with decent performances from Hibla Gerzmava as Amelia and the bass Günther Groissbőck was a very fine Fiesco; not so good was Najmiddin Mavlyanov as Gabriel Adorno. The Orchestra under Evelino Pido was again superb and the great colours of Verdi's music matched the colourful sets and costumes of the excellent chorus. 

The following night we saw ‘Madama Butterfly’, in the shape of Anthony Minghella's great production which I saw at its launch at ENO back in 2005 and since then has been seen round the world including at the Met. Minghella was a film director and this production is undoubtedly the most stunning visual opera production in recent years. Having seen it several times in Britain and abroad I confidently claim it is the greatest production of Butterfly ever, and I have seen many over the past 50 years! I will also claim that this Vienna production is the best version of the Minghella production I have seen in terms of its staging and its singing. The staging was immaculate, every detail of Minghella's beautiful production, and his wife Carolyn Chao's fine choreography and ballet, was superbly executed and visually stunning and the puppeteers convinced me that Sorrow the child of Butterfly and Pinkerton could never be portrayed better than this endearing puppet. Above all the singing and the acting of Asmik Grigorian as Butterfly was superb, indeed I have never seen or heard a better Butterfly in my 50 years of opera going. The other cast members were decent enough but Butterfly the opera is all about Butterfly the singer and Grigorian was superb. Again, the orchestra were excellent under the direction of Phillipe Jordan. 

Our final socially distanced opera was Donizetti's great bel canto favourite ‘L'Elisir D'Amore’. This production by Otto Schenk has been on Vienna's stage regularly since 1980; it is traditional and colourful and works really well and having seen a number of attempts to ‘modernise’ the opera I for one was very glad of this traditional production. What was special about this production was the performance of the young South African soprano Pretty Yende, who has been rapidly establishing herself as an international star and indeed recently sang this role at the Met with great success. She sang and acted superbly and made this production very special. The other cast members were decent, although Dulcamara was underwhelming. Yet again, the orchestra were superb under the baton of Giacomo Sagripanti. 

Our four nights of opera in Vienna confirmed my view that the Staatsoper is one of the great opera houses of the world and one of the most beautiful. It is also taking on the challenge of opera in the Covid era and showing it can be done. At a time when Covent Garden is dark apart from online performances and the Met has cancelled all operas until next year, Vienna is showing it is possible to put on opera. Let’s hope others follow - otherwise the future of opera and indeed live music is seriously under threat.