Customer Reviews

Henze - L'Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe / Goerne, Aikin, Ainsley, Muff, Kohler, Stenz, Salzburg Opera

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This dark fairy tale / allegory is a brilliant though somewhat difficult culmination of a long masterful career in the theater. Henze has said this is his final opera and he has written the libretto himself based on Arabian tales of seeking and redemption. If you know Henze's other operas, you will be familiar with his mixture of neo-classicism and lyrical expressionism (a graceful 12-tone technique with very singable lines) that have been his hallmark for over fifty years. Once again, the music is beautiful, multi-hued, and brightly kaliedoscopic in a way that reminds me of Berg's Lulu, and like that opera, a first hearing may not be sufficient to completely hear where the music is going and follow all the "melodies." But both operas do have melodies, just not simple repetitive ones. And on repeated hearings, they grow more distinct and haunting. But don't worry--on first hearing, the connecting interludes are immediately distinct enough to draw you through the more difficult passages. Each major episode of L'Upupa has a monologue at its center, and they grow more varied and more lyrical as the opera progresses, culminating in a lovely sad one for The Demon where he asks for an apple from the Tree of Life. All the singers are quite good and some of them are extraordinary: Laura Aiken (as the opera's "heroine") and John Mark Ainsley (as that Demon) come quickly to mind. My only regret is that Matthias Goerne, who sings the main role, seems miscast in some ways. He looks too old and (let's face it) out of shape to be the callow young man the part requires on video and his blank look reads more "mental deficiency" and less the "innocence" he seems to be trying for. On top of that, the lowest notes give him some trouble a couple of times. Still, his singing is lyrical, positive, and often lovely and he is not always the focus of attention. And Aiken and Ainsley are natural and delightful enough to forgive the disbelief Goerne causes you to have trouble suspending. The recording of this very imaginative production is quite good though not perfect: being very picky, balance is occasionally off and some of the cutting back and forth to people onstage is ill-chosen, especially during the important monologues. By the second time you watch it, though, all imperfections pale as the music works a very special magic on those willing to listen. The opera world will be less bright now that Henze has retired from it. May his operas grow more popular and available in recorded productions like these.

The allusion's to Mozart's "Magic Flute" in Hans Werner Henze's opera "The Hoopoe and the Triumph of a Son's Love" are unmistakable and essential to deciphering Henze's fantasy. The son Kasim clearly reflects the prince Tamino. The Daemon who accompanies Kasim has much of Papageno in him. The bird in the cage? Of course. There are also echoes of Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio in Henze's opera, which is set in an Arabian Nights world of magic and oriental cruelty. There's a lot more to "L'Upupa" than self-referential modernist tribute to the past of music, however. Henze has his own philosophical burden to deliver via music, and it's a different message than Mozart ever intended.

L'Upupa is all about longing, questing, and renouncing. A father who longs for one last song from the hoopoe (a symbolic bird in many texts of European and Arabic literature) sends his three sons in quest of it. Naturally, ala Brothers Grimm, it's the youngest son who embodies the necessary virtues of honesty and selflessness. On his quest, the son encounters his emotional counter-figure, his Daemon, and his sexual other-half, Princess Badi'at. These three roles are sung by Matthias Goerne, John Mark Ainsley, and Laura Aikin; their acting skills and voices certainly define their characters, so that subsequent productions of this opera will have to meet their very high standards. En route to bring home the magic bird, Kasim has to confront three tyrants, a sort of triple Sarastro, each of whom renounces one possibility of anti-virtue in favor of generosity. Meanwhile, Kasim's two elder brothers are comic villains, whose disloyalty and greed lead them into harsher and harsher trouble. When finally the Father, sung and spoken ardently by Alfred Muff, has his hoopoe in hand, what does he do but release the bird, an act of "letting go" that conveys the central theme of the opera, that of giving up freely what you cannot keep.

Henze's music is lush and complex, not something to hear once and claim to appreciate in its entirety. Unlike many modern operas, in which the orchestra is the true protagonist, L'Upupa features wonderful vocal "melos" - melody in the broadest sense - with vivid duets and trios being the strongest attraction to the ear. I'm fairly sure that I'll like this opera even more the second time I hear it, which is high praise for a contemporary work.

The staging and sets also deserve a word of commendation. The sets are well conceived to be visually interesting and meaningful without distracting the mind of the viewer from the words and music. Well-filmed, well-recorded, an absolute delight for all the senses, and a challenge for the mind as well.

This is Henze's Magic Flute. And it is a kind of modern Singspiel since there is a bit of spoken dialogue. The story concerns a father who longs for the Hoopoe that might make him happy. His three sons set off in search of the rare bird and have many adventures on the way. While the plot is fantastic the music is not simple. Henze's style takes a little getting used to. Actually the musical interludes between the eleven scenes are more melodic than much of what is sung. And the work concludes with a beautiful interlude for the orchestra. The production is very much in keeping with the exotic plot. The singers and orchestra acquit themselves worthily. All in all I must say I am more in admiration of the work and of Henze than in love with it.

This is a fine "modern" opera beautifully staged and excellently performed (I do agree that the hero could be a bit more "dashing" etc). I suspect that, for most, Henze's music will take a bit of getting used to. However on viewing it a second time I enjoyed it even more and I do plan on continuing to watch it as time goes on.

Imagine a luminous, ascerbic, witty and lyrical post-Bergian opera performed by -- The Three Stooges.

Huh? But:

It works. Big time.

Take Moe's advice: Don't be a knucklehead. Buy "L'Uppa" today.

Easily one of my three or four favorite opera videos. (But beware: One of the others is Mehta's "Tristan . . .")

I do not know Has Werner Henze's music. This is the first opera of his that I have watched. I was fascinated. I cannot however comment on the musical quality of the production. The video images were excellent. The color was well saturated. The sound stage created with the DTS setting was excellent. There are many sound effects -- each was realistic, clear and when appropriate moved across the stage and faded into the distance. Brian Large is the video director. I have always found his work to be focussed and lacking the gratuitous camera shifts loved by so many other video directors. Mr Large will not distract from the key parts of a scene. All in all I will watch this production again.

Hans Werner Henze is not popular with music critics because he refused to join a 100-year-old avant-garde (I always thought of avant-garde as rebel youth, but now when a music critic says avan-garde he/she conjures in me the figure of an old, white-haired gentleman walking with a cane). And I like Henze for his independence. But l'Upupa is not one of his best operas,it is as crazy as The Love for Three Oranges without having that opera's irresistible music. If you wish to know Henze, I suggest Der Junge Lord or, even better, Boulevard Solitude, which, in my opinion, is a masterpiece by any standard.

This fairy tale opera would be a great vehicle for Minnesota Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Central City Opera and DVD. It would get lost at the Met, Chicago or San Francisco houses. It's a delicate story and the more intimate the setting, the more you're going to enjoy the performance. A cozy livng room is ideal for this performance on DVD. You will connect immediately with the sets, costumes, story and special effects. The music might be another matter. The orchestration is more intersting then most of the vocal parts. There isn't a melody or tune you can sink your ears into. I've watched it twice and I just wonder how many times in the future I'm going to take it down from the shelf and watch the entire thing again. That would be a hard call to make. I suppose it would help to understand German as I'm sure the subtitles don't tell the whole story. For me, the orchestra was the star of this performance.