Aribert Reimann’s concert music is not new to the Salzburg Festival’s programmes – for example, his orchestra concerto Zeit-Inseln was first performed at the Salzburg Festival in 2004. This summer sees the first performances of one of Reimann’s operas, his Lear. Strictly speaking, fragments of this opera were already heard here in 1985, as Festival President Helga Rabl-Stadler pointed out during the Terrace Talk. The baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, who inspired Aribert Reimann to write the work, was singing at the time.
Lear 2017: Gerard Finley (King Lear), Volker Wahl (Knight), photo Salzburger Festspiele / Thomas Aurin
This year it is Gerald Finley taking on the role of Lear. With Franz Welser-Möst, now conducting his 78th opera, and Simon Stone, who moves on to Hollywood after completing his Salzburg production of Lear, and with the Vienna Philharmonic, giving itself a present of this opera in its 175th anniversary year, the opera is in the best hands imaginable, said the Festival’s President.
Simon Stone, Aribert Reimann and Franz Welser-Möst, photo Salzburger Festspiele/Anne Zeuner
Wolfgang Schaufler, the talk’s moderator, asked the composer what had attracted him to this piece in particular. “Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau had started to ask me about this piece as early as 1968,” Aribert Reimann responded. “For three years, I turned him down, telling him that it was impossible to transform Shakespeare’s King Lear into an opera.” Then, however, he started examining the text more intensively, asked Claus H. Henneberg to write a libretto, and finally, the idea arose of using an old translation made in 1777 by Johann Joachim Eschenburg, as it was closer to Shakespeare’s original. Soon, the first pages were written, and it was agreed that Jean-Pierre Ponnelle would direct the world premiere. “I worked more intensively with him than with any other director in my entire life,” the composer said, recounting how Ponnelle helped him, continuously reminding him that the orchestra’s role is to bring to life the images arising in the audience’s minds when witnessing the piece.
Lauri Vasar – Earl of Gloucester, photo Salzburger Festspiele / Thomas Aurin
Conductor Franz Welser-Möst described the music as profoundly psychological, not shrinking from cruelty. He added that the music was multi-faceted, full of double meanings and an ability to get under one’s skin – the exhaustion after a rehearsal is palpable. Is he occasionally seduced into giving in completely to this musical undertow? Franz Welser-Möst pointed out that this is the case with every piece. However, it is not the conductor’s job to cry, but to convey the message and trigger emotions in the audience. “Off the cuff, I would say that I am far too busy to get involved too much. However, I notice after rehearsal how much a piece exhausts me,” the conductor added. Claiming that a great composer can be recognized by the way he treats text, he pointed out that in this opera, every word is intelligible.
Lear 2017 – Ensemble
“Much blood flows here,” the opera’s libretto states – and Simon Stone takes these words very seriously for his production. “The horror, the brutality is found not only in the text, but in the music too,” said Simon Stone. And the violence increases throughout the piece, making it appear normal that every figure encounters violence. Did the performance venue of the Felsenreitschule influence him? – “Yes, of course! The arcades are there, you cannot ignore them,” the director replied. “But of course, the venue influences me less than the music does.” To him, there is hardly a piece that has retained its topicality to such a degree, said Stone: there is no separation between music and characters.
Gerard Finley – King Lear and Kai Wessel – Edgard
“In my opinion, Reimann wrote the ideal work in order to understand the tale of Lear,” said Simon Stone. “I have seen so many productions of Shakespeare’s King Lear in which I could not understand the core of the tale. Here, the music demystifies the madness. – The music clarifies this madness and gives a timeless answer to the content of this piece.” Every day, the opera inspires him anew. However, there is also hope in this story – embodied by Lear’s daughter Cordelia, the only one to speak the truth. “That is hope, to me! To have the courage to speak the truth when all others are willing to do what is expected of them,” he said. Lear’s demise is really the moment of self-revelation, the moment in which he again turns human and is no longer merely a king.
Evelyn Herlitzius – Goneril and Charles Workman – Edmund
The problem that the orchestra cannot fit into the orchestra pit has been turned into a virtue, a solution with which Franz Welser-Möst is very happy: the percussion has been moved to the side of the stage. “Spreading the instruments out like this helps the sound of this opera. The first rehearsals in a smaller space gave us all headaches – but now that the orchestra is spread further out, you suddenly hear everything much better,” he said.
Gerard Finley – King Lear and Anna Prohaska – Cordelia
Reimann’s opera has seen 28 new productions since its premiere. “Every time, it is a different world. The piece is gaining independence, and every time I am convinced anew of what I see,” Aribert Reimann said. “Every time, I sit there, astonished at the many things that are open to interpretation. There are so many things in this work that emerge again and again, always timely and current.”
Anna Prohaska – Cordelia, Gerard Finley – King Lear and Evelin Herlitzius – Goneril
Aribert Reimann – Lear, Opera in two parts (1976-1978) – New production
Libretto by Claus H. Henneberg after William Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear in the German translation (1777) by Johann Joachim EschenburgFranz Welser-Möst, Conductor
Simon Stone, Director, Bob Cousins, Sets, Mel Page, Costumes, Nick Schlieper, Lighting, Christian Arseni, Dramaturgy
Gerald Finley, King Lear
Evelyn Herlitzius, Goneril
Gun-Brit Barkmin, Regan
Anna Prohaska, Cordelia
Lauri Vasar, Earl of Gloucester
Kai Wessel, Edgar
Charles Workman, Edmund
Michael Maertens, Fool
Matthias Klink, Earl of Kent
Derek Welton, Duke of Albany
Michael Colvin, Duke of Cornwall
Tilmann Rönnebeck, King of France
Franz Gruber, Servant
Volker Wahl, Knight
Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus
Huw Rhys James, Chorus Master
Vienna Philharmonic
(After Press materials and Terrace Talk by Anne Zeuner)
Marijan Zlobec