Oedipe’s Triumphant Return to Berlin

PROF.DR. MIHAI COSMA, PHD

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MUSIC BUCHAREST

ABSTRACT: The following text share impressions and details from the most recent staging of the opera Oedipe by George Enescu –Berlin, August 2021. The author presents, for a start, a review of all the stagings of Enescu’s masterpiece from its world premiere in 1936 until today. Some details of Komische Oper’s production are provided below, so that readers can make an impression on the novelties and director’s ideas. The conclusion is that it was an original, interesting show, characteristic to the current specific to Germany that promotes "Regietheater", but at the same time well sung and, most importantly in this context, very well received by the public.

KET WORDS: OEDIPE, REGIE, KOMISCHE OPER, BERLIN

THERE ARE some famous cases in the history of music when a composer wrote a single opera, that proved in time to be a supreme success, which has established itself and which has become a reference in the landscape of the genre. It is also the case of George Enescu, whose lyrical masterpiece represented (first only for himself) his fundamental work, "the dearest of all"1 his compositions. Well, this own assessment (coming, let's not forget, from a man extremely demanding of himself and his scores) began, little by little, to be confirmed by the public route of the opera Oedipe, which now sums up most European countries, crossing even the Atlantic. Just as the composer was preoccupied with this creation for almost a quarter of a century, the tempo of recognizing the Oedipe as a masterpiece of the 20th century was not at all alert. In the first 40 years of its existence, the work has benefited from only 4 theatrical productions (in France, Belgium, Romania and Germany, the last two of them translated into the national languages of the respective countries)...

City Venue

1. Paris l’Opéra

2. Bruxelles Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie 3. București Opera Română

4. Saarbrücken Landestheater Director Year

Pierre Chéreau 1936

Roger Lefévre 1956 Jean Rânzescu 1958

Jean Rânzescu 1971

Fig. no. 1

The next 45 years, however, multiplied this number by 8, now being harder to find countries that are significant in terms of musical life that Oedipe did not reach. This year alone, two major European theatres chose Enescu’s opera for the launch of the season, thus the total theatrical representations of the score reaching 32 cities in 11 countrie, from Europe, North America and South America.

1 ”It is not for me to say if Oedipe is the best of my works. But I can certainly state that it is my dearest one of all. First because it cost me months of work, years of torments. Next because there I put my entire soul, up to identifying, in some moments, with my hero. If I would say in what state of exaltation I was while mediting at Oedipe, then when I wrote note by note this large work, nobody would believe me!” (Gavoty, 1982).

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 Netherlands, Switzerland and Scotland Oedipe was presented at the famous International Festivals that take place there). And, of course, some of the concert variants scheduled, over the years, at the “George Enescu” International Festival, with foreign artists in the foreground, including orchestras from abroad (Orchestre National de France conducted by Lawrence Foster in 1998, London Philharmonic conducted by Vladimir Jurowski in 2017) would also enter here.

