 
Così fan tutte
Don Carlo, Falstaff
Die Fledermaus
Concert 2001
Narrated Music
Shir Ha Shirim
Notes
Paumgartner
Musically insured
who am i...?
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CHACUN À SON GOUT
Hans Neuenfels directs Die Fledermaus
"Happy is he who forgets what cannot be altered" - even 126
years after the world premiere of Strauß's operetta the melodic
and melancholic motto of Die Fledermaus gives many a person despondent
about life new courage.
Ulrike Kalchmair and Margarete Lasinger spoke to stage director Hans Neuenfels.
How did you react when Gerard Mortier asked you if you would like to
stage Die Fledermaus? Will your staging have anything to do with the motto
of this year's Festival "Questioning Tradition"?
Neuenfels: I think that tradition and analysing traditions has something very much to do with art: how far is tradition related to reality, the momentary reality, and to what extent can one use tradition, which is something very important for me. That is what interested me about the project.
Tradition also in a political dimension, bearing in mind the quote "Happy is he who forgets"?
Neuenfels: That is one direction in which one can interpret things. The other direction is to say "Chacun à son goût" - "Everyone to their taste", as Orlofsky says. For me that is even more important because it offers a kind of free rein for all possibilities even for all riskiness and for all imponderable eventualities. "Happy is he who forgets" - this creates a sand pit of leisureliness for us. But we do not want that. We want to have alertness. And art should also have something to do with attention and observation.
You intend to express this alertness with a new libretto for Die Fledermaus and make it even more polished, so to speak. What can you tell us about this new version of the libretto?
Neuenfels: The point of the new libretto is that the characters are more accentuated. How people at that time understood concepts such as deception, reflection, illusion, bigotry - indeed loss of identity even - is translated more sharply into today's world, into a harsher reality.
Do you also intend to include references to the current political situation, or should the libretto be generally valid?
Neuenfels: It would be nice if we could succeed in creating an intellectual landscape that conveys the fundamental elements of certain situations in a topical way and by that I mean symptomatic for all times.
How do you approach the relationship between libretto and music or music and libretto?
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| Gérard
Uféras, Wexford Festival Opera |
Neuenfels: I share everyone's view that the music is marvellous. For me it stands there like erratic islands and the libretto repeatedly creates curiosity about it. How can one continue to sing at that point, why can one sing there and why does one carry on singing there? The text has to bring about situations which produce the need to sing. On no account should it be an irritating accoutrement or a more or less random waiting slot.
Waltzes as a life form - what does that mean?
Neuenfels: Every country has its own particular music and its specific atmosphere. And this comes from very deep and justified roots. There is for instance the tango, there are various forms of a song, a rhythm that comes from the roots. And the waltz is a great European form of unification, separation, jubilation, of appropriation and at the same time of sadness, loneliness, the invocation of feelings. It is both social and individual. On the one hand it builds up and on the other it is destructive - that is the very subject of this operetta.
Does it hold a particular fascination for you to stage Die Fledermaus in Austria?
Neuenfels: Yes, because it is the country where this waltz and
this rhythm were created. The fact that at the moment there is perhaps
a special reason is only of secondary importance. The important thing
is that it is a landscape that can be observed from a European point of
view. One can focus attention on Europe, to a certain extent from an Austrian
perspective.
That is always very important for the sensuousness of a work
of art.
Where is your Fledermaus set?
Neuenfels: It is set at the turn of the century from the 19th to the 20th, in a historical period - after the crash on the stock exchange and after the turbulence experienced not only by Austria but throughout the world, extending even as far as to premonitions of the second world war.
How do you feel about the genre of operetta?
Neuenfels: I have a great affection for the genre of operetta, from Countess Mariza to The Gypsy Baron and The White Horse Inn; Johann Strauß brought it to its zenith. This is such a strangely ambiguous zenith that nowadays one has to accompany this genre to a certain extent in an essayistic rather than a know-it-all manner. You also have to know that it blows hot and cold, it is a bastard - and as Kleist says, every bastard is a natural child.
It seems that you can contribute to enhancing the reputation of this frequently misunderstood genre ...
Neuenfels: That would be nice. Well, if I can catch the bat, if I can catch a nerve in the wings of the bat, I can imagine that it could be very fascinating for me. I think this genre is very important because on the one hand it is a very intelligent way of commenting on subjects and on the other it is also very popular. And this combination between intellectually or intelligently and sensuously generalising the way a message is conveyed, is attractive. This is very good for making people aware of many subjects that are or appear to be eccentric, or are regarded as abnormal.
How are you going to embed your Fledermaus in the Felsenreitschule?
Neuenfels: When you enter the Felsenreitschule, you can only imagine bats. Thousands of them are hanging there from their claws, with their heads hanging down. It is a space full of magic and great mysticism, full of great mystery and surprises.
Johann Strauß
Die Fledermaus
sung in German
Conductor Marc Minkowski
Stage director Hans Neuenfels
Stage and costume design Reinhard von der Tannen
Dramaturgy Yvonne Gebauer
Chorus master Erwin Ortner
Gabriel von Eisenstein Christoph Homberger
Rosalinde Elzbieta Szmytka
Mireille
Delunsch (20., 23., 28. 8.)
Alfred Matthias Klink
Frank Dale Duesing
Dr. Falke Olaf Bär
Adele Malin Hartelius
Dr. Blind Franz Supper
Frosch Elisabeth Trissenaar
Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg
Arnold Schoenberg Choir
Felsenreitschule
New production: 17 August 2001
19 (performance starts at 3 p.m.), 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29 and 31 August
2001 (6 p.m.)
Performances start at 7 p.m. unless otherwise stated.