Germany Wagner, Lohengrin: Soloists, Chorus of Theater Bremen, Bremer Philharmoniker / Stefan Klingele (conductor). Theater Bremen, 13.10.2024. (DMD)
Production:
Director – Frank Hilbrich
Stage design – Harald Thor
Costume design – Tanja Hofmann
Lighting design – Christian Kemmetmüller
Dramaturgy – Frederike Krüger
Chorus director – Karl Bernewitz
Cast:
Heinrich der Vogler – Hidenori Inoue
Lohengrin – Christopher Sokolowski
Elsa von Brabant – Sarah-Jane Brandon
Friedrich von Telramund – Elias Gyungseok Han
Ortrud – Nadine Lehner
The King’s Herald – Michal Partyka
Four Brabantine Nobles – Ill-Hoon Choung, Jungkyu Kim, Yuheng Wei, Chaoyan Yang
Four Bridesmaids – Miku Kobayashi, Mei Matsumoto, Mariam Murgulia, Andrezza Reis
Duke Gottfried – Sam Stampe
The recently deceased Duke of Brabant, father to Elsa and Gottfried, has established a firm and reliable rule in his Duchy, represented by the honourable and well-respected Count Telramund, who stands out from the crowd of bureaucrats serving the Duchy by virtue of his suit – his blue, theirs black. All is in order, as demonstrated by the neat piles of paper on the desks and the well-kept binders full of official documents, neatly placed on those desks and in shelves. This chamber of parliament is tidy and impressive. What Lohengrin does when he defeats Telramund is to usurp this order: he literally wipes the stacks of paper off the desks, tearing pages out of the binders; the officials joyfully follow him in destroying the established order. By the end of Act I, the stage is a mess of torn paper.
The King watches from a distance, surprised. Very soon, Brabant has established a new order focused on Lohengrin, its token the large bird’s egg, which first appeared with Lohengrin when he arrived. The citizens are given an egg each and have to hold it in a particular way. If they hesitate, they are forced, even by means of what amounts to torture, to comply. When Lohengrin announces that he will not be able to serve as their leader, the Brabantians (those in favour of the new regime and those secretly forming the resistance) kill each other. When Gottfried turns from swan to human, the human is dead. In all of this, Lohengrin was a nice young chap, a low key, would-be swashbuckler, in love with Elsa (at least initially), keen to get some battle experience to put on his CV, and at the same time aware of his position in relation to the grail, although not overly in awe of either position or grail.
In the context of this storyline, director Frank Hilbrich paid close attention to character interaction. For example, in response to the King’s question whether Lohengrin was sent by heaven, Lohengrin responds with a combination of a smirk, shrug and nod, as if to say: ‘Yeah, mate, correct, sorry, can’t help it…’ He was soon irritated rather than saddened by Elsa’s hesitation and doubts, having clearly looked forward to finally getting into bed with her.
Theater Bremen’s General Music Director Stefan Klingele provided a very lively reading of the score. He was well able to allow the different strands of the music to be heard, while not risking unity as a result. The tempi were as nuanced as the volume, and he took care to accommodate different levels of vocal strength among the singers.
It was visiting artist Christopher Sokolowski’s role debut as Lohengrin. He proved to be a good actor, doing full justice to the central idea of the flippant would-be adventurer. His voice is very suitable for the role of Lohengrin: he is able to mould it flexibly to express both gently flowing lines, as in the duet with Elsa in Act III, and the heroic exchanges with the King during his first appearance and again in Act III. His voice was still fresh for the Grail Narration, and he made it the genuine climax of his evening – with the one exception that he did not noticeably sing the pianissimo on ‘Taube’ (dove) – surprisingly so, as he delivered the acknowledgement of the swan at the beginning and the end of the opera in an exquisite piano.
All the remaining roles were cast from within the Bremen opera company, which is quite an achievement. Sarah-Jane Brandon impressed with a full-bodied, well-rounded soprano, equally at ease with gentle and dramatic passages. Her pronunciation was clear at all times. Elias Gyungseok Han presented Telramund’s feelings as genuinely and justifiably proud of his position and convinced of Elsa’s guilt, then genuinely heartbroken and devastated by the assumed judgment of God. Finally, believing Ortrud was the easier option for him, leading to his final downfall. This development was also obvious from his voice, which shifted from a heroic start to acute despair and ended in powerful cries for revenge. Nadine Lehner added a further striking character study to her repertory as Ortrud. Her Ortrud was young, feminine, aware of her strength and beauty, but also out of place in the current times. She was restlessly observing every minute detail of her environment, every object, every movement of every person, closely, with full alertness, ready to react to any perceived threat within an instant. Thus, she was also in a constant state of fearful tension. Her voice was strong and able to unambiguously express her state of mind at every moment. Her exclamations at the end of the opera provided the natural release of all the pent-up energy.
Hidenori Inoue portrayed the King as authoritative through his role and title, a ruler who expects and experiences obedience from his subjects and is highly esteemed for the nature of his rule. He sang the role with a melodious, clean and lean bass. The appearance of the King’s herald, Michal Partyka, saw people respectfully moving out of his way. He did not interfere into the issues of Brabant and thus did not participate in the destruction of the old system after Lohengrin had defeated Telramund. Partyka sang the Herald’s lines without having to resort to shouting. The bridesmaids and Brabantian noblemen clearly relished their solo parts and contributed well to an overall very successful production.
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe