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Class 3: Playing Toy Theaters Class 3: Playing Toy Theaters A. Orfeo ed Euridice 1. Title Slide 1 (Elysian Fields) Continuing our quest for glimpses, at least, of “authentic” production style, we look today at two films of operas performed in genuine baroque theaters: Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice at Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic, and Mozart’s The Magic Flute at Drottningholm near Stockholm, Sweden. But before showing each one, I need to say a little about the operas themselves. Orfeo ed Euridice, which premiered in Vienna in 1762, was the first salvo in the campaign by Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–87) to reform opera. He and his librettist Ranieri de Calzabigi aimed at reducing the action to its simplest elements: very few characters, no showy arias, no subplots, compressed in time, and the chorus and dancers integrated into the action rather than treated as divertissements. So his Orfeo opens with Eurydice already dead—halfway through Act II in the Monteverdi. In its original form, it is a very short opera: three acts, but a playing time of under 75 minutes. Gluck’s de-emphasis of arias also made this an unusually continuous opera. Everything is accompanied by the orchestra; there are no dry recitatives, and the musical numbers take highly flexible forms to suit the situation. 2. Gluck’s Orfeo and its interpreters Because Orfeo was so popular, it went through many revisions, the history of which has put its imprint on performances even today. Especially in the matter of what kind of singer should take the title role: 1762 The original Orfeo in Vienna is an alto castrato, Gaetano Guadagni. 1774 Gluck, now living in Paris, makes an extensive revision, to a translation of the original text, with extra ballets, choruses, and ensembles for the soloists (thus making it a much more conventional opera). As the French tended not to use castrati, the role of Orphée is rewritten for a haut-contre or high tenor, in this case Joseph Legros. 1859 As the pitch of French tuning has been rising over the past 80 years, the tenor version has become impractical. The composer Hector Berlioz therefore makes a version a female singer in male clothing, originally the great contralto Pauline Viardot. This version holds the stage for more than a century. 1970s The increased availability of countertenors makes it possible for the role to be taken once more by a man, and most of the leading countertenors have sought to perform it. I have put together a short video showing these various alternatives (though of course omitting the castrato). The music is Orfeo’s famous lament “Che faro senz’Euridice?” where the opening tune comes back three times. We will hear it in full later; here now are those three verses divided between a countertenor (Philippe Jaroussky), a tenor (Juan Diego Flórez), and a mezzo (Sharon Carty): — 1 — 3. Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice, lament sung by three voice types 4. Settings of the Cesky Krumlov film All these, as it happens, are modern-dress productions, although not updated in the sense of putting the action into a recognizable modern environment. For Ondrej Havelka, the director of our movie however, the setting is very much a period one, on the stage of the baroque theater at Cesky Krumlov, suggesting how the opera might have been performed in Gluck’s time. A word of warning, however. The use of a period theater, period costumes, and lots of candles does not automatically make the production “authentic.” We know little about the acting styles, and the camera angles and lighting of a film obviously belong to a different era. Gluck’s opera calls for five different settings: the scene of Orfeo’s mourning, Hades, the Elysian Fields, the return from the underworld, and the closing chorus. Havelka places only three of these on the main stage; for the underworld settings, he uses the stairs and basement of the theater, a fly gallery, and what looks like an undecorated rehearsal room. He also has the concept of placing Orfeo in the action but not of it: his is the least period costume; he is isolated from time to time in a very un-period spotlight of his own; and at the end, he walks away altogether. As we shall see. B. Orfeo at Cesky Krumlov 5. Bejun Mehta in the opening credits I am going to give you half a dozen quick snippets of the first two acts of the opera, followed by the last quarter-hour uninterrupted. That way, I hope to show each of the settings, sample the different musical moods, and give you the gist of the story. Havelka’s film opens in silence, with the singer Bejun Mehta in his dressing-room. Note that he is still more or less in modern dress. The orchestra sounds offstage, and he puts on the rest of his costume, preparing—it seems reluctantly—to go onstage for the first scene of mourning, in which he can barely articulate Euridice’s name. 6. Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice, end of overture and opening scene 7. — still of the above What do you think of Havelka’s use of the baroque theater and décor? For me, it gets us immediately into a world where we don’t look for realism, and where the pacing and expectations are quite different from our own. It becomes clear later that its artifice also plays into Havelka’s concept of the Orpheus singer being drawn into the repeated execution of a rite whose real-life equivalent does not necessarily have a theatrically happy ending. That sigh at the end of the overture was very telling. We skip ahead now to the baroque stage machinery in action, as Amore (Cupid) comes down on a rather creaky cloud. S/he gives Orpheus the usual instructions about not looking back at Euridice, then sings a rather chirpy aria which I will put on the website but not play here. Havelka plays Amore as a comic character throughout, which is well handled by the performer, Regula Mühlemann. — 2 — 8. Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice, arrival of Amore 9. — still of the above Orpheus takes Cupid’s advice and descends into the underworld. I will play the interlude both to show the grim aspect of Gluck’s music and the way Havelka uses the cellars and backstage spaces in the theater. I shall then cut immediately to the scene where he pleads with the chorus of tormented souls, only to hear their repeated “No!” 10. Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice, descent of Orpheus to Hades 11. Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice, Act II, scene 1, “Deh, placatevi con me” 12. — still of the above But eventually the spirits relent and allow Orpheus to ascend to the Elysian Fields, represented by a baroque garden, graceful couples dancing, and the singing of birds. This is one of the sections that Gluck expanded for Paris, with the famous “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” with its flute solo. We don’t get that here, but nonetheless the gently undulating texture of flute and strings under Orpheus’s solo “How pure the air!” is enchanting. I will skip the middle section of the scene and move to the end of it, where Eurydice appears in the person of Eva Liebau—once again using a simple baroque theater machine: a trap door. [I have never quite understood why Calzabigi and Gluck included the Elysian Fields scene. If Euridice is already in a kind of paradise, why should she want to return to earth? It certainly explains her wanting to go back when she thinks Orpheus doesn’t love her.] 13. Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice, Act II, scene 2, “Che puro ciel!” 14. Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice, Act II, scene 2, appearance of Euridice 15. — still of the above Any questions or comments before we go on? I now want to play the last quarter-hour of the movie without a pause. It contains the following sections: • Euridice’s aria as she feels that Orpheus no longer loves her. It is a more conventional ABA shape, like a Handel da capo, although it feels entirely spontaneous in its passion. Note Havelka’s use of the backstage stairs and galleries, and his brilliant use of shadows in the middle section. • The recitative in which Orpheus agonizes and eventually turns to Euridice, who immediately dies. • The introduction to his famous aria, “Che farò senz’Euridice?” and the aria itself. I have already mentioned that it is structured around three occurrences of the basic tune, with a kind of recitative in between. But it is interesting that the tune itself, in a moderately fast tempo in C major, belies the popular wisdom that expressions of grief should be slow and in minor keys! • Another recitative in which he prepares to commit suicide, until stopped by Amore, who brings Euridice back to life again. • The conventional happy finale in which everybody joins in praise of Love. The original finale contained also a number of dances, which are cut in this film. This dance sequence was expanded in 1774 to suit French taste, and Gluck also added a trio for the three characters. This sequence is also where Ondrej Havelka is most radical in pursuing his theme that Orpheus lives in a — 3 — different world and on a different time-span than that of the theater his character temporarily inhabits. See what you think of his ending, and his treatment of Euridice. 16. Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice, Act III, second half 17. Title slide 2 (Bejun Mehta looking back at the stage) C.
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