Hard on the heels of a celebratory performance of George Dreyfus’ The Gilt-Edged Kid, IOpera presented a second concert performance of a one act opera, Ernst Krenek’s Der Diktator (1926), the next morning. It was an ambitious undertaking, with the second program also including instrumental works by Karl Rankl (1898 -1968), Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942) and Georg Tintner (1917-1999). Paired under the heading “Verboten… music you were not meant to hear”, the two programs featured five composers impacted by the rise of Nazism and the regime’s abhorrent racial and cultural policies.
The contribution to Australian music by Dreyfus and Tintner would be familiar to many classical music listeners, but the other composers may not have been heard of let alone heard if it were not for their championing by IOpera. A small independent opera company keen to draw attention to neglected works of significant composers, it continues to enrich Melbourne’s musical life.
Beginning the program was a lively, somewhat dissonant movement from Rankle’s String Quartet (1936). Its rocking rhythm and multiple passages, where the musical conversation quickly shifted in repetition around the four voices, acted as an appetiser to the meatier works that followed.
Schulhoff’s Duo for Violin and Cello is a substantial four-movement work with tremendous impact. That it should have fallen into the “neglected” category beggar’s belief. It does, however, qualify as “Verboten”. Due to his political views, some of Schulhoff’s music was banned, and he was forced to work under a pseudonym. He was deported from his native Czechoslovakia and died of tuberculosis in a prison/concentration camp in Bavarian Wülzburg. In the hands of virtuoso musicians such as violinist Anne Harvey-Nagl and cellist Rohan de Korte, Schulhoff’s brilliant Duo took the audience on a thrilling ride that ended with a Presto fanatico. Reminiscent of Bartok’s sound world, especially in the use of folk melody, it seemed that the players were tasked with every possibly string technique – pizzicato, strumming, ghostly harmonics, double stops etc. etc. and extremes of pitch and dynamics. This makes it sound like a showcase for technical prowess (which it was), but emotional intensity and sheer beauty were paramount. Harvey-Nagl’s honeyed tone was unfailingly pleasing, whether muted in the gently lyrical third movement or at its loudest on the E-string. The players were totally simpatico with the music and with each other. The final whirlwind was greeted with an explosion of applause and cheering.
An escapee from Nazi horror, Georg Tintner fled Vienna in 1938, eventually moving to Australia from New Zealand in 1954. Written for string quartet and soprano, Ellipse (1954-1959) is in five movements and, like the Schulhoff, around 18 minutes long. Tintner has compared the geometrical figure of the ellipse with his own life: “What is left out of it is as important as what is in it. So, instead of a circle, it is just an ellipse with pieces missing.” It begins with unaccompanied voice – Teresa Ingrilli’s clear and velvety in tone, and possessing a warmth well-suited to the tenderly melodic music that later gives prominence to the viola. The second Allegro serioso movement, more atonal in style, and the fourth movement Adagio are interleaved between the sung movements. The third is more joyous in character, but incorporates some challenging top notes, and the final one, set to James Devaney’s The Trysting Tree ends the work on a more sombre meditative note. Ingrilli’s singing impressed with her command of the expressive range and her ability to negotiate the technical demands of the often atonal music. With Anne Harvey-Nagl’s assured leading of this quartet and Warwick Stengards conducting, good coherence and forward momentum were maintained.
The plot of Ernst Krenek’s forty-five minute opera is quite bizarre but entertaining in a darkly fascinating way as it explores the intersection of power and lust. Set in neutral Switzerland, it is a tale of violence past and present. The Dictator (apparently modeled on Mussolini) is staying at a hotel adjacent to a hospital for war veterans when he notices Maria, the wife of a soldier who has been blinded by tear gas in the war. Maria holds the Dictator responsible, but when she accepts an invitation by the lecherous villain, instead of killing him in revenge as intended, she succumbs to his seductive charms, puts herself in the way of the jealous wife’s bullet and dies. The blind husband is left calling her name.
Krenek’s music is varied, interesting and approachable, beginning with what we would expect from certain film music such as an initial melodramatic forte tremolo. The chamber orchestra under Stengard’s baton gave a persuasive account of Krenek’s colouful score – one that gives the timpani a primary part to play. Equalling his superb performance as The Administrator in Dreyfus’s The Gilt-Edged Kid, Christopher Hillier was outstanding as The Dictator. Both his voice and characterisation of a ruthless, smooth-talking egoist were strongly projected and convincing. Much of the power of the opera lies in the capacity of the singer undertaking the title role to dominate the stage; Hillier is certainly able to do just that. Although this was only a concert performance and the singers had to contend with a rhythmically demanding score, all four managed to sing impressively and give vitality to their portrayals. Lee Abrahmsen was an expressive vacillating Maria, her voice pure, free and resonant. Her first aria with string quartet was particularly appealing. As the Dictator’s wife, Charlotte, Esther Counsel displayed a most pleasingly round vocal quality with commendable amplitude. Always a passionate performer, Robert Macfarlane was in excellent voice as the blind soldier, bitterness leading to resounding cries of “Maria!” as he is confronted with his worst fears. It is a pity that Krenek had not yet heard Bernstein’s great musical theatre piece as those final bars take on an unwanted association for modern audiences. Still, Macfarlane’s conviction and the sense of waste and horror that pervades the opera overcame any impulse to laugh.
What had been primarily an invitation to come and hear an opera never before heard in Australia brought unexpected bonuses and became an unexpectedly satisfying experience. Having the texts either printed on the program or, in the case of the Krenek, supplied as “surtitles” was a major advantage. For many, the Schulhoff was a musical revelation, and the strength of the five singers in important works by Tintner and Krenek made a trip to the city for an 11am performance on a cold Sunday well worth getting out of a warm bed for. Thank you IOpera.
Photo supplied.
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Heather Leviston reviewed the performance of “The Dictator” plus works by Georg Tintner, Erwin Schulhoff and Karl Rankl, presented by IOpera at Athenæum Theatre 2 on July 23, 2023.