Oedipe – the list of all 52 premieres2 : Paris, l’Opéra (Théâtre National Opéra), director Pierre Chéreau, 1936 Brusselles, Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie, Roger Lefévre, 1956 Bucharest, Opera Română, Jean Rânzescu, 1958 Moscow, Bucharest Opera international tour, J. Rânzescu, 1962 Paris, Opera (Palais Garnier), Bucharest Opera international tour, J. Rânzescu, 1963 Sofia, Bucharest Opera international tour, J. Rânzescu, 1965 Athens, Bucharest Opera international tour, J. Rânzescu, 1966 Wiesbaden, Bucharest Opera international tour, J. Rânzescu, 1966 Stockholm, Bucharest Opera international tour, J. Rânzescu, 1966 Saarbrücken, Landestheater, J. Rânzescu, 1971 Berlin, Bucharest Opera international tour, J. Rânzescu, 1975 Iași, 1975, concert (Baciu, Filarm. Moldova) Warsaw, Teatr Wielki, J. Rânzescu, 1978 Lausanne, Bucharest Opera international tour, J. Rânzescu, 1981 Bucharest, 1981, Festivalul Enescu, în concert (dir. I. Baciu, Filarm. Moldova) Luzern, Festival, 1981 concert (dir. M. Brediceanu, Filarm. Transilvania) Weimar, Deutsches National Theater, Sorana Coroamă-Stanca, 1984 Bucharest, Opera Română, Cătălina Buzoianu, 1991 Kassel, Die Kasseler Oper, Ernst A. Klusen, 1992 Vienna, Wiener Operntheater im Jugendstiltheater auf der Baumgartner Höhe, Sven Hartberger, 1993 Cluj-Napoca, Opera Română, Rareș Trifan, 1995 Bucharest, Opera Română, Andrei Șerban, 1995 Athens, Bucharest Opera international tour, A. Șerban, 1996 Berlin, Deutsche Oper, Götz Friedrich, 1996 Amsterdam, Holland Festival, Concertgebouw, în concert, 1996 (Foster, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest) Vienna, Staatsoper, Götz Friedrich, 1997 Bucharest, Festivalul Enescu, 1998 (Foster, Orch. Nationale de France) Bucharest, Opera Națională, Götz Friedrich, 2001 Edinburgh, Festival, 2002, în concert (dir. Cr. Mandeal, BBC Scottish Orch.) Barcelona, Gran Teatre del Liceu, 2003, în concert (dir. L. Foster, Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya) Bucharest, Opera Națională, Petrika Ionesco, 2003 Cagliari, Teatro Lirico, Graham Vick, 2005 Urbana-Champaing, University of Illinois, Foellinger Great Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Nicholas di Virgilio, 2005 (versiune semi-scenică, dir. Ian Hobson, Sinfonia da Camera Orch.) Iași, Opera Română, Eduard Svetchevici, 2005 Bielefeld, Stadttheater, Nicholas Broadhurst, 2006

2 The performances maked with bold letters are productions presented on tour by Bucharest Opera.

The scene with Creon at the end of act II, in which he banishes Oedipus. After the king removes his own eyes, Antigone says to him, "Father, father, I will follow you..." and Oedipus leaves Thebes.3 Athenians are missing in act IV, as is the scene with Theseus (that is, the first scene in act IV) and the arrival of Creon, with his attempt to abduct Oedipus. Thus, the confrontation with Creon is replaced by a confrontation with himself (like the previous one with the Sphinx): the conclusion is – "I am innocent", confirmed by Eumenides, as messengers of the gods.

The show is of great impact, despite a simple stage image without any changes of scenery. We see tall, straight, gray walls, the same color as the costumes of the Thebans (Rufus Didwiszus sets, Eva Dessecker costumes). The involvement and acting are intense, and some original ideas appear as surprising and welcome: Oedipus is on stage even before the opera begins, and then he witnesses his birth and "baptism", the sending of the infant to death, by entrusting him to the shepherd. The head of the newborn is, from the beginning, the head of a mature man, identical to the face and dimensions of Oedipus-the-mature. In Act II Oedipus faces the Sphinx, which is... himself! Again through makeup and masks the head of the Sphinx is identical to that of Oedipus, as are the suit, the hair, even the stature and the body attire (the mezzo-soprano thus appears as if it were a man). The watchman becomes in this directorial approach a kind of guardian / observer / master of ceremonies, with an extended presence throughout the opera, being also present on stage even before the intonation of the Prelude. Iocasta is presented as an extremely attractive woman, as a kind of top model, when Oedipus is offered (as a reward for saving the city) the wedding with the queen dowager. The plague is "visualized" by the leakage on the walls of a black liquid paste, which smears everyone's clothes and faces.

