Wearing multiple hats.

A small break from the "David et Jonathas" saga: Thanks to Clayton Koonce for drawing my attention to thisact of conductor filling in as tenor.

I worked with Antony at Wolf Trap and he is one of the brightest and most versatile conductors around, as this clearly indicates.

DAVID ET JONATHAS - Accidental structures and the silent character they create.

I have often said the "David et Jonathas" is unlike any opera of its time. This is not simply because the music contains an emotional musical directness that predates verissmo, and a through-composed formal structure of which Gluck would have approved. It is also because dramatically the work has more in common with much more modern, even absurdist (and indeed I used “The Myth of Sisyphus” and other writings by Calmus to develope my initial concept) theater styles, than it does with other contemporary works of the baroque.

This is not the case because Charpentier and Bretonneau were interested in early modernist dramatic concepts. Rather, it is a product of the magic touch and infinite wisdom of history. The work was originally composed to be performed at the Jesuit school for which Charpentier worked, interspersed with a spoken tragedy titled "Saül", also by Père Bretonneau. Each act of this spoken Latin tragedy would be followed by an act of the sung French piece. While the spoken play propelled the dramatic action, the musical portion reflected on the emotional states of the principle characters. We perform "David et Jonathas" as a five act opera with prologue, but this is not how it was imagined. As such the work takes on a new dramatic affect that reflects a much more modern theatrical aesthetic.

There is almost no true "action" in this work. Rather there are four character portraits bookended by the prologue, which sets the tone of the work, and the final act which portrays the tragic consequences when these emotional states meet each other. Each of those four acts contains a large central scene for one of the characters (David, Jobel, Saül, and Jonathas), and it is indeed these monologues where time freezes that the work's most profound music lies. As such, the modern work "David et Jonathas", without the spoken action of "Saül", becomes a portrayal of humanity's core themes - love, fear, and faith.

Because so much of the work is devoted to monologues, a curious theatrical coup occurs. This is a biblical work, and the majority of these monologues are addressed to a "God" - some external force, deity, fate, or simply the vast universe. These external force is so strongly present in the text of the work, that it becomes an ever silent omnipresent principle character to which the fundamental questions are posed and from which no answer returns. Man is met with the implacable silence of the universe. In the words of Pascal:

“the eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me”.

That captures it perfectly for me.

The trajectory of this work's "meaning" is of great interest to me. Just deciding to produce it, without the spoken Latin text, creates a completely new work. Arises a theater piece with modernist/absurdist aesthetic of which Charpentier could not have conceived. Emerges an utterly crucial, but non-tangible eleventh character. And, the work takes on an additional central theme - that of man's struggle to reconcile logic with the seemingly arbitrary and, as such, unfairness of God's/the Universe's law.

And a few photos that capture some of these moments of man vs. silence (Jason Buckwalter as Saül, Brian Cummings as David, Matthew Walker as Jonathan:

DAVID ET JONATHAS - It Begins...

In a month from today American Opera Theater will give the North American professional premier staging of Charpentier's 1688 masterpiece "David et Jonathas" (for those of you that knew us when we were Ignoti Dei Opera this might seem a bit confusing - we workshopped D+J in 2005 with our young artist program Les Enfants Terribles at the Baltimore Theatre Project and a tiny band - this will be a full mainstage production with large forces for both the orchestra and choir). This is an important step for the company, and after 3 performances in Washington, DC we make our New York debut at the Brooklyn Academy of Music...more than a touch scarey, but exciting all the same.

Inspired by Opera Vivente director John Bowen's blog posts leading up to their performance of Jonathan Dove's "Tobias and the Angel" (a show that got great reviews and I hate to have had to miss it - congrats to John and the whole company!) I have decided to embark on the same pre-show path. I must admit that John's dilligence in this is a little daunting, but I will try all the same. With each post I will also include one or two production photos from our 2005 workshop (beautifully shot by Greg McKleskey).

For this first in the series I am going to take the easy way out (because I am running out the door to rehearse for a concert of rare Spanish violin sonatas I am playing with ID violinist Daniel Boothe this Friday!), and will post the description of D+J on our beautiful postcards designed by Kel Millionie. Still, I hope it will wet your appetite.

This photo of Jason Buckwalter as Saül is my favorite from the workshop.

As a piece mainly about man's relationship with a higherpower, be it fate, God, a vast space,

I think that this photo captures it perfectly.

The American Opera Theater completes its 2007-2008 season and makes its New York debut with Charpentier's remarkable 1688 opera "David et Jonathas". This work is a breathtaking masterpiece of the French baroque, yet strikingly contemporary in its themes. "David et Jonathas" explores the relationship between three timeless figures and mans relationship with the universe. In profoundly beautiful music Charpentier creates a heartbreaking portrayal unlike any of its day. The Baltimore Sun says the opera "set to music of immense beauty, couldn't be more straight-to-the-heart...as noble as anything by Wagner, as emotionally wrenching as anything by Puccini". With the acclaimed Ignoti Dei period orchestra and an international cast of soloists, AOT is also particularly proud to be joined by the Virginia Tech Chamber Singers in these performances. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see this rare and profound work come to life on stage in a New World premier production.

