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In the spirit of friendship - Deutsche Oper Berlin

In the spirit of friendship

It was to be the fifth production at the Deutsche Oper Berlin – then Graham Vick unexpectedly died. Sam Brown is now bringing the project to completion

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Pique Dame

The first production by Graham Vick that I ever saw changed my life. You have to remember that he held two roles: Firstly, he was a director in the most prestigious temples to high culture, such as the Scala in Milan or the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Secondly, he was the founder of the Birmingham Opera Company productions with amateur performers. Often in warehouses, abandoned factories, neighbourhoods that had seen better days. One time I entered this draughty hangar, so gigantic that jumbo jets could have been built in them, full of regular people from Birmingham – and suddenly they started singing the opening chorus to Verdi’s OTELLO. It was unbelievable.

Even though I only assisted Graham, he was always a friend and mentor to me. We were still in touch shortly before he passed. I was asking for advice for my production of COSÍ FAN FUTTE, his favourite opera. His last message to me was an apology: “I’m in the hospital, Sam. I’m sorry that I’ll miss your COSÍ – but I’m going to miss a whole lot else, too!” He was someone I could always rely on, who helped me with his knowledge and experience, and someone you could go to with any problems you may have.

To be quite honest, I was hesitant when I got the offer to take on his production of Tchaikovsky’s PIQUE DAME, which, unlike other projects, wasn’t being cancelled. I was asked to produce the piece together with Graham’s long-time stage and costume designer Stuart Nunn, as well as his widower, choreographer Ron Howell. It felt not only like an incredible challenge, but also a great privilege. Ultimately, I thought that Graham had given me so much, so maybe this is an opportunity to give him something back.

I wouldn’t say that we have the same style, but I also got a lot of ideas from him when it comes to the methodology of directing. At first I still believed that opera direction means thinking of the greatest possible idea. Graham had a different approach: He made as many decisions in advance as he could. He encouraged me to be in the room with the people first so that I could get a feel for their energy.

That’s another reason why I took on PIQUE DAME. I knew that the framework that he’d created provides a lot of room for conceptual freedom. Of course, it’s still a challenge, but Stuart Nunn’s multifaceted stage design provides a wonderful range of opportunities to bring the huge tableaux and the intimate scenes to life. My own artistic ideas can come alive. It may sound dramatic, but Graham’s ideas for PIQUE DAME outside of the equipment died with him. As a director, I have to walk my own path.

Sam Brown © Johanna Sterner

 

I first became familiar with PIQUE DAME as a director’s assistant, and was immediately head over heels for the work. Tchaikovsky had me in the palm of his hands, just as Hermann’s gambling addiction had a hold of him. I saw in it a perfect connection between text and music: The dramatic sounds of this rich orchestra unwaveringly drive the narrative forward, while the characters are captivatingly brought to life through music. Having the opportunity to produce the opera myself is, despite the tragic circumstances, a fifteen-year dream come true.

I feel that PIQUE DAME is Tchaikovsky’s most personal opera, although it was based on a work by Alexander Pushkin. Letters have revealed how much Tchaikovsky identified with the main character, Hermann. Hermann feels as though he doesn’t belong anywhere, the only person to not be invited to the party. But the women in the opera are lonely in their own way, too. The opera is the story of an outsider. Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky and his brother Modest, who also worked on the opera, will have been familiar with this as homosexual men living in that time. I also think that this work tells us a lot about Russian society that can help us better understand our present day. Contrary to the Pushkin version, the motivations of the characters in the opera are often less clear, which provides room for ambiguity. Does Hermann love Lisa or is she nothing more than a tool for him? Is Lisa a helpless victim, or does she see in Hermann a way to break out of her gilded cage? Is the mysterious secret of the cards real, or is it nothing more than a product of Hermann’s mania? Tchaikovsky plays with his cards close to his chest, and I will do the same.

 

Written by Patrick Wildermann, who writes about theatre, culture and social issues for Tagesspiegel, the Galore magazine etc.