I will detail some other interesting directorial solutions, too: Oedipus is a witness to all the actions in Act 1 (Prologue). Jocaste gives birth closely watched by the Thebans, who huddle around her. We notice that it is a group of extras, all with long disheveled hair and gray clothes to the ground; this is how they will remain dressed throughout the opera. Jocaste remains completely naked and gives birth to the baby. Tiresias reveals the fate of the newborn. The child is left on the ground and is carefully watched by the mature Oedipus; the baby is a doll with complex mechanisms, which moves hands and feet. The king calls the shepherd (a kind of tool of evil with sadistic glimmers in his eyes) to entrust the child. After giving the order of murder, the King goes over Jocaste and penetrates her, to procreate another child, again defying the command of the gods. Oedipus tells Merope about his dreams of mating with his mother, illustrating the nightmares with physical actions upon Merope. After leaving Corinth he meets the Shepherd, who carries with him Oedipus the baby. It touches the ground that was still stained by the blood in the belly of Jocasta, which remained from birth. Oedipus kills Laïos in utter darkness, when he sees nothing; and when it lights up, the king's body we see that it is smashed, with the guts on the outside. The Shepher and Jocaste come to see the assasinated king (the queen wearing a black dress with a huge train). The Sphinx descends from the sky (it was a staircase of coiled light, now it unfolds and descends). But it appears in the form of a man: exactly an out of body experience of Oedipus, a man with the same face and the same body and the same clothes. The key question is asked after the first 2 bodies seemed to merge (the Sphinx embraces Oedipus forming a single body – we see the body of Oedipus having the head of the Sphinx), then they stand face to face, like a reflection in the mirror, seen from the side. The text of

3 In the French original: "Père, je te suivrai." (***, Oedipe op. 23. Tragedia lirica in quattro atti. Testo del libretto., 2015).

Proceedings of the „George Enescu“ International Musicology Symposium Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Musicology Symposium the question is also uttered by the mouth of Oedipus (who repeats silently the words of the Sphinx). The laughter of the Sphinx is also Oedipus' laughter, after the correct answer, continuing the idea that the two are actually one and the same. Oedipus is acclaimed by the Theban people delighted that the monster was killed. The watchman conducts the adulation ceremonies and Oedipus greets the people, then tries to temper them with gestures that show that it is too much. Jocaste is introduced: beautiful as a model, in a wedding dress – the Sphinx leads her, now dressed in a red, ceremonial men's suit. Oedipus tries to retreat from their path and attempts hard to repel the bride, but Jocaste, guided by the Sphinx, provokes Oedipus to have sex. At firs she feels pains like those of childbirth, then allows to be penetrated again by the son whom she cannot recognize. Act II ends with a general orgy. Tiresias is brought to find out the source of the plague; Oedipus addresses him in derision (Oedipus seems here like Hamlet simulating madness). Tiresias' famous retort "Woe... How tough it is to know, when knowledge doesn't serves... "4 (Cosma M. , Oedipe, 2011, p. 54) is sung without a voice, each syllable being sucked in instead of expired; the sound effect is staggering. Upon hearing the prophecy, Oedipus slammed the clairvoyant to the ground, who reveals what is to come, after in turn he physically dominates Oedipus. The people overwhelmed by the plague remain stuck in the pit where they had been not long ago, all of them being covered by the slime of the pandemic; then they take refuge around Jocaste. When the deeds of the past are revealed, the Shepherd with the newborn child appears in the scene, like Laoïs, a walking dead, full of blood, holding the infant Oedipus in his arms. Merope herself comes (again the presence of Phorbas is eliminated), brought by the wheelchair. Jocaste commits suicide by cutting off her throat and blood splatters the walls, as in a film by Tarantino. In act IV blind Oedipus is assisted by Antigone. He enters the well and from here on he remains alone in the scene. The staircase of light that symbolized Destiny is now over the water pit/ fountain and at the end it rises to the sky. Oedipus dies alone, at the bottom of the stage. I would have expected the director to come up with a powerful idea for this ending, which, in this placid form, does not have the expected impact.

Sets – those walls that form an open cube – contribute to the formation of excellent acoustics. The choir located in the hall, on the balcony, sounds just as good, causing a spectacular stereophonic sound balance between what is heard from the front and what comes from behind. This solution allowed the anonymous characters who appear on stage to be extras (actors), not choristers as we would have expected. I really liked Leigh Melrose's high-class performance as Oedipus, who brought to the forefront of importance the first monologue ("Oú juis-je? Le corbeau crie"5 - intonated first ironically and mockingly) and not necessarily the second, as is usually done. He proved to be an excellent actor, whose singing is adapted to the role, to the character and to the evolution of dramatic situations generated by the text and outlined by the score, while having a strong and perfectly controlled voice. All the other soloists, including the minor roles, were very good – a performance rarely achieved in theaters, as many Operas seem to be inclined to offer casts dominated by 2-3 world-class stars, showing themselves instead too little preoccupied with the secondary roles. The music director of Komische Oper, Ainars Rubikis (a conductor of Latvian origin who took over the artistic direction of the Berlin institution in 2018), conducted the complex score, offering a natural flow and a richness of colors, paying equal attention to both the terrible passages and the

