Richard Strauss’s opera
‘Der Liebe der Danae’ got off to a bad
start; its premiere in Salzburg in 1944
was cancelled due to the political climate
and there was just a public dress rehearsal.
The opera received a proper first performance
in 1952 in Munich but since then it
has not had much hold on the repertoire.
It was Strauss’s third
opera with Josef Gregor as librettist
(the previous ones were ‘Friedenstag’
and ‘Daphne’). Gregor had been
recommended by Stefan Zweig (librettist
of ‘Die schweigsame Frau’) after
a further Strauss/Zweig collaboration
was ruled out due to Zweig’s Jewishness.
Gregor may have been a poorer librettist
than Zweig but what all these operas
show is Strauss’s struggling to find
a literary collaborator as suitable
as Hugo von Hoffmansthal had been. The
break-through only came when he dispensed
with a librettist altogether and wrote
his own for ‘Intermezzo’ and
‘Capriccio’. For ‘Der Liebe
der Danae’, Strauss had considerable
input into the text, requesting re-writes
from Gregor until the opera was in the
shape that he wanted it.
Unfortunately, despite
this effort, ‘Der Liebe der Danae’
is an uneven work and has a sparse performance
and recording history. This is exacerbated
by the structure of the opera. In over
2 ˝ hours of music, just three characters
(Danae, Midas and Jupiter) are fully
developed. All the remaining figures
are incidental, except for Danae’s father,
Pollux, who has a substantial opening
scene. So the bulk of the opera is carried
by just three singers. This means that
the opera must be cast with three substantial
voices; voices that have the stamina
to ride Strauss’s magnificent orchestration
without tiring, but that can still do
justice to his ravishing vocal lines.
This is not easy, and it is perhaps
significant that reviews of the recent
recordings, based on live performances,
have mentioned singers being over-parted;
producers tend to go for singers who
look and sound the part even if they
don’t quite have the stamina for it.
Such things do not matter so much in
the theatre, but they matter on disc.
There have been three
recordings, so far, of the complete
opera. One made in 1952 after the premiere,
with Clemens Krauss conducting and Anneliese
Kupper, Joseph Gostic and Paul Schöffler;
one made in 2000, based on the Garsington
Opera performances, with Elgar Howarth
conducting and Orla Boylan, Adrian Thompson
and Peter Coleman-Wright and one made
in 2001 based on an American concert
performance with Leon Botstein conducting
and Lauren Flanigan, Hugh Smith and
Peter Coleman-Wright. In his Gramophone
review, in April 2000, of the Garsington
discs, Alan Blyth wrote that ‘We
must still hope that Decca might give
us a set with Fleming, Terfel and Heppner
as (what surely would be) ideal principals.’
Unfortunately, we are still waiting
for such a recording and it looks increasingly
unlikely in the current climate, unless
one of the major opera houses takes
up the piece. As it is, CPO have released
this disc based on live performances
staged in 2001 at the Kiel Opera House.
The opera concerns
Danae, daughter of Pollux the bankrupt
King of Eos. Pollux must find her a
rich husband to solve his financial
problems. His nephews have been searching
and have found Midas, the richest man
in the world. His nephews’ wives are
Semele, Europa, Leda and Alkmene, all
of whom have been seduced by Jupiter.
Jupiter is currently attempting to seduce
Danae, sending her dreams of showers
of gold. When "Midas" arrives,
his messenger Chrysopher is the real
Midas and "Midas" is in fact
Jupiter in disguise. Inevitably, this
ruse ultimately fails as Danae falls
in love with Midas and prefers poverty
with him to the riches of Jupiter.
Act I opens with a
substantial scene for Pollux (Paul McNamara).
McNamara makes a vivid impression but
can sound a little uncomfortable with
the tessitura of the part. Following
an orchestral interlude describing the
shower of gold, Danae (Manuela Uhl)
has a scene with her servant Xanthe
(Cornelia Zach); the chorus then heralds
the arrival of her bride groom. First
his messenger appears (Robert Chafin)
and Danae falls in love with him then
ultimately her bride-groom, Jupiter
(Franz Grundheber) disguised as Midas,
appears. In fact the whole structure
of this act, after the orchestral interlude,
is reminiscent of the opening scene
of Act 2 of ‘Der Rosenkavalier’.
