Real and emotional fires light the Berlin stage in Respighi’s La fiamma

With consistent stringency of dramaturgical means and a minimalist stage design, director Christof Loy and conductor Carlo Rizzi bring Ottorino Respighi's rarely performed opera La fiamma to great success as the first new production of the season at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. The action of La fiamma (The Flame), which premiered in Rome in 1934, takes place in a time when the Italian southwest was still largely under Byzantine influence, so about the 7th century. But themes of love, frustration, guilt and witch-hunting are not confined to any one era. They are timeless. The opera combines historical and mythical elements with a dark, gripping musical style that exhibits typical characteristics of late romanticism. Loy and his entire team have updated the opera and shown that the fundamental emotions have in no way lost their impact today. 

The opera centres on Silvana, second wife of Basilio, the reigning Exarch. Basilio is a powerful leader, but his mother, Eudossia, has a strong influence over him and is the one who is really in charge. Silvana is young and suffers under the strict Eudossia, who despises her daughter-in-law. Donello, the Exarch's son from his first marriage, returns from his travels, and the couple begin a passionate affair. In a touching scene between the much older Basilio and his young wife, in which he confesses his love for her, the young woman's frustration erupts and she confesses the affair, causing him to suffer a fatal heart attack. Eudossia blames Silvana for her son's death and stirs up accusations that Silvana has inherited her mother's witchcraft. Silvana is put on trial and rejects any accusation of witchcraft, claiming only to have been driven by the flame of love. But when the exorcist tries to force her to renounce belief in witchcraft, she cannot utter the oath and is taken to the stake.

Herbert Murauer has designed a simple stage set in the style of the interior of the Deutsche Oper, with the stylistic elements – portals, panelling, sliding walls in warm wood tones. Barbara Drohsin costume designs depict timelessly elegant suits and dresses. Everything is reduced to a minimum, allowing space for the psychological impact of Loy's work, which focuses on the all-too-human sympathies, antipathies and intrigues that ultimately determine the lives of each character. A family constellation, for example, that stands between the poles of a witch already condemned to death, Agnese di Cervia, who is burned at the stake right at the beginning, and the bishop, who is supposed to uphold the established order. 

Soprano Olesya Golovneva was convincing as Silvana, both vocally and in her introverted portrayal of the frustrated young wife, who carries the guilt of her mother‘s destiny yet hopes for her own salvation. Veteran soprano Doris Soffel sang the condemned witch Agnese di Cervia, a short but decisive role in which she convincingly expressed the full suffering of this terrible era of real witchhunts throughout Europe. Equally convincing was Sua Jo, who portrayed Silvana's confidante with a clear soprano. Martina Serafin exuded a tangible coldness and severity as Eudossia. Ivan Inverardi embodied a ruler who, although he publicly boasted of his exploits with an imposing baritone, was inwardly a broken man who hoped to have found an emotional refuge in Silvana. Georgy Vasiliev sang the obedient son who, with a lyrical but rather weak tenor. Among the many small supporting roles, Patrick Guetti's powerful bass should be mentioned as the exorcist, who ultimately does not succeed in extracting the redeeming oath from Silvana.

The chorus is an equally important element in La fiamma. Jeremy Bines was responsible for the balanced sound and here, too, one noticed Loy's detailed direction, turning a group into a collection of individual personalities. Respighi's music, with its grand orchestration, emphasises the dramatic intensity and tragedy of the story, giving the opera a dark, intense atmosphere, driven by the idea of the destructive power of passion. The scenes are painted with a musical broad brushstroke. The orchestra of the Deutsche Oper, conducted by Carlo Rizzi, unfolded these moods, often too loudly, but there were also very intimate scenes that were particularly touching that Rizzi made transparent.