4In the French original: "Hélas ! Qu'il est dur de savoir, lorsque savoir est inutile". (***, Oedipe op. 23. Tragedia lirica in quattro atti. Testo del libretto., 2015). 5 Where am I? The raven cries… (in French in the original libretto).

Vol . XX, 2021 Vol. XX, 2021 lyrical sequences. Of course, it was also helped by the quality of the orchestra in the pit, an excellent group with quality instruments that contributed to the highest quality sound. Already, in the press package, a CD with the most representative sequences of the work has been featured, which can lead us to think of a possible discographic version that may appear soon. It would be worth it!6 It was a great success, with long minutes of standing ovations, positioning Enescu's work and this new stage version in the top of the European season events.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: ***. (1978, May 28). Edyp. Retrieved from Teatr Wielki. Opera narodowa: https://archiwum.teatrwielki.pl/baza/-/o/edyp-28-05-1978/42723/20181 ***. (1996, June 8). Oedipe. Retrieved from Holland Festival: https://www.hollandfestival.nl/nl/programma/1996/oedipe/ ***. (2013, December 18). ”Oedip”, de George Enescu, interpretată la Opera din Frankfurt fără Actul al 4-lea. Retrieved from The Epoch Times Romania: https://epochtimesromania.com/news/oedip-de-george-enescu-interpretata-la-opera-din-frankfurt-fara-actul-al-4-lea--209038 ***. (2013, December 8). Oedipe. George Enescu. Retrieved from Oper Frankfurt: https://operfrankfurt.de/de/mediathek/?id_media=107 ***. (2015, August 14). Oedipe op. 23. Tragedia lirica in quattro atti. Testo del libretto. Retrieved from l"Orchestra Virtuale del Flaminio: https://www.flaminioonline.it/Guide/Enescu/Enescu-Oedipetesto.html ***. (2021, August). George Enescu, Oedipe. Retrieved from komische-oper-berlin.de: https://www.komische-oper-berlin.de/programm/a-z/oedipe/ ***. (n.d.). About Evgeny Titov. Retrieved from Evgeny Titov: https://evgenytitov.net/about.html ***. (n.d.). Oedipe (Oper). Retrieved from dewiki.de: https://dewiki.de/Lexikon/Oedipe_(Oper) Condé, G. (1981, November 30). Un Centenaire oublié. Georges Enesco à Radio-France. Le Monde. Cosma, M. (Ed.). (2001). George Enescu: Oedipe. București: Editura Universității Naționale de Muzică.

Cosma, M. (2011). Footsteps Following Oedipus’ Journey Through the Arts, from the Greek Antiquity up to Nowadays. In M. Cosma (Ed.), Proceedings of the „George Enescu” International Symposium (pp. 197-207). București: Ed. Muzicală. Cosma, M. (2011). Oedipe. București: Ed. Muzicală. Cosma, V. (2004). Oedipe de George Enescu - dosarul premierelor, 1936-2003. București: Editura Institutului Cultural Român. Gavoty, B. (1982). Amintirile lui George Enescu. București: Editura muzicală. Pătrașcu, A. (2017). Oedipe - o călătorie. Retrieved from Despre Operă: https://despreopera.com/2017/08/29/oedipe-o-calatorie/ Vasiliu, A. (2020). Constantin Silvestri: muzicianul problemă. Documente inedite de presă. Artes. Revistă de muzicologie, 21-22, 56-71.

6 Later edit: During the Symposium Mr. Ulrich Lenz (dramaturg of the Komische Oper) told participants that such a recording will not be commercially released, because of financial restraints...