Conversations with HILDEGARD BEHRENS
An exploration into ELEKTRA, Richard Strauss' masterpiece
of an opera, with one of the world's great dramatic sopranos and the foremost
interpreter of the role. This interview was held shortly after Ms. Behrens'
performance of ELEKTRA at the Arena di Verona's Teatro Filarmonico
in February 2003.
HILDEGARD BEHRENS
dramatic soprano
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FF: Elektra, like Salome, shocked operatic
sensibilities in Strauss' time, yet it succeeded - better received by the
audience than by the critics who wrote of the opera as one "horrible
din" or as one from which the composer "has almost eliminated what
we call beauty...." They refer no doubt to the composer's iconoclastic
use of dissonance and atonality to express the violence and the savagery inherent
in the work's subject matter.
Today Elektra remains an "opera-shocker" - as it was not only to
its first audience (ca. Dresden 1909) but to its cast of singers as well,
most notably the famous Wagnerian contralto Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Strauss'
original Klytemnestra who vowed never to sing the role again: "It was
frightful. We were a set of madwomen... There is nothing beyond Elektra. We
have lived and reached the furthest boundaries in dramatic writing for the
voice with Wagner. But Richard Strauss goes beyond him. His singing voices
are lost." Lost perhaps in the complexity and enormity of the orchestration
in which, as a music professor once put it, "voices are handled as though
they were instruments and seldom assume the shape of actual song." Any
thoughts on these comments?
HB: It's a matter of getting familiar with the music. Our ears can get accustomed to dissonances and perceive them less and less as such. The more familiar the music becomes to the musicians, singers as well as the orchestra players, the better the intonation becomes and as a result the more transparent the sound. Of course we find "songs" or "aria-like" units throughout Elektra. It's a further development of Wagner's handling of solo parts.
FF: Given that you have sung Elektra so many times both on the operatic and concert stage - we don't have an exact count but almost certainly more than any other singer active today - can one again rightly assume that you do not think the opera "frightful" but on the contrary feel very much "at home" in it?
HB: I do feel very much at home with Elektra although some specially delicate moments require a lot of concentration every time.
FF: What do you find most challenging about the role?
HB: The most challenging are the constant existential ups-and-downs. Everything is on the edge and all this is expressed on a huge vocal scale. It is definitely one of the most demanding and rewarding parts.
FF: As it turned out, you sang your first Elektra at the Paris Opera with Mo. Seiji Ozawa with whom you also later recorded the work. Do you have memories of both your first staged Elektra and of your first Elektra recording that you can share with our viewers?
HB: The collaboration with Seiji was great and extended over years. My debut in Paris in 1987 was followed by a semi-staged version with the BSO in Boston, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall and London. My husband, Seth Schneidman, who had directed the production in Paris built a huge scaffold in the middle of the orchestra. It was like being on the nose of a big ship - we sang and acted, the orchestral sound like roaring waves around us.
FF:. October 2001 saw the release of your second Elektra CD, a live recording of a much-acclaimed concert performance at the 1995 Festival de Radio France et Montepellier. Can you tell us about this performance, which by all accounts was quite memorable.
HB: The recording from Montpellier was made from a live concert in which Leonie Rysanek sang one of her last Klytämnestras. Confined to the small space in front of the orchestra we still acted with the same passion.
FF: Are there any other Elektra performances that stand out in your memory - the semi-staged concert in Carnegie Hall and the performances amidst the antique ruins of Trier, for example?
HB: All the Elektra productions I've done are quite vivid in my memory. The Carnegie Hall concert was very special. The energy which arose that evening was really incredible. The outdoor performances in the ruins of Pompeii and the Roman amphitheater in Trier had a unique flair, though the acoustics are very different than in any theatre or concert hall.
FF: Is Elektra an opera you wish you can perform forever?
HB: You bet!
Follow Ms. Behrens'
fascinating ROADMAP to ELEKTRA>>>.
Click HERE to view a slideshow
of scenes from Ms. Behrens' recent performance of ELEKTRA
in Verona, HERE
for a video clip of her ELEKTRA's
MONOLOGUE from the Trier Antikenfestspiele production, and HERE
for a slide show of scenes from ELEKTRA
at the MET.
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HILDEGARD BEHRENS: she makes music worth seeing!
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