Director, David Alden; Set designer Paul Steinberg; Costume designer, Gideon Davey; Lighting designer, Adam Silverman. Conductor, Jakub Hruša; Brandon Jovanovich, Lohengrin; Jennifer Davis, Elsa; Maida Hundeling, Ortrud; Craig Colclough, Telramund; Gábor Bretz, King Henry
This is only the third live production I’ve been to of Lohengrin. The first was in 1972 at Bayreuth (a Wolfgang Wagner production), the second was the Moshinsky production at Covent Garden in the late 1970’s (Haitink conducting, Rene Kollo, Lohengrin) to which I went maybe 2-3 times, and the third was this, David Alden one which I saw in its first outing in 2018. I have to say this time round the Alden production made a much more powerful impression – I’m not sure why the 2018 one didn’t: maybe it was where I was sitting, possibly I was tired…….certainly I had it in my mind that it was good but I had no memory it had been THIS good. This was another of those evenings when you think – of all the art forms, when opera gets it right there’s nothing to beat it
The design context is post First World War – partially ruined buildings, wounded civilians. Clothing for the chorus is generally 1920s. The buildings are mainly brick/concrete/metal-looking structures, distorted to look shelled or partially destroyed by fire, and which can be moved around cleverly to represent the town square, Cathedral a dungeon and so forth. The German presence is threatening – soldiers with guns oversee the Brabant populace. The Brabantines are needy, wanting a leader. King Henry is not the leader they hope for – he’s portrayed as weak, lacking authority. When Lohengrin arrives, he is seen as the leader the Brabantines have wished for and he becomes a cult figure – a giant white Swan monument Albert Speer-style is at the back of the stage for the conclusion of Act 2, and red, white and black Swan banners decorate the last part of Act 3, with fairly obvious but still powerful connotations. The one totally different scene is Act 3 scene 1, a white/faun coloured bedroom with a huge Neuschwanstein painting of the arrival of Lohengrin on the wall. The lighting by Adam Silverman was beautiful and effective. The one thing that may be didn’t work in the production was the use of the auditorium at the end of Act 2 and very beginning of Act 3 – the toasting of the happy couple by Ortrud from a box made some sort of in-character sense, but why Lohengrin and Elsa were wandering around the Stalls seats on the way to the bedroom didn’t really add much…..though quite amusing
The very clear trajectory of the opera as seen by Alden is from delusional belief – in leaders, in a religious saviour figure, in love and a perfect romantic partner – towards a clearer understanding of self and others. Lohengrin himself is to some extent delusional – he seems willing to combine at first his role as a Knight of the Grail with his marriage to Elsa, and leadership of the Brabantines to war, yet these are unreconcilable opposites which he has to choose between. The pivotal question both Lohengrin and Elsa have to ask themselves and answer is – who are you? By the end of the opera there has been some kind of progress towards a new reality, based upon as so often in Wagner a sort of renunciation:
- Renunciation by Lohengrin of an ordinary ‘human’ life for his real vocation as a Grail Knight
- Renunciation by Elsa of her marriage to Lohengrin for either life with her new-found brother (though the stage directions say she falls lifeless into Gottfried’s arms at the end, to me she still looked alive in this production), or, if a death, a death that represents a new understanding of her failings and transforms her death into a new truth
- Renunciation by the community from Lohengrin as supreme leader to a new rightful heir to the throne of Brabant, Gottfried.
Gottfried’s gradual emergence from a crumpled rally banner, holding up a sword – which in a Wagnerian setting, is something positive, representing new life – is one of the great coups of this production and gives it a more positive and moving ending than most (the other great coups are Telramund bursting through the paper walls to kill Lohengrin at the climax of Act 3 Scene 1, and the collapse of the banners as the Brabantine community realises it delusions about leadership in the last scene ). The one person who consistently speaks the truth is Ortrud, and she sees through both Lohengrin’s and Elsa’s delusions. However, she uses that understanding, integrity and insight, that self-knowledge, only to promote her own and her husband’s interests, and to destroy Elsa – in some ways almost a prototype of Wotan. The concept of how religious faith ‘works’ is explored – Lohengrin is seen by Elsa as a saviour figure, to be believed uncritically. By the last act, her last words essentially to us are ‘ Lord, Have mercy upon me’ as she realises the extent of her delusion (and here I wonder if Wagner was aware of the resonances with ‘Erbarme Dich’ in the St Matthew Passion – would he have heard one of Mendelssohn’s performances) – she has moved from her image of an idealised Saviour to a radical emptying of self and a reliance on God’s mercy.. Telramund is a weak self interested figure unable to measure up to any of the three major protagonists
There are many glorious moments in this score and musically chorus and orchestra were on top form. The chorus was in fact tremendous – quite the best singing I’ve heard from them in a long time. I don’t remember them being quite as good in 2018. Similarly the conductor in 2018 was Andris Nelsons but Jakob Hrusa’s conducting was equally effective In bringing out the power and beauty of this score (rumour has it he might be one of the contenders for Pappano’s position in 2024)
As Lohengrin Brandon Jovanovitch was very effective – he looked good, moved well, engaged fully with the other singers . He also sung sensitively. His voice was getting tired towards the end of Act 3. Jennifer Davis’ Elsa was much more variedly and sensitively sung than in 2018. The last two performances of this run had a different Ortrud – this was Maida Hundeling, who was extremely ‘in your face’ ,- which is a totally reasonable way to play the role. She’s a mid- career German singer, with a powerful voice; not much subtlety, but in this role subtlety might be a disadvantage! Telramund played by Craig Colclough, is a protoGunther type manipulated by a powerful woman. Mr Colclough didn’t make much of an impression but then that’s also possibly in-character. Gabor Bretz conveyed the right sort of unsteadiness as King Henry, in a good way – his is an excellent Wagnerian bass voice (I remember him singing a good Act 3 Parsifal Gurnemanz with Mark Elder in York Minster)
All in all, a very memorable evening! This will have to be in my top ten live musical events of the year!
John's musical journey 