Opera Japonica/Archives/Letter from Paris, November and December 2000

Frank Cadenhead's Letter from Paris 2000

November

The gray and rainy November in France is enlivened considerably by a continuation of the unofficial, unplanned, but wide-ranging celebration of the music of Jacques Offenbach. With the fresh, campy and splendid performance of Dame Felicity Lott in La belle Hélène at the Théâtre du Châtelet still fresh in our minds from last month, we hear that the performance was recorded by EMI for future distribution. Under the ebullient direction of Mark Minkowski, teamed with production designer, Laurent Pelly, and with a splendid cast, it should be a highly recommended release. Michel Sénéchal, entering the fifth decade of his career, was ideal as Menelas, with the role of Paris alternating between Yann Beuron and American tenor William Burden. Laurent Naouri sings the role of Agamemnon.

At the Opéra-Comique, under a new management, a highly successful production of La Périchole is playing through January 7th. The production is indicated to be 'after' Offenbach, and, as you might imagine has incorporated contemporary dialogue, jazz and rock elements. This is a production that had a long run at the Théâtre Chaillot, and - if you do not mind your Offenbach with an Elvis impersonator or two - is a very enjoyable evening. The mise-en-scène, Jérome Savary, was asked to take over operation of the Opéra-Comique after a series of managerial false starts and a last season that was canceled mid-way through due to lack of support. His proven record of success at Chaillot has, happily, injected new life into this most venerated opera house. The cultural television channel, Arte, will be broadcasting the December 31st performance live.

Outside of Paris, the party continues with a performance of Barbe-Bleue in Metz, the rarely-performed Fantasio in Nantes on the 5th and 7th and, Angers on the 17th and 19th, and Orphée aux Enfers in Lyon, also with the Minkowski/Pelly team, from the 21st to the 15th of December. Can't get enough Jacques? If you had a room in Limoges you could have seen Monsieur Choufleuri restera chez lui on the 7th, Le Mariage aux Lanternes, Mesdames de la Halle on the 8th, Vent du Soir ou l'horrible Festin on the 9th and a divertissement Rue de la Gaité Offenbach on the 10th. The 12th has a performance of something described as Offenbach au Paradis. There is nothing indicated to suggest what the Offenbach junky was supposed to do on the 11th but counseling might be a good first step. Lastly, there is a 36-city (!) tour of a production of La Vie Parisienne by the indefatigable Opéra-Éclate from November through April.

The Opéra de Paris has not forgotten Offenbach but you will have to wait until April for a revival of last year's acclaimed Robert Carsen production of Les Contes d'Hoffman. Sumi Jo will sing Olympia with James Morris as Coppelius/Lindorf. Otherwise, the news this month was four canceled performances of War and Peace due to a staff labor dispute. The Tosca did go on, with bluntly-delivered performances by Franco Farina and Sylvia Valayre. It could be that the performers were uninspired by the abstract sets of the old production designed by Werner Schroeter. The first act looks like it takes place in a large dockside warehouse, devoid of features except for a life-size, white-veiled statue (the Madonna? La Tosca?) which was the only religious element to be seen. I look forward to a more satisfying evening with June Anderson's Lucia at the end of this month, with Frank Lopardo as Edgardo and Franco Ferrari as Enrico. This will be followed by Die Zauberflöte conducted by Adam Fischer, with Natalie Dessay and Desiree Rancatore alternating the role of the Queen of the Night.

You cannot pass a record store in Paris without seeing a big window display of this month's major opera release. Both major music magazines have given this recording their 'don't miss' highest rating. The composer, previously unknown to me, is Reinhard Keiser and the opera is Croesus. Keiser was active in Hamburg and was a big influence on Handel - so much so that Handel 'borrowed' liberally from him. This is a wonderful recording, made from a production last year at the Staatsoper of Berlin. Keiser, once regarded as the greatest German composer, creates characters more rounded than most other composers of his time, and this opera stands in the first rank of Baroque music. It is another success for conductor, René Jacobs, who, as others who work in France like William Christie, Marc Minkowski, etc., have continued to expanded the repertory of early opera. This recording will introduce several fine singers to a wider public: most significantly Werner Güra, as Atis, who will be singing Tamino in the aforementioned Die Zauberflöte.

