Symbiosis of intellect and beauty
King Arthur unifies different art forms
“What pleases the Italians does not please us”. This statement can be found in an essay published in 1702 in London. People knew better in England. “Their plays are more like musical performances; the mishmash they call drama is continuous singing without action, a stage happening or variety. However, in England, where poetry has achieved a high degree of perfection […], one cannot follow the Italians in this fashion”. Towards the end of the 17th century a completely individual art of theatre had indeed become established in Britain, a mixture of drama and music spiced with danced intermezzi, allegorical plays and a great variety of stage magic and surprises. King Arthur by Henry Purcell and John Dryden, first performed in 1691 in the Dorset Theatre in London, is founded in this tradition while at the same time transcending it. The various arts form an alliance here without a single one coming to the fore. “Music and poetry can also exist for themselves but they produce the most impressive effect when they are united, a symbiosis of intellect and beauty,” insisted John Dryden.
In King Arthur the drama that takes the actual action forward and the musical tableaux – the so-called masques – presenting an allegorical reflection of events are strictly separate from one another. Nevertheless, the work would lose its charm if one of the two levels were to be discarded. Besides Purcell’s score, Dryden’s drama also has its merits as it enriches the story of the enemy kings Arthur and Oswald, who are fighting to gain power in England and competing for the favour of the beautiful blind Emmeline, with all sorts of fantastic and spectacular aspects.
As in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which incidentally Dryden himself adapted in 1670, magical powers are allocated to each camp: Arthur is assisted by the good-natured Merlin and Philidel, the spirit of the air; on the opposing side are the wicked magician Osmond and his earthly spirit Grimbald. The heroes and their armies wander through foggy marshland, enchanted forests and frozen landscapes and artfully fight against art and with magic against sorcery. The aesthetic means thereby employed could hardly be more versatile and extend from the monumental battle with drastic horror effects (Dryden was a man of the theatre and well aware of what would achieve great effect; for instance, he equipped his extras in the battle scenes with blood-soaked sponges …) to the tête-à-tête of the quarrelling spirits, a scene that has something of a slapstick parody about it.
This panopticum is crowned by Purcell’s unique music, which for its part encompasses a broad palette of interpretation, forms and characters: strict counterpoint in the style of an anthem is followed by powerful fanfare-like choruses, a coarse, peasant drinking song gives way to the seraphic song of reverence for the “Fairest Isle”, and the magnificent frost scene with its spine-chilling tremoli and chromatic modulations is one of the most suggestive and sensual pieces of music ever composed. Purcell’s score illustrates and comments on the dramatic events and from time to time it also presents a stark ironic contrast. How else is it to be understood that Purcell introduces a sequence of French dance rhythms precisely for the British national celebration of consecration?
Although with King Arthur Purcell and Dryden produced a work fully in keeping with the prevailing spirit of their time, their charming art was soon to be forgotten, after only a few decades – unable to compete with the victorious trail of Italian opera, especially the stage works of George Frideric Handel. Centuries passed before posterity began to investigate its heritage; nevertheless it was no longer so simple to arrange a performance of the piece. No reliable score has been handed down, instead there are over sixty different and often contradictory sources. There are absolutely no indications about the orchestration and where one might expect to discover some, for instance in instrumental pieces entitled Trumpet Tune, special heed must be taken because what is usually meant is simply “in the style of trumpets”.
Therefore much pioneering work has to be undertaken for the first performance of King Arthur at the Salzburg Festival; conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and stage-director Jürgen Flimm have devised their own version. Dryden’s play – in some productions in recent years severely mutilated or replaced by other texts – is to be presented in a new translation, the spoken dialogues will be performed in German, the sung scenes in English.
Perhaps it will then become apparent what T. S. Eliot found so praiseworthy in the poet, “Much of Dryden’s unique quality consists in his ability to transform small things into great, prosaic matters into poetry, triviality into magnificence”. This is precisely one of the secrets of this play and the reason why King Arthur can be interpreted in so many ways: from a national monument to operetta.
Susanne Stähr
Henry Purcell
KING ARTHUR
New production
Conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Stage director Jürgen Flimm
Stage and video Klaus Kretschmer
Costumes Birgit Hutter
Choreography Catharina Lühr
Chorus master Rupert Huber
Dramaturge Susanne Stähr
King Arthur Michael Maertens • Oswald Dietmar König • Merlin Christoph Bantzer • Osmond Roland Renner • Emmeline Sylvie Rohrer • Matilda Ulli Maier • Philidel Alexandra Henkel • Grimbald Werner Wölbern • Soprano Barbara Bonney · Isabel Rey • Contralto Birgit Remmert • Tenor Michael Schade • Bass Oliver Widmer
Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus • Concentus Musicus Wien
Premiere 24 July, 7 p.m.
Further performances
26 and 28 July, 7 p.m.
1, 3 and 5 August, 7 p.m.
7 August, 6 p.m.
22 August, 3 p.m.
23 August, 7 p.m.
25 August, 6 p.m.
Felsenreitschule
Telephone +43 (0) 662 8045-500
Telefax +43 (0) 662 8045-555
info@salzburgfestival.at
Titel and Salzburg-Impressions © Thomas Klinger, Munich