2023-08-13 05:07:21
Buhorkan and thunderstorm at the “Falstaff” premiere at the Salzburg Festival: While a massive thunderstorm shook Salzburg in front of the Großer Festspielhaus on Saturday, a buhorkan erupted inside at the end of the premiere evening over the directors’ team around Christoph Marthaler. Unlike the ensemble and Ingo Metzmacher’s performance at the podium of the Vienna Philharmonic, the production clearly failed.
However, director Marthaler was not the only one who got a cold shower in the Festspielhaus that evening. As in 2018, during a concert in the second half of the evening, some ground floor seats were badly hit by the bad weather: water penetrated through the leaky ceiling and drove some premiere guests from their seats fifteen minutes before the end of the Verdi opera.
At this point in time, the classic Marthaler cosmos had already unfolded to perfection on stage – and in complete contrast to the usual “Falstaff” productions. Verdi’s last opera is characterized by a large number of characters and a fast, complex plot. Many theater people are now trying to unravel this – but not Christoph Marthaler. On the contrary, the 71-year-old multiplies the number of actors and puts a film crew at work alongside the singing roles.
And a Marthaler can’t be rushed. For the first few minutes of the evening, there was still no music on stage, before Metzmacher and the Philharmoniker only got started following the cinema shutter had dropped. The linchpin of the double plot is creating an alter ego for Gerald Finley’s Falstaff. After all, the 63-year-old Canadian is an unusually attractive and slim bon vivant with no morals. A mute Orson Welles now follows him as a shadow as the master of the action, to whose stage directions everyone, including the singers, initially listens. Only those at whom the camera is pointing actually play. The others just mark.
With this approach, Marthaler and his regular set designer Anna Viebrock, who created a triptych as a playing surface with three fixed locations, succeed in calmly playing and using the enormous horizontal space of the Festspielhaus. The “Falstaff” thus swings from the comedy in the tradition of the Commedia dell’arte to the side of the slightly shifted and eccentric Marthaler humor. The whole thing is quieter, more subtle, but also more hermetic than traditional “Falstaffs”.
Many in the audience do not understand the concept without their own preliminary work – and the fact that Marthaler only partially trusts his own tracks does not contribute to a more inclusive understanding. As the evening progresses, the film crew and their boss have less and less to do. The game within the game seems to care less and less for the director of the director.
This would certainly result in a series of interesting, retarding moments and constellations, including character aesthetics for which Viebrock is largely responsible, which makes one think of protagonists in some films by the Coen brothers or by Wes Anderson. Last but not least, the ladies of the evening stand out in their design, such as Giulia Semenzato with a rich soprano as the young Nannetta or Tanja Ariane Baumgartner with her versatile mezzo as the coordinating Mrs. Quickly. And Elena Stikhina makes up for her somewhat undersized volume for the Großes Festspielhaus with great enthusiasm as Alice Ford.
The new music specialist and “Falstaff” debutant Ingo Metzmacher tackles the matter in the ditch with verve. Even if the Philharmoniker make a little slip here and there, the 65-year-old relies on a fresh, gripping interpretation of the score. However, Metzmacher paid no heed to Gerald Finley’s laryngitis, which had been announced in advance and which resulted in the hedonist and anarchist being slightly muted in his voice.
For those who cannot make it to the Festspielhaus in person, 3sat will show the TV recording of the opera evening regarding the filming of a play on August 19th and ORF III on September 3rd. This can then presumably be followed from dry land.
(SERVICE – “Falstaff” by Giuseppe Verdi as part of the Salzburg Festival in the Grosses Festspielhaus, Hofstallgasse 1, 5020 Salzburg. Director: Christoph Marthaler, musical direction: Ingo Metzmacher on the podium of the Vienna Philharmonic, set/costumes: Anna Viebrock, lights: Sebastian Alphonse With Gerald Finley – Sir John Falstaff, Simon Keenlyside – Ford, Bogdan Volkov – Fenton, Thomas Ebenstein – Dr. Cajus, Michael Colvin – Bardolfo, Jens Larsen – Pistola, Elena Stikhina – Alice Ford, Giulia Semenzato – Nannetta, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner – Mrs. Quickly, Cecilia Molinari – Meg Page, Marc Bodnar – Orson W., Liliana Benini – Robinia, Joaquin Abella – First Assistant Director Further performances on 16th, 20th, 23rd, 26th and 30th August. www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/p/falstaff-2023)
1691904836
#Salzburg #Festival #Falstaff #water #ingress #Buhorkan
