Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos is an intellectual’s opera, probably better appreciated on stage than through a recording. A relatively rare title in Italy, it was defined by the composer himself as “the most thorny and the most difficult” of his operas. The difficulties are manifold and lie in the score, the soprano parts and the plot itself. In this new staging at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in collaboration with the Semperoper Dresden, director David Hermann skilfully masters the metatheatrical challenges posed by the libretto. With the important help of the colourful and characterising costumes of Michaela Barth, Hermann delivers a clear and fun rendition of events through the effective movement and direction of the cast.
With the story-within-a-story of the preparation of a show at a rich man’s house, Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s sophisticated libretto plays with many ideas at once. We have the travails of the artist, the clashes between idealism and reality, youth and maturity, and the compromises imposed by life. There is the juxtaposition of the highbrow and low art, aulic and prosaic, mythological characters and ordinary people, opera seria and commedia dell’arte. These contrasts are well represented visually by set designer Jo Schramm and lighting designer Fabrice Kebour. The brightly lit, minimalist Prologue set leaves space for the dark ancient world of Ariadne in the actual ‘opera’. But the stage here is also divided into two parts: on the right, a dark forest in Naxos with Ariadne and the three Nymphs; on the left, bright woods from which Zerbinetta and her comic friends slowly appear.
The opening night cast was first class. The three principal female roles truly competed for attention, starting with the en travesti Composer, sung memorably by mezzo-soprano Angela Brower, not only for her perfect vocal delivery, but for her natural and convincing acting. Soprano Ziyi Dai was superb as Zerbinetta, distinguishing herself with a dazzling performance of the extreme scena “Großmächtige Prinzessin” – full of treacherous coloratura and impossible high notes – and for a very amusing interpretation of the ‘common’ woman, as opposed to the noble and faithful Ariadne. The latter was well played by Axelle Fanyo, a lyric soprano with a warm, deep timbre, which transformed and lightened a lot when touching the high notes, but remained steady. Her duet with tenor Tuomas Katajala, in the role of Bacchus, was very well sung, although the director’s choices here could have done more to emphasise the pathos of the scene (why was Bacchus wearing everyday clothing?). Katajala showed a beautiful lyric voice which he sustained faultlessly in this challenging part.
A highlight was the trio of nymphsL Jessica Ricci (Naiad), Michela Guarrera (Dryade) and Sofia Barbashova (Echo). The luscious voice of mezzo-soprano Guarrera stood out, and one would hope to hear her in more important roles soon. Äneas Humm (Harlequin), Matteo Ivan Rašić (Scaramuccio), Karl Huml (Truffaldin) and Manuel Günther (Brighella) added fun as the commedia dell’arte wannabe consolers of Ariadne. The other characters were also well played.
Maxime Pascal confidently conducted the Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera in what is not an easy score, which brought audible trouble to the flute on a couple of occasions. Apart from these minor flaws, the show progressed effortlessly, negotiating the many potential traps. Unusually for an opera, the joy of this performance was not rapture of the heart, but rapture of the mind, the pleasure of an intellectual game well played.
