Horrified by the premiere of the opera “Wozzeck” in December 1925 in Berlin, one music critic wrote, “I have the impression that I have not gone to the theater, but to a madhouse.” Distaste for the creativity of the Austrian composer Alban Berg was far from unanimous. Another expert said it was “an important event in the history of musical drama.”
In the following decades, there was an enthusiastic response to Berg’s first and most famous opera, which established itself as a landmark of musical expressionism. This movement emerged at the beginning of the 20th century in Germany and Austria, and is characterized by characteristics such as complex harmonies, melodic and atonal distortions – in traditional music, melody and harmony revolve around a central note. In Al-Kafri, this rule no longer makes sense.
But the German capital a century ago witnessed not only a musical revolution. Berg was based on the unfinished play by Georg Büchner, the German writer and physician who died at the age of 23 in 1837. Although Büchner’s text was not modern, it still sounds haunting.
The German writer had told the story of a low-ranking soldier who was exploited by other soldiers in his barracks and humiliated by his partner, the mother of his son, in addition to his transformation into a scientific experiment in the hands of a sadistic doctor. Misery has exacerbated the protagonist’s mental disorders, and thus, the decline seems to have no end.
Under the baton of its music director, the Swiss Thierry Fischer, the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, OSCEB, recalls the fall of Georg Büchner’s soldier into the abyss and rereads Berg’s piece. The work will be shown for the first time on Tuesday at Sala São Paulo, and will include only three performances.
It is a rare opportunity in Brazil. “Wozzeck” is one of the most frequently performed operas of the 20th century in Europe, and was seen only once in the country, in December 1982, at the Municipal Theater of São Paulo, says André Heller Lopez, scenic director of the new “Wozzeck.” With the Municipal Symphony Orchestra, the production was conducted by Maestro Isaac Karapcevsky.
“Wozzeck” returns to São Paulo, but without the settings of opera in its traditional sense. He calls it a scenic concert, in which the singers present dramatic movements and moods amidst few scenographic elements. Therefore, there is no detailed stage.
According to the scenic director, “Wozzeck” became an idol for “self-proclaimed contemporaries,” he says in a playful tone. “Anything with a lot of dry ice, everyone is disheveled. It doesn’t have to be that way,” he says.
“The first challenge was to understand what was essential to the work and how to translate this essential into colours,” says Heller Lopez, who is responsible for the costumes, which are limited to black, white, silver and red.
Without an extensive scenographic device, the current production suggests more than just detail. “We want to invite people’s imagination to be part of this musical and scenic experience,” Heller-Lopez says.
This more subtle approach does not detract from the dark and poignant tone of “Wozzeck.” Alban Berg’s work does not exactly follow the text of Georg Büchner’s “Wozzeck”, but the moral, psychological and economic desolation is striking in both creations – the German author’s difficult handwriting led to the first editions of the play being published as “Wozzeck”, including the opera; Only later was the name corrected to “Woyzeck”. In his 1979 film, German Werner Herzog adopted the spelling “Woyzeck”.
In the first act, the character simply called the Captain reveals his pleasure in embarrassing and manipulating Wozzeck. “It’s as if he stuck his fingers inside the soldier’s brain,” Heller-Lopez says. “Wozzeck is losing ground.”
In the 2003 edition of Hydra, translator Teresio Redondo wrote that Büchner’s soldier is the first public protagonist of German theatre. This is one of the points of contact between Wozzeck and baritone Robin Adams, who takes on the lead role. The translator remembers his poor childhood in the Manchester area, northwest of England, as one of the facts that brings him closer to the hero of the novel.
According to the baritone, the role requires a lot of preparation due to the variety of sound emissions, some of which are difficult to reach. “There are moments where I almost scream and there are passages where I sing softly,” he says. “I’m always looking for new nuances.”
In addition to Adams, names such as German soprano Astrid Kessler, who plays the soldier’s companion Mary; Austrian tenor Thomas Ebenstein, who plays the captain; And the Brazilian Luisa Francesconi in the role of Margaret, Mary’s friend.
The musical architecture of “Wozzeck” reveals an unusual structure. There are three acts, each containing five scenes, and each scene has a dominant musical form. In the first act, for example, there is a suite, a military march, and even a lullaby. On the other hand, Chapter Three highlights less traditional solutions, called inventions.
“To achieve an emotional approach, singers must be at the peak of their abilities,” says Thierry Fischer. Nor is the challenge facing the orchestra small. According to the maestro, the assembly “requires sustained concentration from the musicians, while controlling technique and sound projection.” “We can’t play too loud to avoid drowning out the singers.”
Tickets are available now, alternatively, fans will be able to watch the event broadcast on Saturday afternoon, on Osesp’s YouTube channel.