Classical Voice Review - Ariadne auf Naxos, San Francisco Opera- Sept 21, 2002

Opera in a prologue and one act by
RICHARD STRAUSS
Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Sung in German with English titles

Composer		Claudia Mahnke
Ariadne		Deborah Voigt
Bacchus		Thomas Moser
Zerbinetta		Laura Claycomb
Arlecchino		Daniel Belcher
Truffaldino		John Ames
Scaramuccio		Kevin Conners
Brighella		Greg Fedderly
Naiade		Saundra DeAthos
Dryade		Jane Gilbert
Echo		Kristin Clayton

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF – My fondest memories of attending Strauss operas go as far back as Capriccio at San Francisco in 1993, an opera which deals with the philosophical dilemma of prose vs. music and high-mindness vs. slapsticks in the lyric theater. Now, nearly 10 years later, I could not help feeling a sense of déjà vu as I sat through the Prologue of Ariadne auf Naxos, in the same theater and in nearly the same seat (orchestra left), and witnessed all over again the clashing worlds of serious drama and slapstick comedy, set to Strauss’ glorious music. For this Ariadne, the company’s first staging in nearly 20 years, San Francisco Opera assembled a superb, though less starry, cast and surrounded them in enchanting 17^th-Century theatrical sets and costumes. The results were surely one of the happiest nights at the opera I have enjoyed anywhere.

As modern operatic productions go, the works of Richard Strauss have generally escaped avant-garde mistreatment suffered by other composers. The reason, I surmise, is the skillful, near-perfect integration of music and stagecraft in Strauss’ operas, especially those written with Hofmannsthal, which would suffer irredeemable damage if altered. One cannot think of Arabella without its bourgeois, middle-class Viennese setting, or the second act of Der Rosenkavalier without Fanninal’s breathtaking marbled hall. In this second staging of the Ariadne production designed by Robert Perdziola (first seen in Chicago in 1998), San Franciscans are treated to the delightful, enchanting vision of the backstage machinery and mise en scènes of a 17^th-Century theater (à la Drottningholm). The ‘opera’ portion of Ariadne takes place in front of the proscenium, but the ‘offstage buffo antics’ of the commedia dell’arte characters can also be seen in the wings. Also visible are the stage crew helping with Bacchus’ arrival on a warship. The scenes change seamlessly like magic. In the final climactic Love Duet, the mini chandeliers of the ‘theater’ are lowered to form a starry backdrop for the starry-eyed lovers. Simply elegant.


	Deborah Voigt (Left) as Ariadne and Laura Claycomb (Right) as Zerbinetta

Strauss had some harsh words to say about the first Ariadne Maria Jeritza (“too beautiful a voice, too little technique”) Whether Strauss was still in a bad mood over Emmy Destinn’s (the first Minnie in Puccini’s Fanciulla) turning down of the part I do not know, but all the recordings of Jeritza I have heard testify to the contrary. In any case, for the San Francisco production, we have soprano Deborah Voigt as the jilted desert island princess Ariadne and she, fortunately, possesses a beautiful voice and a fine technique to boot. During the intervening years since her Merola training days, Ms. Voigt has grown steadily as a vocalist, but the inner subtleties of the drama at hand seem to elude her still. She sang Ariadne’s solo ‘Es gibt ein Reich’ gorgeously and her contributions to the Love Duet were radiantly beautiful, but all too often one felt the beauty was only skin deep, that Ariadne’s profound anguishes remained untold.

Tenor Thomas Moser was a winning Bacchus who made this horribly difficult music sound beautiful. He sailed over each treacherous measure with refulgent tone and nary a sign of strain. Soprano Laura Claycomb, another Merola alumna, gave a welcome, fuller-toned account of Zerbinetta than is usually heard. She made tightrope-walking in the stratospheric leger lines seem like the most natural thing in the world. This Zerbinetta led a delightful commedia dell’arte quartet, with Daniel Belcher as Harlequin. There was also a first-rate trio of nymphs from Kristin Clayton, Jane Gilbert, and Saundra DeAnthos.

Mezzo-soprano Claudia Mahnke hailed from Stuttgart and gave the most compelling interpretation of the Composer I have heard in the theater. Superbly musical with an innate sense of Straussian line, Ms. Mahnke’s youthful, impetuous delivery had the requisite tonal splendor to make the Composer’s protestation ‘Musik ist eine heilige Kunst’ (‘music is a sacred art’) totally believable. The rapturously beautiful solo ‘Du Venus sohn’ was a marvel of phrasing that left the listener breathless with wonder.

Conductor Jun Märkl led the scaled-down 37-piece San Francisco Opera Orchestra with a fine blend of classical poise and theatrical sweep. For Strauss enthusiasts, this Ariadne is one for the ages.