 
Three Hungarians
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Lonesome People Behind Rows of Casements
Don Carlo is an opera of farewell and lament. Gerhard
Rohde's outlook on the revival
Singers of international standing have been chosen for the revival of
Verdi's opera: Ferruccio Furlanetto as the king, Neil Shicoff as the eponymous
hero, Thomas Hampson as Rodrigo (Schiller's Posa), Marina Mescheriakova
as Elizabeth de Valois, Olga Borodina as Princess Eboli and Anatoli Kotscherga
as the Grand Inquisitor. Once again, Salzburg lives up to the high Festival
standards it has set itself, catering to its audiences with voices of
great excellence supported by an orchestra of exceptional quality, the
Vienna Philharmonic, under a star conductor, Lorin Maazel.
On the occasion of the hundreth anniversary of the death of Giuseppi
Verdi in 1901, the Salzburg Festival pays homage to the composer by producing
two of his works, Don Carlo and Falstaff. This affords us the opportunity
not only to enjoy the best that opera has to offer but also to experience
an interesting mise-en-scene. Herbert Wernicke, director and stage/costume
designer in one, has created an original set. The scenery consists of
an intricate array of high, angular pillars and arches, subtly illuminated
so as to form inner rooms at one time, or open wide to represent outside
scenes at another or, at still another, fall sideways from their perpendicular
position to constitute Don Carlo's prison.
Large buildings and palaces are always an expression of ambition and
the lust for power. For this drama one has only to think of
the Escorial with its rows of windows and corridors, its hidden niches
and its secret crannies perfect for eavesdropping. In such surroundings
the individual is a small, powerless, lost creature. In Wernicke's abstract
"Escorial" long, pointed projectiles, golden and cone-shaped,
suggest the weapons of power: like two rockets, the slender "missiles"
move their way from the wings through the pillars to confront each other
across the stage. Others of these "golden missiles" give the
impression of being defence ramparts or, as in the great Philip scene,
point their noses downwards onto the potentates beneath them who have
withdrawn into themselves and are now as much threatened by their own
weaponry as are the people massed in front of the palaces. Wernicke employs
this architectural background to represent the inner psychological state
of the characters. Even the rulers are, in the last resort, lonely individuals.
In the in-fighting of political intrigue everyone is solitary and deserted:
the king, the queen, Rodrigo (Posa), Don Carlo, Princess Eboli. Each of
them bears his own tragedy within himself. Wernicke's setting is directed
towards "metaphysical" sorrow, the deep plaintive cry that resounds
from the depths of each individual soul. They are all condemned to death;
they are nothing but lemures with dead feelings, even if they continue
to live.
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| Photo: Sebastian Hoppe |
At the end Wernicke risks an unconventional interpretation: not only
is Don Carlo lying dead on the ground but Elizabeth also collapses, her
soul apparently having left her. Is at least this love saved in death?
The final scene seems to reflect Wagner's redemption dramaturgy. Charles
V, a very real apparition, moves unmoved among the dead, like the ghost
of Banquo. The religious belief in miracles, which up to now had always
been Don Carlo's redemption, is no longer of any avail.
When the opera was performed two years ago, one was very impressed by
the tremendous conviction and intensity with which the singers validated
the setting and interpretation. Furlanetto's superb rendering of the king's
role avoided all traces of maudlin sentimentality, especially in the great
night scene; rather, it stressed the dangerousness of a ruler whose personal
feelings have been deeply wounded. Olga Borodina as Princess Eboli, sung
with exquisite tonality and great power of dramatic expression, presented
a woman who is possessed by boundless emotion and who for that reason
can prove all the more menacing for her fellow creatures. Mescheriakova,
delightfully charming by virtue of the very fine lyricism of her voice,
presented the very opposite type of woman. With the "new" cast
members, Schikoff and Hampson, the quid pro quo of loneliness could possibly
turn out to be even more impressive. The stage is set, at any event, for
a "great performance".
Fugal Folly in a World out of Joint
Stray Thoughts on the Comedy of Verdi’s “Falstaff”
Giuseppe Verdi - Don Carlo
in the 4-act Italian version of 1884,
with German and English supertitles
Conductor .......... Lorin Maazel
Production, stage design and costumes .......... Herbert Wernicke
Dramaturgy .......... Albrecht Puhlmann
Chorus master .......... Donald Palumbo
Filippo II .......... Ferruccio Furlanetto
Don Carlo .......... Neil Shicoff
Rodrigo .......... Thomas Hampson
Il Grande Inquisitore .......... Anatoli Kotscherga
Un Frate (Carlo V) .......... Franz-Josef-Selig
Elisabetta di Valois .......... Marina Mescheriakova
La Principessa Eboli .......... Olga Borodina
Tebaldo .......... Gaële Le Roi
La Contessa d'Aremberg .......... Ursula Pfitzner
Il Conte di Lerma .......... Guy Renard
Un Araldo Reale .......... Ilya Levinsky
Una Voce dal Cielo .......... Diana Damrau
The Vienna Philharmonic
Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus
Grosses Festspielhaus
Revival: 9th August, 2001
15th, 19th, 23rd and 26th August, 2001 (Commencing: 6 p.m.)
Don Carlo
All performances are sold out