Paris events to look forward to in December have, not suprisingly, a theme of renewal. The first, on December 2, will be the auction of some personal effects of Maria Callas. The world-wide attention given to this auction, at the Hôtel Drouot, and the significant cost of the catalog is only some indication of the still-growing interest in this ultimate opera diva. There will be a new production of La Pastorale de Noel of Marc-Antoine Charpentier at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. But all attention will again be on Théâtre du Châtelet for the eagerly anticipated world premiere of El Nino/La Nativité by John Adams. For this, Adams has assembled many of the same players as in his past triumphs: production by Peter Sellars, conductor Kent Nagano, with Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and Willard White.

I will report on as many of these events, and others, as I can (others like a Capriccio with the omni-present Felicity Lott and a La Griselda of A. Scarlatti, Rene Jacobs conducting). Somehow, between these events and seasonal activities, no plans have been made for a New Year's party. I wonder if there are still tickets on the 31st for the new La Chauve-souris, Armin Jordan conducting, at Bastille? Will this and other performances still be affected by strikes? I will keep you advised.

December

El Niño\La Nativité by John Adams at the Châtelet

Photos: Marie-Noëlle Robert, Théâtre du Châtelet

Paris is not usually so excited by a first performance - many famous ones have taken place here. But this was no ordinary one. This was only the fourth major lyric work by John Adams, the Composer of Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer, and even a hint of a blasé attitude was nowhere to be found. The media buzz about El Niño\La Nativité was unprecedented. In the weeks before the opening, on December 15 at the Théâtre du Châtelet, either Adams or Peter Sellars, his collaborator in the text, film work and staging, were interviewed in all major music magazines and a reporter from Le Monde breathlessly reported on the hectic four days before the opening night.

It is a pleasure to report that the team of John Adams and Peter Sellars did not falter and have created a powerful work on the mystery and wonder of the birth of Christ. It is a work of a gifted composer assisted by an equally gifted mise-en-scène. It is not actually an opera but, with texts, for example, from the King James Bible, the Gnostic gospels, the Wakefield Mystery Plays, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz and poetry by 20th Century Hispanic writers, is more of a 'scenic oratorio' as described by Sellars in a magazine interview.

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in El Niño\La Nativité

Photos: Marie-Noëlle Robert, Théâtre du Châtelet

The texts used are usually in English, sometimes Latin or translated from Spanish. Yet, a significant portion remains in Spanish and emphasizes the multicultural nature of the work. The music is in seamless association with a film that accompanies the action on the stage. The stage is bare except for a single chair, occasionally removed. About ten feet up is a large, square screen on which the film appears. The singers act out the text - often suffering, ecstasy, etc. - and are accompanied sometimes by dancers Daniela Graca, Nora Kimball and Michael Schumacher (as the angel Gabriel) whose dancing punctuates the text and sometimes harmoniously moves with the singers.

Dawn Upshaw and Willard White in El Niño\La Nativité

Photos: Marie-Noëlle Robert, Théâtre du Châtelet

The superb trio of soloists, soprano Dawn Upshaw, mezzo Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and bass-baritone Willard White, has all worked many times with Adams. The work begins with the choir, the London Voices, in red jump suits, along with three counter-tenors, Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings and Steven Richards, from the Theater of Voices. The male ensemble, here representing the angel Gabriel and the choir sings an Old English text, 'I sing of a maiden'. The annunciation follows with the male ensemble's 'Hail, Mary, Gracious!' Dawn Upshaw, in a simple dark dress and flannel shirt, responds with the impassioned 'Wondrous words are in thy greeting'. The close affinity between the composer and the soprano is here apparent in the matchless performance of Upshaw. However evocative this singing was, it was followed by an astonishing performance of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson whose 'Porque desde el principio me estabas destinado' (by Mexican poet Rosario Gastellanos, 1925-74) was delivered with heart-stopping intensity.

Willard White in El Niño\La Nativité

Photos: Marie-Noëlle Robert, Théâtre du Châtelet

When the grand baritone Willard White strode barefoot onstage, in jeans and a tee-shirt, you knew this was not the wimpy Joseph of your Christmas pageants. In a rage, he demanded to know how his wife got pregnant while he was away and he wasn't buying the 'angel' story at all! When he sang 'and I will shake the heavens' you were convinced it was not hyperbole. This text, from the Gospel of James, was also used by Handel in the Messiah. The first part ended with a powerful, fugue-like chorus, 'O quam preciosa est virginitas huius' from a poem by Hildegard von Bingen (12th Century).

The work is in two parts, each about one hour in length. In the first part of the silent film the dancers are in two locations: different rooms of a sterile, utility apartment, or outdoors among huge round rock formations. The outdoor locations for this were in Joshua Tree National Park, in the desert between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. For those who know this place, it is certainly one of the most impressive and spiritual places on the planet.

