Prior to his great success writing comic operettas, Jacques Offenbach wrote some ‘serious’ pieces, and his little known German romantic opera, Die Rheinnixen, a supernatural tale of fairies in the forest at its heart, also has a political side, making sharp comment on war, violence and nationalism. Sadly, it would appear, he was a victim of his own success, and the Paris audiences only wanted more of his comedies, so apart from a premiere that was cut short, it was not performed in full until 2002. Gothic Opera chose Die Rhiennixen for their seventh season. Once again, they have pulled off a triumph.
Director Max Hoehn’s production transfers the action from the 1522 Ritterkrieg (Knights’ War) to Weimar Germany, with period propaganda posters projected above the central thrust stage and subdued lighting taking advantage of the moody, atmospheric setting of Battersea Arts Centre. A technical issue with the surtitles meant that keeping track of the already complicated plot, now with new political overtones, a little tricky, but the standard of acting and singing of all concerned communicated enough of the drama to make sense most of the time.
I do hope it’s not me that brings a technical jinx to Gothic Opera’s performances! Last year an organ cipher brought proceedings to a halt, this year trains conspired to delay the start by a good half hour and technical problems with surtitles meant they were confined to two barely visible small screens either side of the stage. However, as last year, the company took the delay on the chin and improvised a Q&A, as well as giving us a few musical snippets to fill the time. Harpist Veronika Lemishenko gave a bravura performance of Durand’s Valse and conductor Hannah von Wiehler and the seven-piece band gave a preview of what we know best as the Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann, but which was actually composed for the Nixen (fairies). Artistic Director Béatrice de Larragoïti was joined by Hannah Morley from the chorus to sing the duet, and Harrison Gration (Gottfried) even sang Wagner, accompanied by Lemishenko on the harp, apparently unrehearsed. Hats off to all for their entertaining and informative ‘vamping’.
Once up and running, however, the performance gripped from beginning to end, the closeness of the action to the audience creating an immersive experience, a treat to see and hear the singers up so close. Across their four performances, Gothic Opera had two separate casts. On Sunday, Alice Usher (co-founder) was spellbinding as Armgard, her unhinged madness and obsession with singing all night evident in her wild coloratura and bell-like tone, whilst Mae Heydorn, as her mother Hedwig, had weightier dramatic tone, full of anguish and torment as well as steely power when needed. Sam Utley’s Franz was suitably dazed and confused, finally tender and warm, with power at the top of his range. Harrison Gration made the strongest vocal impact of the men, his powerful bass-baritone one to watch, whilst Owain Gwynfryn as Conrad managed the transition from proto-Nazi tyrant to anguished father well (or at least as well as that slightly implausible transition allowed), another agile baritone to watch out for.
The chorus of eight were consistently strong, managing to maintain their ensemble and balance and the ethereal fairy music from the balcony was particularly effective. The band in their central pit performed Leon Haxby’s arrangement of the score with tight energy, conducted with precision and clarity by von Wiehler. The arrangement works remarkably well, given the limited palette of string quartet plus harp, flute and bassoon, the lack of any bright brass or percussion being perhaps the biggest loss.
During the Act 3 ballet music, animated film portrayed ghostly fairies capturing black figures in the forest, this being the only depiction of the actual Rheinnixen of the title. Thereafter, Armgard and the rest of the cast appeared daubed in white (looking a bit like a treatment of calamine lotion), so presumably they had been ‘got’ by the fairies in some way. Otherwise, the plot twists (Franz not remembering Armgard, then remembering her, and Conrad turning out to be Armgard's father) were delivered with passion, alongside the overarching themes of war.
While worthy, and certainly a message for our times, the rejection of war by the core cast and ‘happy’ ending couldn’t ring true, given what we know was on the way in Germany. Perhaps that was the message for us – “Wacht auf!”, wake up to what’s coming. Sadly, as Armgard tells everyone that it was all a dream, we of course know that it wasn’t. And isn’t today.
