The Salzburg Summer Festival featured six full operatic productions in 2011. The highlight was Janácek’s The Makropulos Case, directed compellingly with outstanding performances. Richard Strauss’ The Woman Without a Shadow was an intriguing philosophical production but more of a concert. Verdi's Macbeth, conducted by Riccardo Muti in his last Salzburg production, featured impressive performances, especially Tatiana Serjan as Lady Macbeth. Overall the festival continues to build loyal followers with its high artistic standards.

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Opera at the Salzburg Summer Festival RECENT ENTRIES
Opera at the Salzburg Summer
By Dr. Irving Spitz on September 20, 2011 12:42 PM | Comments |
Festival
Of the three new productions, one was
Of the three new productions, one was outstanding, one academic and the third
outstanding, one academic and the third
traditional traditionalThe 2011 Salzburg Festival featured six
full…
The 2011 Salzburg Festival featured six full operatic productions. Almost By Dr. Irving Spitz
without exception, singers were of the highest standard, which is in keeping
with this elitist musical extravaganza. An added attraction was the Vienna The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra:
Philharmonic Orchestra which was in the pit for 4 of these operas. Celebrating 75 Years of Music
Making
This year is the 75th anniversary of the Israel
Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO), originally known
as the Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra and…
By Dr. Irving Spitz
Jerusalem's Season of Culture: An
innovative approach spanning the
worlds of music, dance, poetry and
philosophy
This year saw the inauguration of the first
Jerusalem Season of Culture. One of the highly
acclaimed events of this…
By Dr. Irving Spitz
Overall the most satisfying of the new productions was the Czech composer
Leos Janácek’s Vec Makropulos (Makropulos Case). The question posed in this
opera is whether prolonged longevity is such an alluring prospect. The young
Emila Marty had been given an elixir to prolong life by her father and was now
337 years old. She had been living under various aliases, all with the initials
EM. Now a renowned opera singer, she appears during the concluding
moments of a century-long inheritance lawsuit in a family in which she had an
amorous relationship with one of the ancestors and mothered a child. To
Emilia, the fate of the inheritance is of no consequence. She only wants her
father’s written formula to maintain her youth.
The production was directed by Christoph Marthaler with sets and costumes by
Anna Viebrock. She divided the huge stage of the Grosses Festspielhaus into
sections. The center functioned initially as a paneled lawyer’s office, then as a
dressing room at the opera house and finally a courtroom. The glass box on the
left had the appearance of an old age home, with two women, one old and the
second young and beautiful. At the outset they engaged in an amusing and

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entertaining silent repartee projected in supertitles in English and German.
One question posed was who should decide if a person should live to be over
300 years. Should it be the government or possibly the Swedish Academy?
Later, the older women appeared to metamorphose into a younger woman.
Were these personifications of Emilia? Further on, the same male admirer
returned repetitively to present the same old lady with the same bouquet of
flowers. The three act opera was given without any intermission which added
to the emotional intensity.
The arduous role of Emilia Marty was taken by soprano Angela Denoke who
gave a stunning and impassioned performance. She succeeded brilliantly in
portraying the protagonist’s narcissistic character, with disregard for life and
humanity, using people solely for her own benefit. Only at the end of the opera
in herå searing monolog did she come to terms with her age and an element of
humanism crept into her character. At this stage Emila decides that she has
lived long enough and offers the formula of the elixir to the young Krista, an
aspiring singer who nonchalantly lights a cigarette and burns the document.
Ms Denoke was well supported by the remainder of the outstanding cast most
of whom were under her magnetic spell.
Esa-Pekka Salonen, who recently conducted a great performance of Janacek’s
House of the Dead at the Metropolitan Opera, has proved to be a great
exponent of this Czech composer and repeated his success here in Salzburg
with sumptuous nuanced playing from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Makropulos Case was the unquestioned operatic highlight.
Another new production was Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten (The
Woman without a Shadow). This fairy tale by librettist Hugo von
Hofmannsthal, involves two couples, one celestial (Emperor and Empress) and
the other earthly (the dyer Barak and his wife). The Empress casts no shadow
(a metaphor for her infertility) and to save her husband from being turned to
stone she must acquire one. The nurse, the link between the two couples, takes
the Empress to the earthly abode of Barak and his unhappy wife. There she
engineers a Mephistophelian plot with Barak’s wife promising the latter riches
if she is prepared to relinquish her shadow to the empress. Initially Barak’s
wife agrees but subsequently has second thoughts. Even the Empress refuses
to accept the shadow, finding the inner strength to determine her own fate.

