Rose, Snow and Love

Theater Bonn, "The Knight of the Rose" 

The first premiere at the Bonn Theater for the 2019/20 season was "Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose) by Richard Strauss ", which is a particularly challenging both for the orchestra and for the singers on stage. A complexity that is reinforced by the language used in the vast script, which is a combination of archaisms and French words, that is sometimes difficult to understand, even with subtitles. You can't enjoy this masterpiece, unless an experienced director and proficient musicians are involved in the project. Therefore, if you discover a theater producing this opera, you should see it as a sign of pride for the theater itself.

Bonn, the capital of the former West Germany and a renowned university city, has an open-minded and relaxed atmosphere, as typical of other cities that enjoy Carnival and are located along the Rhein. What I feel while watching some performances in this theater is that there are the different types of audience with an enthusiastic response. I have always been impressed by the special and very close bond between the theater and its audience; and also this time the audience responded with loud cheering and applause.

Josef Ernst Köpplinger 's production was successful. The Austrian, who is also the artistic director of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich, led delicately and wittily an apparently common and conventional story. In particular, even if this opera has several different roles, to each role was given a character and a narrative of its own. That gave a variety of colors throughout the opera. Thanks to the good sense of dynamics shown by the director it was possible to admire the well-balanced and controlled vitality of the performance. Just as Hugo von Hoffmannstahl, the original author of the libretto, yielded “Prima la musica (music first)” while working with the composer Richard Strauss, so this production showed the director's effort to equilibrate music and scene within his wider perspective. I could watch this opera for four hours completely unaware of the passage of time.

A scene in the second act of  "The Knight of the Rose", Theater Bonn ⓒThilo Beu

The orchestra, led by Dirk Kaftan, performed smoothly the variable Strauss’s music in harmony with the singer. One of the keys to the success of the production was the casting with well-chosen singers for each and every role. Soprano Martina Welschenbach, who specializes in German repertoire including Wagner, portrayed a beautiful and graceful Marchallin, while Bass Franz Hawlata, who had already sung Baron Oaks on stage of several worldclass opera houses, wonderfully expressed the snobbish and lecherous character that could never be hated. Also remarkable, amidst many renowned singers, were the performances of rising vocalists: Louise Keménny in role of Sophie expressed the youthfulness and the emotions of a 17-year-old girl. Although while singing her lower jaw trembled and her high notes were sometimes unstable, her technique will undoubtedly develop in the future, considering her correct diction and her portrayal of the character. The title role of Octavian was sung by Swedish Mezzo Soprano Emma Sventelius, who has the perfect appearance and singing for playing the knight of the rose. She did so well with trouser-role that I sometimes forgot that she was a woman. I am looking forward to seeing how this young mezzo soprano portrays Cherubino, another popular trouser-role, in the opera “Le nozze di Figaro” which will be held in the same theater later this season. It was also a pleasure to discover the Korean tenor Jonghoon Yoo who appeared in the third act as an innkeeper.

After the beautiful terzet of the third act, the stage, which was closed, slowly reopened while the snow was falling from the sky. Sophie and Octavian found new love and happiness in the snow. But as the audience had already heard from the monologue about the futility of time and ageing sung by Marschallin in the first act “I can see the snow of the past years on myself in the mirror”. And then they saw the snow falling also on the 17 years old Sophie and Octavian. How did all the people in attendance react to this final scene? 

This production continues until the end of December.