Images at the top: After a decades-long absence, Graham Vick returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin with his production of TRISTAN AND ISOLDE in 2011. He demonstrated his mastery of conception and visualisation pertaining to outsiders in particular with his 2016 production of MORGEN UND ABEND, Georg Friedrich Haas’s fisherman drama, as well as his 2017 production of Britten’s DEATH IN VENICE

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22
DEC

Advents-Verlosung: Das 22. Fensterchen

On 7 March 2025, the first part of Tobias Kratzer's Strauss trilogy, ARABELLA, celebrates its revival as part of our ‘Richard Strauss in March’ weeks, with Jennifer Davis as Arabella , Heidi Stober as Zdenka/Zdenko, Thomas Johannes Mayer as Mandryka, Daniel O'Hearn as Matteo and, as in the premiere series, Doris Soffel and Albert Pesendorfer as the Waldner couple. Today we are giving away our DVD, which will not be available in shops until 14 February 2025. We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to NAXOS for giving us the very special opportunity to put ARABELLA in our lottery pot for you almost eight weeks before the official sales launch.

In today's Advent Calendar window, we are giving away two DVDs of ARABELLA – a lyrical comedy in three acts by Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. If you would like to win one of the two DVDs, please write an e-mail with the subject ‘The 22nd window’ to advent@deutscheoperberlin.de.

Vienna, circa 1860. The financially strapped Count Waldner is lodging with his family in a Viennese hotel. His only path to solvency is for him to secure an advantageous marriage for one of his two daughters – and the family can only afford to present Arabella, the eldest, in the upper circles of society. To conceal the family’s indigence, the parents have raised Zdenka as a boy, dressing her accordingly. Arabella is not short of suitors but has resolved to wait for ‘Mr Right’. When Mandryka, an aristocrat from a distant region, arrives, he and Arabella are instantly smitten. Arabella only asks to be able to bid farewell to her friends and suitors at the Fasching ball that evening. At the ball, Arabella says goodbye to her admirers. There is also the young officer Matteo, with whom Zdenka is secretly in love and with whom she has formed a friendship under the guise of her disguise as a boy. Matteo, however, desires Arabella and is distraught when he realises the hopelessness of his love. Zdenka devises a plan: she fakes a letter from Arabella in which she promises Matteo a night of love together. But instead she wants to wait for him herself in the darkness of the hotel room. Mandryka learns of Arabella's alleged infidelity and goes to the hotel with the ball guests to surprise Arabella in flagrante delicto. Arabella, innocent of this, is initially shocked and saddened by Mandryka’s suspicions but forgives him when the mix-up is revealed for what it is. The two agree to marry, as do Zdenka and Matteo.

Richard Strauss’s orchestral richness and opulence coupled with the period Viennese setting of the work led to ARABELLA being falsely pigeonholed as a light-hearted comedy of errors from its 1933 premiere onwards. In the estimation of Tobias Kratzer, however, who triumphed at the Deutsche Oper with his production of Alexander von Zemlinsky’s THE DWARF, this final collaboration between Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal marks a collision of two world views: the traditional roles of men and women on the one hand – as expressed in Arabella’s famous solo “Und du sollst mein Gebieter sein” – and a modern idea of social interaction on the other – as illustrated by Zdenka with her questioning of gender-based identities. Here, Kratzer turns the spotlight on this disunity between the various character portrayals in ARABELLA and explores these role-specific tensions on a continuum stretching from 19th-century Vienna to the present day. In the category of stage design, Manuel Braun, Jonas Dahl and Rainer Sellmaier were honoured with the renowned German Theatre Award DER FAUST 2023 for this production.

In this recording, under the baton of Sir Donald Runnicles, you will experience Albert Pesendorfer, Doris Soffel, Sara Jakubiak, Elena Tsallagova, Russell Braun, Robert Watson, Thomas Blondelle, Kyle Miller, Tyler Zimmerman, Hye-Young Moon, Lexi Hutton, Jörg Schörner and others, as well as the chorus and orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. The performances on 18 and 23 March 2023 were recorded by rbb Kultur and Naxos for this DVD.

We would like to thank the Naxos label for the great collaboration over the past few years, which documents recordings of DER ZWERG, DAS WUNDER DER HELIANE, FRANCESCA DA RIMINI, DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN, DER SCHATZGRÄBER, DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG and ANTIKRIST. Richard Strauss' ARABELLA and INTERMEZZO will be released in the course of 2025.


Closing date: 22 December 2024. The winners will be informed by email on 23 December 2024. The DVDs will then be sent by post. There is no right of appeal.