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Christof Loy presented the Salzburg audience with an academic and
philosophical production. Designer Johannes Leiacker, staged this opera as a
post-World War II recording session in Vienna’s Sofiensäle, the location of
many of the famous Decca recordings. This concept was certainly novel but
also somewhat controversial. As Loy himself pointed out in a program
interview, the Sofiensäle was the site of the foundation of the Austrian Nazi
party and was subsequently “a center for rounding up Jews marked for
deportation.”
The drama was played out as a recording session with soloists singing their
roles into microphones. Dressed in winter coats dating from the 1950’s, they
arrived and left the cold recording studio carrying their musical scores. As the
drama unfolded there was an attempt of the main characters to act out their
roles. Dancers in exotic period costumes with feathers make an appearance as
part of the temptation process conjured up by the nurse of what awaits Barak’s
wife should she give up her shadow. In the final sequence, the cast appeared in
evening attire in a concert setting that included a large Christmas tree, Austrian
flags and boy’s choir. The production was without doubt intriguing, but one
could not escape the inevitable conclusion that this was merely a glorified
concert performance.
There was, however, no question about the brilliant performance of the Vienna
Philharmonic Orchestra under Christian Thielemann. He really came to terms
with the dramatic score and kept the giant orchestral forces (which comprise
164 instruments) under tight control resulting in glorious sound and never
drowned out the singers. Especially notable was the beautiful violin obbligato
accompanying the Empress near the conclusion.
Soprano Evelyn Herlitzius portrayed the complex wife most effectively. Anne
Schwanewilms was outstanding as the Empress and Michaela Schuster took
the role of the sly nurse and made very evident her aversion to humans.
Wolfgang Koch, the sonorous baritone sang the role of the Dyer who could not
quite comprehend the situation and begged his wife for understanding.
Stephen Gould as the Emperor had an imposing ringing tenor whose most
arresting moment came in Act 2 where he realized that his wife was associating
with humans.
The hottest ticket in the current festival was Verdi’s early opera, Macbeth,
conducted by Riccardo Muti. In a press conference, Muti announced that this
would be his last Salzburg operatic production which no doubt contributed to
the hype. Muti has been a Salzburg favorite for several decades. With him at
the helm of the Vienna Philharmonic and his hand picked soloists, an
impeccable performance was anticipated and indeed forthcoming. One could

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not fault his interpretation which was paced far slower than his previous forays
into the opera. Muti used Verdi’s early version which ended with Macbeth’s
death rather than the traditional victory chorus and also included the ballet
scene which is usually omitted. The latter failed to add anything and may even
have reduced the dramatic tension.
Peter Stein’s production was conventional and classical. Designer Ferdinand
Wögerbauer utilized the large passageway between the orchestra pit and front
row seats for King Duncan’s entourage which included brass and woodwind
instrumentalists. The same space was later used for the flight of refugees.
Another ingenious effect in Act 3 was to project Banquo’s future descendents,
in line with the prophesy, to include images of British royalty (Charles I,
George III, Victoria, and the current Queen Elizabeth). The opera was staged
in the Felsenreitschule (Riding School) which has three magnificent tiers of
stone arches. This was effectively utilized when rebel soldiers covered with
branches from Birnam Woods emerged from the arches in fulfillment of the
witches’ prophesy and engaged in a battle on the giant stage.
Baritone Željko Lučić was an impressive Macbeth especially in the banquet
scene when he was accosted by the ghosts of Banquo. Macduff, tenor Giuseppe
Filianoti, rose to the occasion when mourning his family (their bloody corpses
were displayed on stage). Dmitry Belosselskiy was an excellent Banquo. Pride
of place, however, went to Russian soprano Tatiana Serjan as Lady Macbeth.
Unlike many sopranos, she was equally effective in both the pianissimo
passages as well as when full fortissimo was required. At no time, did she have
to force her voice. Her early letter aria was a real tour de force and equally
inspiring was her sleepwalking scene where she pulled off the high D-flat with
aplomb. The passage of soprano Tatiana Serjan attired in a white night gown
across the upper tier of the Riding School in the prelude to her final aria was
my most cherished memory of this opera and the festival in general.
Other operas staged included the full Mozart-de Ponte trilogy directed by Claus
Guth and a concert performance of Stravinsky’s first opera Le Rossignol and
Tchaikovsky’s last opera Iolanta with the incomparable Russian soprano, Anna
Netrebko.
Operas are only one aspect of the festival which also includes orchestral
concerts, chamber music and recitals. This annual festival appears to go from
strength to strength. Over 250.000 visitors from 72 countries attended the 300
events and 95 percent of the tickets were sold, generating an income of over 25
million Euro. The top price for some of the operatic performances was €370.
Over 70 percent of the visitors had attended previously indicating that this
prestigious festival had built up a loyal base of followers.

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Illustrations
Fig 1: View of Salzburg, site of the famous summer festival
Fig 2: Soprano Angela Denoke (Emilia Marty) in Janácek’s Vec Makropulos.
There is a young woman in the glass box to the left. Photo Credit © Walter
Mair
Fig 3: Conductor Christian Thielemann and cast acknowledging the applause
after the conclusion of Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten. Photo Credit
Irving Spitz
Fig 4: Baritone Željko Lučić (Macbeth), conductor Riccardo Muti and soprano
Tatiana Serjan (Lady Macbeth) after the conclusion of Verdi’s Macbeth. Photo
Credit Irving Spitz
Tags: Aftermath of World War II,Angela Denoke,Die Frau ohne Schatten,Esa-Pekka
Salonen,Großes Festspielhaus,Hugo von Hofmannsthal,Metropolitan Opera,Vienna,Vienna
Philharmonic
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