Heinrich Marschner - Der Vampyr
Staatsoper Hannover, 2022
Stephan Zilias, Ersan Mondtag, Shavleg Armas, Mercedes Arcuri, Norman Reinhardt, Michael Kupfer-Radecky, Daniel Eggert, Petra Radulovic, Philipp Kapeller, Nikki Treurniet, Pawel Brozek, Peter O'Reilly, Darwin Prakash, Gagik Vardanyan, Markus Suihkonen, Weronika Rabek, Oana Solomon, Benny Claessens, Jonas Grundner-Culemann
OperaVision - 25 March 2022
Science fiction and horror are not unknown subjects for opera but they are quite rare. Two rarities that have a distinctly bloodthirsty edge of horror - Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable and Gounod's La Nonne Sanglante - have however been revived in recent times and proved to be fascinating works, or at least mildly entertaining. Heinrich Marschner's Der Vampyr does get the occasional revival and recording, and thanks to Staatsoper Hannover and OperaVision, a few more of us have the opportunity to see a full performance of the work that - like the aforementioned horror classics - has lately been a little bit out of fashion, but definitely presents an uncommon opera experience.
Or at least an entertaining one. How horrific it is... well considering its origins, composed by Marschner in 1828, based on Polidori's 'The Vampyre', it's obviously steeped in Romanticism and, despite the archly Gothic libretto, there is little musically to strike fear into its intended audience. It's actually closely linked to the prevailing musical direction taken in Germany at the time, Marschner famously falling into that interesting period of German opera between Carl Maria von Weber and the arrival of Richard Wagner. Der Vampyr certainly exhibits the fascination for the supernatural of Weber's Der Freischütz and it anticipates the the dark mythology and development of leitmotif in Wagner's Die fliegende Höllander.
The opening scenes at least make something of the horror story, the notorious vampire Lord Ruthven being given 24 hours by the Vampire Master to find three virgin brides which will reward him with another year of life. He sets about that in style, making the first victim the daughter of the bishop. Ruthven poetically describes the fatal impulses and attraction of blood, and even though his first bite takes place off stage, there are screams and grotesque creatures aplenty in this Hannover production - where Marschner was Kappelmeister for over 30 years - to make the most of the unusual operatic drama.
After this however, the opera tends to settle down into more familiar patterns, with concerns about marriage arrangements for reasons of wealth and favourable alliances and no less than two drinking songs in Act II. There is not a lot more to the plot and not much tension as the three women are fatally drawn to the vampyr, although the exasperation of Edgar Aubry, who is aware of the nature of the Earl of Marsden who is about to be wedded to his intended third victim, but unable to speak about it, does bring an edge, certainly as it is played here by Norman Reinhardt.
It might not be the most thrilling or chilling in musical or dramatic expression, but Ersan Mondtag's direction for Hannover provides a suitably dark Gothic stage set and costumes to make the most of it. There's a grand castle rising out of darkness, the surrounding rubble of the ruins over centuries inhabited by all sort of creatures, monsters and ghouls. There's little evidence of the original Scottish setting however, the production going for something more stylised and cartoonish - as with Mondtag's colourful production of Schreker's Der Schmeid von Gent - with lots of shiny black plastic outfits, the father of Malwina looking like an Arab oil baron, Malwina wearing a costume with Shell emblems on it.
Mondtag's production may have a strong visual stamp, but as is often the case with revivals of works that are a little too old-fashioned to play straight, this version chooses to err a little on the side of camp. A little too far unfortunately, and the only thing that prevents it from going down the same route as Laurent Pelly's Robert le Diable, is that the Hamburg team can't seem to quite make their mind up on what tone to adopt, whether to wink knowingly at how fun it really is, or to try and give it a little more gravity that just isn't there.
Leaning more towards Weber than Wagner, the recitative presents the opportunity for the director and dramaturgist to put in additional scenes, characters and dialogue in order to give the work some overarching sense of purpose. Hence we have Astarte doubling for the Vampire Master entering into long tedious discussions with the Wandering Jew on social outsiderness and curse of immortality, while Belgian actor Benny Claessens as a pink satin-wearing purple-haired dandy Lord Byron interrupts the proceedings with irrelevant musing and improvised dialogue that breaks the third wall and totally destroys the flow of the drama and any investment you might have in it.
If you are able to get past the irritating interruptions, the Hannover Der Vampyr is pleasant enough. Marschner's music has plenty of melody and momentum of its own and it comes cross well under the baton of Stephan Zilias, and the singing performances strike the right tone for the opera. I've only heard a recording of this opera before and found it enjoyable, so I was surprised that opportunities to see it performed on stage are so rare. Seeing it now, that despite being less grandiose and problematic than Meyerbeer, it has similar limitations when it comes to staging. I was glad that Hannover took the opportunity to share this curiosity with the world, but I think I might have enjoyed a little more without the pointless additional scenes and added commentary.
Links: Staatsoper Hamburg, OperaVision
