An artist plays his heart and soul out
Dietmar Kerschbaum is commited to the Salzburg Festival production of Entführung
“Many of my friends and acquaintances wished me good luck. They did not believe that I feel really good in this production,“ says Dietmar Kerschbaum, who sings the role of Pedrillo in Stefan Herheim’s controversial Entführung.
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| In the revival of Entführung in summer 2004 Dietmar Kerschbaum sings the role of Pedrillo. |
“This production revealed to me how a singer can take a new approach and penetrate a work more deeply. As a lyric tenor I feel very comfortable when there is plenty of action for me. Through the action the entire body becomes strongly involved and this brings about a change in the body feeling. And with the new body feeling the voice changes and the colours are also changed.” The enormous technical demands of the Herheim Entführung required the utmost of the ensemble in a relatively short phase of rehearsals. “It would have been totally impossible with an ensemble of ‘more established’ singers. Every day we were on stage for at least ten hours and sometimes we were physically completely exhausted. Something like this needs singers who really yearn to do something new. We were all 140 per cent behind the production.”
The fact that audiences rejected the production so vehemently did indeed “ruin some of my days”, admits Dietmar Kerschbaum. “When an artist goes on stage, he more or less takes off all his clothes, surrenders himself, makes himself vulnerable. I often asked myself ‘why am I doing this when the audience does not support the singers?’ The job is certainly no fun then.” Kerschbaum reflects that it is easy to shout boo, “but when the audience disturbs the production, they upset the singers. And under this kind of pressure singers can perhaps no longer perform to the standards rightly expected of them by the public.” He would like to invite those people who shouted “boo”, to go on stage themselves. “If members of the audience are so annoyed, they should save their anger for the stage-director. I have never experienced such audiences.”
“Such massive interruptions only occur because people feel completely at a loss.” As regards the revival in the coming summer 2004 Dietmar Kerschbaum says, “I am optimistic. I would like to be there again and I’m looking forward to it. I am committed to this production and the work we achieved.” That is why he would no longer participate if there were fundamental changes to the concept.
Kerschbaum says that the “Klaas scene” which resulted in the most protests and which was already abridged in the summer was the only scene which he himself did not agree with. “I felt that something had gone wrong there.” Kerschbaum says he does not know anything specific about the changes. If Belmonte’s aria in the third act were to be cut, this scene could be left out altogether. “But in Mozart’s opera there is the boatman Klaas. Many ‘connoisseurs’ are not even aware of that because he is so frequently cut out.”
Some of the comments made by the public were often accompanied by aggressive outbursts. One visitor stressed that in the past forty years he had seen every Entführung and he could not imagine what was the significance of the nonsense with Klaas. “This backfires on the aggressive critics.” As Kerschbaum himself openly admitted, he was annoyed by the fact that in the discussions with members of the public all they were concerned about was the staging and never the achievements of the singers. “In reviews of opera column after column is filled with comments about the staging and the singers are just mentioned in a few lines.” Next summer there is no “scandalous piece” on the programme of the festival: “Perhaps therefore people will attack the Entführung production again”, grumbles Dietmar Kerschbaum while at the same time emphasising the positive aspects. “I experienced some of the discussions after performances of Entführung. That is a bonus. When discussions take place that is already a bonus”.
Heidemarie Klabacher