For the second half, the nativity is transferred to the barrios of Los Angeles. The adoration is moved to a beach fire ring under the flight path of LAX and police helicopter serves as the star in the East. As Mary in the film, Martha Carrillo is a young, angelic-faced Madonna with contemporary pierced lip and lots of earrings. Pete Galindo was affecting as the attentive Joseph. On stage, the Three Kings (again the male ensemble) salute Mary with the moving 'I am Gaspar. I have brought frankincense'. During the flight to Egypt (in the film, there are long scene of the couple in a car passing through the nondescript, strip-mall lined streets of Los Angeles) there are two sections from the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, 18. These are 'Jesus and the dragons' with Dawn Upshaw and the male ensemble and the penultimate 'A palm tree', from the same source, for mezzo-soprano, baritone and male ensemble. The work ends in quiet peace with a singularly tender and simple melody sung by the children's choir, the Maitrise de Paris, 'Senora de los vientos' (a poem by Rosario Castillanos).

The music was more lyrical and varied that I remembered from earlier Adams pieces. It was orchestrated for large orchestra, including two guitars, percussion, piano, and electronic keyboards. These forces allowed Adams a full palette of orchestra color, all adding to the sense of wonder and excitement of the story. Kent Nagano, the conductor of the evening, also has a long history with John Adams and had skilled command of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, of which he is the new music director.

That such a production appears first in Paris is a tribute to the work of Jean-Pierre Brossmann, director-general of the Théâtre du Châtelet and the former director of the Lyon Opera. The work was a co-commission with the San Francisco Symphony (where it will be performed in January), Lincoln Center in New York, the Barbican Center in London and the Deutsches Symphonie. During the Paris performances, both video and audio recordings were made for release in the coming months.

Dawn Upshaw in El Niño\La Nativité

Photos: Marie-Noëlle Robert, Théâtre du Châtelet

The other major news of December was the strikes by the staff that crippled the Opéra de Paris. Already affected by the work stoppages in November when six performances of War and Peace were canceled and forcing the June Anderson Lucia di Lammermoor to be performed in concert version, it had a major impact in December during a time of maximum activity for the company. The two ballets (Nureyev's Nutcracker and Balanchine's Jewels) were in repertory with new, double-cast productions of Magic Flute and Die Fledermaus during the holidays so that performances were scheduled at the Palais Garnier and Opéra Bastille nearly every night. The ballets were canceled at the beginning of December and the Magic Flute was done with one set and without special effects, which was regrettable since this new production featured these.

The Opéra actually was a victim of its own success. The increased public attention and critical praise for the company, credited largely to Hugues Gall, the director since 1995, has resulted in a 20 percent increase in performances. This change, along with the need to implement the new 35-hour work week, left labor issues to be resolved and the Opéra was not in final control of the purse strings - this being a Ministry of Finance matter. Eventually, on December 22, agreement was reached on a new contract and the ballets and the full Magic Flute resumed that evening. The new production of Die Fledermaus, designed by film director Coline Serreau (Three Men and a Cradle) and conducted by Armin Jordan, could not be started until the 27th due to technical reasons, loosing six performances which certainly cannot be rescheduled.

Fortunately there are always other venues for opera in Paris. At the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, on the 14th and 16th of December, Dame Felicity Lott enchanted the audiences with a superb performance of La Comtesse in a concert version of the Richard Strauss opera, Capriccio. This success follows on the heels of her triumph in La Belle Helene at Châtelet in October. A delicious portrayal of the impresario, La Roche by Gunter von Kannen and having the fine baritone, Dietrich Henschel as La Comte only added to the operatic pleasures. A fine Strauss conductor, Gustav Kuhn, conducted the Orchestre National de France with just the right measure of wit and energy.

The New Year continues with the Paris Opera's Die Fledermaus until January 21 and will also include a revival of Don Giovanni at Bastille with Gerald Finley, Carol Vaness, Luba Orgonasova, and José Van Dam as Leporello. Early opera is featured at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées with two performances each of a trio of operas by Monteverdi, L'Orfeo, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria and L'Incoronazione di Poppea between the 12th and the 20th. In the same theater, William Christie conducts Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and Charpentier's Acteon on the 23rd. Leaping forward to the time of Haydn, that composer's L'Anima del filosofo, on the 25th and 27th of January at Châtelet, will feature Cecilia Bartoli and Paul Groves and will be conducted by Christopher Hogwood. It could be that all this early opera is a form of penitence for the abundance of high-calorie Offenbach all over France recently.

See other letters in the Archives.