Germany Janáĉek, The Cunning Little Vixen: Soloists, Chorus and Extra chorus of Theater Münster, Children’s chorus of Gymnasium Paulinum. Münster Sinfonieorchester / Golo Berg (conductor). Theater Münster, 28.6.2025. (DM-D)
The revolving set created for this production by Dorothee Curio was constantly in use. The space thus shifted seamlessly from various outdoor settings and interior ones, including a vast hall with rich wood-panelled walls decorated with hunting trophies – quite an abode for an otherwise modest Forester. Characters, both human and animal, would open doors linking those distinct settings and thus walk through them from one environment to another during the orchestral interludes between scenes, or within the scenes themselves. Magdalena Fuchsbergeer’s initial directorial concept for the production seemed to be to have the events unfold as the Forester’s drunken nightmare. The creatures initially surrounding him in that nightmare were humans dressed as doctors and nurses, with lab coats; the mosquito biting the Forester here became a threatening vampire taking his time to get his fill of blood from the Forester’s throat while crouching over his chest. The Forester’s grandson and his friend wore sports gear, sometimes the performers depicting animals wore full body suits suggesting the animals, sometimes their human heads were visible, sometimes not, and some singing remained muffled through the mask as a result. The fox and the vixen were courting while having polite English afternoon tea at a café. The costumes designed for the foxes made them look more like teddy bears apart from the long fox tails.
I could go on enumerating such impressions, but they did just not add up, for me, to form any kind of coherent, cogent story. Many of the ideas were imaginative, some witty, some unexpected, but they did not merge or coalesce to form a consistent whole. And it is not enough to be able to say that the production did at least not distract from the music. Far from it, such a verdict is always a sad one, because the production is of course part and parcel of any opera event that is not explicitly presented as a concert performance.
Musically, the evening was far more convincing. Conductor Golo Berg captured the idiosyncrasies of Janáĉek’s music very well. He achieved unity in the rich tapestry of interweaving sounds from the orchestra and the large ensemble of singers, making full use of the range of volume and density presented in the score. He thus allowed the music a high level of playfulness appropriate to the opera’s plot (if not the production).
Berg proved to be sensitive to the cast. Adriana Kučerová was outstanding as the titular vixen. Her soprano was both rich and agile, well adapted to the demands of the score in terms of arcs and sudden outbursts. Her duet with Wioletta Hebrowska as the Fox was a highlight of the evening. Hebrowska’s voice contrasted well with that of Kučerová, equally rich and mellow. Gregor Dalal sang the Forester, displaying a remarkable ability to make the passages of Sprechgesang come across as very musical indeed, rather than resorting to shouting. The musical achievement of the other soloists, the chorus and the children’s chorus was of the highest quality throughout.
Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe
Featured Image: Theater Münster’s The Cunning Little Vixen © Bettina Stöss
Production:
Director – Magdalena Fuchsberger
Set and Costumes – Dorothee Curio
Lighting designer – Jan Hördemann
Dramaturgy – Nikolaus Stenitzer
Chorus director – Anton Tremmel
Children’s Chorus directors – Rita Storck-Herbst, Jörg von Wensierski
Cast:
Vixen – Adriana Kučerová
Fox – Wioletta Hebrowska
Forester – Gregor Dalal
Forester’s Wife – Yixuan Zhu
Pepik – Christina Holzinger
Frantik – Melanie Spitau
Cockerel – Yeaseul Angela Park
Parson – Kihoon Yoo
Schoolmaster – Adam Temple-Smith
Poacher (Harašta) – Johan Hyunbong Choi
Innkeeper – Ki-Hwan Nam
Innkeeper’s Wife – Barbara Bräckelmann
Lapák (Dog) – Soyeon Lee
Badger – Kihoon Yoo
Mosquito – Suhyeok Kim
Jay – Yeaseul Angela Park
Owl – Chen-Han Lin
Woodpecker – Nino Jachvadze
Cricket / Grasshopper / Little frog – Gabriel Bettels
Vixen as a child – Anna Holschneider