Above: Production shot of Guillaume Tell Credit: Michael Poehn/ Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera, one of the most influential and historically important opera houses in the world, brings two excellent performances to open the 2024 season of the WFMT Radio Network Opera Series.
With his last stage work, Guillaume Tell, which premiered in 1829, Rossini created a completely new score for Paris, which became one of the most decisive contributions to the newly emerging genre of grand opéra. In addition to the fight for freedom, Rossini was also interested in the depiction of landscape and natural events, which are repeatedly interwoven with the plot elements. Beginning in the multi-part overture, and most clearly in the fourth and final act, in which the violent storm symbolizes the outbreak of the uprising and the shooting of the hated tyrant Gesler, as well as the subsequent clearing of the sky for the freedom that has been won. In the concluding hymn, both poles, the struggle for freedom and nature, finally experience a cathartic fusion.
In the fairy-tale opera Die Frau ohne Schatten, Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal pose the simple yet difficult question of how to live a meaningful life: Should the focus be on one’s own personal happiness or on empathizing with others? To find the answer, the authors send their stage characters through trials. We hear a story of the Emperor, who shoots a gazelle while out hunting. Then, the gazelle transforms into a young woman; who he falls in love with her and marries. She is the daughter of the Spirit King Keikobad. However, she must cast a shadow within twelve months or the Emperor will turn to stone and the Empress will have to return to her father. Finally, there are just three days left. The image of the shadow stands for humanity. The happy conclusion is a rousing final cheer: “Now I will rejoice as no one has rejoiced!”
Not too many important masterpieces have been premiered at the Haus am Ring. However, Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s fourth opera together, Die Frau ohne Schatten, is one of the few exceptions in this respect: On October 10, 1919, the work, which Strauss regarded as “the last romantic opera”, saw the light of day at the Vienna State Opera and has been a fixture in international repertoires ever since.
SYNPOSES:
Guillaume Tell
ACT 1
The idyllic mountain village of Bürglen in the canton of Uri. The people sing in praise of the beauty of nature, the fisherman Ruodi sings a love song, and preparations are under way for a wedding. Only Guillaume Tell contemplates the fate of his homeland, which is ruled by the despotic Habsburgs. Old Melcthal and his son Arnold appear; whereas the old man is respected by the people, his son Arnold served in the Austrian occupying forces. Left alone, Arnoldʼs thoughts turn to his secret love for the Habsburg princess Mathilde, whom he saved from an avalanche. Tell realises that the young man is despondent and tries to win him over to the Swiss cause. Reluctantly, Arnold assures him that when the time for rebellion arrives, he will stand shoulder to shoulder with his countrymen. He steals away from the following marriage ceremony at which his father blesses the couples.
The celebrations are interrupted by the arrival of Leuthold, who is being pursued. To protect his daughterʼs honour he has killed one of the governorʼs soldiers. Tell saves Leuthold from his pursuers by rowing him across the dangerous rapids to the other side of the river. The Swiss are jubilant, but Rudolphe, the leader of the Austrian detachment that now arrives on the scene, demands furiously to be told the name of the man who saved the »murderer«. When the peasants refuse, the Austrians seize old Melcthal and destroy the village.
ACT 2
Mathilde manages to separate herself from Geslerʼs hunting party on the Rütli, confiding her secret love for Arnold to Mother Nature. Her lover enters and swears that he will make himself worthy of her by fighting bravely with the Austrians. When Tell and Walter appear, Mathilde hastily departs. The two men only succeed in persuading Arnold to join their conspiracy when they tell him that his father has been murdered by the Austrians. Men from the cantons of Unterwalden, Schwyz, and Uri enter. They all solemnly swear to fight under Tellʼs command.
ACT 3
Arnold and Mathilde meet one another secretly. When the despairing Arnold tells Mathilde about the murder of his father, she realizes that there is no future for their love. The lovers take their leave of each other as Geslerʼs troops assemble. On the market square in Altdorf, the celebrations organized by Gesler to mark a hundred years of Austrian rule in Switzerland start. Gesler orders all those present to make obeisance to his hat. Only Tell refuses to do so. Tell is seized and disarmed; his son, whom he tries to send to give the signal for revolt, is also held by Geslerʼs troops. The governor puts Jemmyʼs life in Tellʼs hands: Tell is to shoot an apple from his sonʼs head. To the delight of the crowd, Tellʼs shot succeeds. However, when Tell admits that he had earmarked a second arrow for the governor, the furious Gesler has him thrown into chains. Mathilde enters and takes Tellʼs son into her care. Gesler determines to take Tell across the lake to Küssnacht, where he shall die in prison.
ACT 4
Arnold emotionally takes his leave of his father’s house. Friends arriving on the scene inform him about Tellʼs arrest, and the news rouses Arnoldʼs will to fight. He takes his place at their head with the battle cry “Victory or death”. Tellʼs wife Hedwige is resolved to appeal to the governor to save her husband and son. Mathilde then enters with Jemmy and offers herself as a hostage to ensure Tellʼs safe return. Jemmy immediately runs off to light the beacon signaling the start of the uprising. During the storm, Tell escapes from Gesler’s boat, and when the Austrians attempt to follow him, he shoots Gesler dead. Arnold announces that he has freed Altdorf. The storm subsides, revealing a magnificent view of the countryside; the liberated Swiss gather to sing the praise of their country.
Die Frau ohne Schatten
The Emperor is unaware of the impending danger and leaves to go hunting again. Accompanied by the Nurse, the Empress secretly sets off for the human world in order to acquire a shadow. They stop at the home of the Dyer, Barak, and his Wife. The couple live in poverty with Barak’s brothers; they have no children. The Dyer‘s Wife, dissatisfied with her life and her husband, allows herself to be seduced by the promise of riches and is willing to surrender her shadow to the Empress. But if she does this, the Dyer’s Wife will never become a mother. Initially she desires a handsome young man, conjured up by the Nurse, but her conscience prevents her from actually betraying Barak, who loves her more than anything else. Troubled, she confesses to him what has happened. For Barak, whose sole goal in life is attaining the happiness of a large, close-knit family, his world collapses. He feels a desire to commit murder. At that moment, their world is swallowed up, and the two find themselves separated, in a stone vault. The couple are overcome by remorse, they once again confess their love for each other. For his part, the Emperor believes that the Empress has been unfaithful to him and wishes her dead. However, even in his wrath he cannot kill his wife. The Empress realizes that she can only attain happiness through the misfortune of others – of Barak and his Wife. She decides against her own well-being and does not drink the magic water that will secure her from the shadow of the Dyer’s Wife and save the Emperor from being turned to stone. She has passed the trial to become human, as she has now shown empathy and compassion for others and placed her own personal happiness after that of others. In becoming human, she has acquired a shadow – and the Emperor, whom she loves, is saved, as are the Dyer and his Wife. The triumphant closing exultation is softly echoed by the voices of the (as yet)
Unborn Children:
Father, nothing threatens you,
See, Mother, the terror
That led you astray
Is already receding.
Was there ever a feast
Where in secret
We were both the guests
And also the Hosts?
Summary and synopsis courtesy of Vienna State Opera
About Vienna State Opera:
The Vienna Opera House is a marvel, with a deep history that touches the very core of Austrian and European classical music. The structure of the opera house was planned by the Viennese architect August Sicard von Sicardsburg, while the inside was designed by interior decorator Eduard van der Nüll. It was also impacted by other major artists such as Moritz von Schwind, who painted the frescoes in the foyer, and the famous Zauberflöten (“Magic Flute”) series of frescoes on the veranda. Neither of the architects survived to see the opening of ‘their’ opera house: the sensitive van der Nüll committed suicide, and his friend Sicardsburg died of a stroke soon afterwards.
On May 25, 1869, the opera house solemnly opened with Mozart’s DON JUAN in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth. The popularity of the building grew under the artistic influence of the first directors: Franz von Dingelstedt, Johann Herbeck, Franz Jauner, and Wilhelm Jahn. The Vienna Opera experienced its first high point under the direction of Gustav Mahler. He completely transformed the outdated performance system, increased the precision and timing of the performances, and also utilized the experience of other noteworthy artists, such as Alfred Roller, for the formation of new stage aesthetics.
About the Host:
Lisa Flynn has been a program host and producer for WFMT since 1991. She presents The New Releases and has hosted many programs for the WFMT Radio Network, including War Letters (which won the 2002 Peter Lisagor Award) and a series of live broadcasts from Salzburg to celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday in 2006. As WFMT’s midday weekday announcer, Lisa hosts live studio performances and interviews guest artists including Renée Fleming, John Adams, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, John Eliot Gardiner, and many others. Before coming to Chicago, Lisa presented classical music at WOSU in Columbus, Ohio, and at WMFE and WUCF in Orlando, Florida. She holds a music degree from the University of Central Florida.
This program is a part of the WFMT Radio Network Opera Series, a series designed to complement the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts to fill out the year with great Opera content. The series begins in June and lasts until December.
