“What to all the world appears impossible”
Stefan Herheim's production of Die Entführung aus dem Serail ignites heated debate
Rarely was anything discussed so emotionally in Salzburg. The new production of Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), staged by the young Norwegian director Stefan Herheim, caused an upset. Next summer he is going to revive the production, continue work on it and make some adjustments. Nevertheless the performance is still likely to provoke explosive discussions …
W.A. Mozart, Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Stefan Herheim simply dispensed with images and associations we have come to love over the course of the years during visits to the theatre. In his production of Mozart’s opera there is no Oriental palace with merlons and Moorish arabesques, no Turkish Bassa Selim in richly embroidered clothes, Turkish trousers or wearing a turban, and also no harem or wild Moslems. Has he therefore missed the point? No, because Entführung is about other major questions: about love and eternal fidelity, about temptation and betrayal. A dream of humanity ever since Adam and Eva – or perhaps rather a trauma? The seraglio depicted by Herheim is the place of decision, this is where the hour of truth comes: has Konstanze remained loyal to her Belmonte or has she given her heart to someone else? And would a liaison between Blondchen and Osmin not be an exciting change from the mundane servant existence with Pedrillo? They have to stand before the altar, commit themselves, risk marriage, brides and bridegrooms, she and he, you and I.
Or Constanze Weber and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Less than three weeks after the premiere of his opera, on 4 August 1782, Mozart took his marriage vows. The questions he asked himself when he was working on the score were probably very similar to those asked by his stage heroes. Is Constanze the right woman for me? Does she really love me? Will she stay by me in good and in bad times – until death us do part? Mozart provides the answer in Belmonte’s aria at the beginning of the third act, “What to all the world appears impossible, will be united after all through love …” And this was Carl Maria von Weber’s verdict about the opera, “We could have expected subjects such as Don Giovanni or Figaro more often from Mozart but with the best will in the world he could not have written an Entführung again.”
By focusing his production of Entführung on the subjects of love and fidelity Stefan Herheim reduced the opera to its obvious core, thereby purging it of all convention and picturesque ornamentation. So far, so good. Yet why does he not have the Bassa Selim, the hero of the Englightenment appear in person? In the libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie jr. the Bassa already appears as a foreigner, a strange person, someone different. He is the only one not to sing, he speaks. He allows himself to be guided by reason, not by emotion. He steers destinies like a judge and brings the action to a happy ending. It is too good to be true. This Bassa is an ideal – or perhaps the inner voice we all carry within us?
On the Domplatz (Cathedral Square) in Christian Stückl’s production of Jedermann the Lord God himself appears in person – although this is not so in Hofmannsthal’s version – in the figure of the Poor Neighbour, the least of our brothers. On the stage of the Kleines Festspielhaus, in Herheim’s Entführung the process is reversed: Bassa, the deus ex machina, is no longer a specific figure, he stands for everyone and no one, is part of our own being and is our own “enlightened” reason.
This interpretation does of course bring about changes in the spoken dialogue but even Mozart, who wanted a revised version, a “new plot” of the old, well-known play to be written for Entführung, did not regard the libretto as sacrosanct. Quite apart from the fact that the form of the singspiel, with its spoken scenes separate from the music, always offers opportunity for extemporising and bringing in topical relevance. However, Stefan Herheim did not make any changes to the score, Mozart does of course remain Mozart, is taken seriously note for note and transposed highly musically in the characterisation. The video sequences introduce a new aspect by reflecting the play on the stage, doubling it, placing it under a magnifying glass, setting rooms, people and props in motion. Herheim’s Entführung holds a cornucopia of ideas, it is witty, has verve and a deeper meaning and it is well crafted.
W.A. Mozart, Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Unusual viewpoints can undoubtedly cause disturbance. At the same time they are very necessary in order to preserve for us the old, familiar subjects and secure them for the future. Let’s imagine for instance what it would be like if we still had productions of Wagner staged as they were during his lifetime: Lohengrin pulled along by a lifelike swan, coniferous forests and precipices as in a natural history museum, Siegfried in a bearskin … Would that not make us laugh instead of stirring our emotions? Therefore may we suggest the following for all sceptics: love at first sight does not always lead to happiness, sometimes a second encounter is necessary. And this production deserves it.
Susanne Stähr
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Die Entführung
aus dem Serail
Revival
Conductor Marcello Viotti
Stage director Stefan Herheim
Stage and costume design Gottfried Pilz
Video fettFilm
Lighting design Konrad Lindenberg
Chorus master Rupert Huber
Dramaturge Wolfgang Willaschek
Bassa Selim *****
Konstanze Regina Schörg
Blonde Laura Aikin
Belmonte Christoph Strehl
Pedrillo Dietmar Kerschbaum
Osmin Peter Rose
Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus
Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra
Premiere 25 July, 7 p.m.
Further performances
27 July, 7 p.m.
29 July, 7 p.m.
31 July, 7 p.m.
2 August, 7 p.m.
Kleines Festspielhaus
Telephone +43 (0) 662 8045-500
Telefax +43 (0) 662 8045-555
E-mail: info@salzburgfestival.at
Production photos © Karl Forster