<<  -- 7 --  Ted and Emi Norrish    DEVOTION AND HEROISM

To general disappointment, and sympathy, it was announced prior to curtain-up that Miss Meier was indisposed, but would nevertheless fulfil her part. In fact, she sang sturdily enough; but her Leonora failed to hold our sympathy -- Beethoven's subtle combination of human vulnerability and strength, essential to the character, was largely missing. With the notable exception of Diana Damrau, whose Marzelline was beautifully alive, the rest of the cast, too, seemed at times static and uninvolved, and so unsympathetic. Matti Salminen, another great Wagnerian, made a dull Rocco, who did not seem to convey to the full the combination of kindness (as a father), efficiency and pride in his work (as a jailer), but weakness (as a man). In his loose coat and floppy hat, he looked tired.

The characterisation, which is so much a part of this great opera, was from the start clouded by a production which seemed strangely out of focus. The dungeon scene in Act 2 should of course be in a dark and gloomy setting, but it is not clear why the First Act should be dimly lit and even obscure. At no stage until the final scene of triumph at the end of Act 2 was it possible (even from a good seat in the stalls) to distinguish any facial expressions, or even details of a costume. It is surely difficult for a character, whose expression cannot be seen, to hold our sympathy.

Other elements of the production seemed even perverse. It is admittedly not essential in the first scene for Marzelline to be seen with iron in hand, but the setting clearly should be in some way domestic -- not merely, as here, a space in front of two tall columns and a wall. The only 'props' in the scene consisted of Jaquino's 'parcels' -- huge trunks moved with great difficulty (the poor boy would be exhausted by collecting these at five minute intervals). In fact Reiner Trost's Jaquino was far from the naive and eager boy suggested by the libretto. His long, straggly hair and apparent balding made him look fifty, and ugly too. It was no wonder that Marzelline was tired of him : the surprising thing was that she could ever have fancied him!

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