Why I Read Blogs

If you have a chance you should read Kim Witman's fantastically brilliant blog. This gets it just right, particularly the part about the sofa...why can't I write entries like that?

"Tannhauser" makes me sound like a conservative...I'm not, really!!!

Joan Matabosch was good enough to get me into the closed general rehearsal yesterday at Liceu for "Tannhauser". There were some small mishaps and I understand why it was closed, in general things were fairly tight. The production is by Robert Carsen. I am fairly certain this is a premier, the performance scheduled for December in Paris turned into concerts because of a strike. I must admit it is still thrilling for me to see a show as one of the only people in the theater.
Before I can say much about the performance I have to say that Robert Carsen is someone I admire greatly. His work for me is terribly influential and many of his productions rank among my favorites. Among his best, for me, as "Les Boreades", "La traviata", "Rusalka", and especially "Cappricio". Because of this there was a lot of anticipation for this production. "Tannhauser" of course contains much incredible incredibly powerful music and I was looking forward to sitting through the whole thing.

I have to say that I was rather disappointed with the production. Carsen is a wonderfully talented director and he can create stage pictures that are really breathtaking. There is no better word for it. He conceit is what did not work for me. He turned Heinrich from a Meistersinger into a painting and the production became about the struggle of an artist to follow is true and unfettered, uncensored that is, path. What one saw on stage was strong, striking, and always done with controlled flair. The way Carsen manages the balance and formalism is to be greatly admired. The image of pilgrims carrying paintings to Rome and returning with empty frames, cleansed of their "sins" could have been pedantic and rather trite. But the way he depicted it in real space, with masterful lighting, was beautiful enough that one could easily enough forget that the idea is a little too obvious to be compelling. This was repeated time and time again - beautiful images to accompany a rather weak concept. Eventually it wasn't enough for me.

"Tannhauser" is difficult, but this is my most basic take on it. The story itself is troubled. At the least it is not among Wagner's best, at worst it is clumsy. This becomes a bit subjective, but I'm going to write as if it is objective because it is SO true for me. When one listens to Wagner's towering score it is clear that he takes this legend and ennobles it - he makes it about more. The music indicates that it is about the largest of human concepts - the power of faith, the hope of human redemption, the sacrifice and power of forgiveness.

Carsen's concept took out all issues of spirituality. I don't think "Tannhauser" must be approached from a Christian perspective, but it does enter on human spirituality. Making it a work about the struggle for artistic truth trivializes the legend. In other words, I feel Carsen might have been true to the legend, but not to Wagner's score. Wagner indicated something extraordinary and Carsen responded with something unconvincingly ordinary. For me it was summed up by the last scene where, to unimaginably transcendent music, Heinrich instead of finding salvation hangs a painting on the wall. "Anti-climactic" doesn't really go far enough.

Still - the level of production was fantastic. The singers quite good and the orchestra, as always, quite impressive. I can't think of a better way to spend an afternoon.

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I went to see the Robert Carsen new production of "Tannhauser"...I will give a full repot tomorrow, but for now...thought I enjoyed the overall experience, the production was a bit of a disappointment.

Grimey Moon Grimes

[I do realize that this title makes no sense, it is just that this short post will be about Peter Grimes and I always loved that line from "Ballad for the Sad Young Men"]

There has been lots of talk lately about the new production at the MET of Britten's "Peter Grimes". I'm afraid I am going to miss it, but it looks very interesting and I am sorry that this will be the case. It is directed by John Doyle who made waves with his innovative staging of "Sweeny Todd", and later is a new production of "Company". The production, and most notably its set, seem to be getting lots of talk. You can read about it here:

Tomassini's Piece

Maury's Piece One

Maury's Piece Two

Of course the caddy crew doesn't like it, but I don't put too much stock in that...they don't seem to like this incredible and striking piece to start with, and are usually resistant to new ideas, particularly at temple of stagnation like the MET. To me the photos look fantastic and seem to really capture what the piece is about (this might be the problem, sometimes folks find it difficult to understand sceneography that is not a backdrop to narrative, but rather an active player in the interpretation of the work). That said, though it sounds admirable and interesting, the final coup-du-teâtre that was quickly removed, presumably by Gelb, does seem like a perhaps miscalculation. It is hard to make what has seemed up to that point like a one layer piece, to all the sudden become a meta-production in the final moments. I applaud the MET for doing this production though, I think Gelb is really trying to move the MET into the last century finally (maybe they will make it into this one some day). Something I notice and wonder about is that the MET tends to hire, with the exception of Mark Morris, cutting edge theater directors when they want to make new productions, apparently forgetting that opera and theater are two different forms and folks with lots of talent and experience in theater are not necessarily prepared to direct opera. This is common all around, but without fail at the MET. Take Mary Zimmerman or Julie Taymor. Hopefully they will realize that there are great innovative opera directors out there. For instance there is the Willie Decker production of "Grimes" that is tremendously riveting and even more adventursome (minus the final scene!) that Mr. Doyles. (Decker also has a fantastic "Boris" and will direct "Death in Venice" soon at Liceu which I hope to catch before returning to the States for Charpentier).