But whereas in ‘Der Rosenkavalier’
the messenger is a mezzo-soprano, in
‘Der Liebe der Danae’ the real
Midas is sung by an heroic tenor, probably
Richard Strauss’s least favourite voice.
Manuela Uhl has a bright,
young-sounding voice and from the pictures
in the booklet, must have made an attractive
Danae on stage. She has a slightly intrusive
vibrato which rather mars her sense
of line and she does not always give
that sense of power to spare in the
climaxes, so necessary in Act I if the
final scenes of the opera are to be
a success. Robert Chafin does well enough
with Strauss’s tenor hero, but Strauss
was never comfortable with this voice
type and rarely wrote convincingly or
gratefully. Chafin tends to sing too
loudly, though he can shade his instrument
down if he really needs to. As Jupiter,
a part written for Hans Hotter, Franz
Grundheber is frankly showing his age.
He first sang with Hamburg State Opera
in 1966 and his voice has survived miraculously,
but he lacks the effortless ease that
he might have once brought the part.
Like Chafin, he sings too loud and his
vocalising is effortful with too many
intrusive aspirates. But he understands
the Strauss style and one can only regret
that he was not caught somewhat earlier
in this part.
One slight novelty
in this opera is the fun that Strauss
has with the quartet of nephews and
the quartet of their wives. In Act I
he creates some interesting effects
with these resources and Act II opens
with a ravishing quartet for the wives
as they reproach Jupiter. This is a
real return to form in the opera. Unfortunately
this does not last and the scene between
Jupiter and Midas goes on rather. With
Danae and the real Midas in the bridal
chamber, Strauss does give them some
lovely music with long arching melodies.
Unfortunately Uhl and Chafin both sound
too strenuous in this music, failing
to bring to it that ease and loveliness
that it requires.
Jupiter has an arrangement
with Midas whereby Jupiter uses Midas’s
identity to seduce Danae in return for
providing Midas with riches. The only
limitation being that that Midas must
not touch Danae himself. Needless to
say, when Jupiter discovers at the end
of Act II that Midas and Danae are in
love, Jupiter erupts. The resulting
confrontation with the Midas has real
power, but is again too strenuous.
One of the strong points
in this set is the power of the drama.
It is based on staged performances and
this does show as the cast give us a
strong, three-dimensional reading. But
I do have some doubts about the recorded
balance. The orchestra are a shade recessed,
giving the voices over prominence. Granted
the Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra does
not have the lustrous string tone of
the Vienna Philharmonic, but they play
most creditably and I would have preferred
a more realistic balance where the voices
intermingle with the orchestra. Strauss’s
opera is a complex web of interwoven
lines and this recording, with its over-emphasised
voices, does not do justice to them.
Act III opens with
a scene for Midas and Danae, now poor
but in love (Jupiter having taken away
Midas’s riches as punishment for him
loving Danae). Strauss gives them another
lovely arching melody but again, Chafin
and Uhl seem to lack the technical resources
to really make it soar over the orchestra.
This act has two orchestral interludes
and in these the orchestra gets a chance
to shine, for once not relegated to
the background.
Jupiter is urged by
Merkur (Hans-Jürgen Schöpflin)
to make another attempt at seducing
Danae. Schöpflin performs creditably
in the small but tricky tenor part.
Given Strauss’s lack of sympathy with
this voice, it is fascinating that the
opera has so many tenors in it.
The core of the opera,
the one place where we get an uninterrupted
sequence of the old Strauss, is the
closing scene; the long duet for Jupiter
and Danae as he comes to realise that
he can never participate in human happiness.
This is a lovely scene, but neither
Grundheber nor Uhl are able to relax
and soar in a way that the music needs.
Uhl is creditably youthful sounding
and produces some lovely tone in the
quieter moments but in the opera’s climaxes
she lacks the refulgent tone that this
opera needs.
This recording is a
fine achievement for Kiel Opera, but
if you really must have a modern recording
of this opera, then perhaps consider
sampling both this and the Garsington
one before you buy. But my advice would
be to go for the 1952 recording, recorded
by a team of singers who were fully
conversant with the Strauss style and
had the sort of vocal focus and line
that is necessary. It is slightly cut
and in mono, but it will keep you going
until someone does release that ideal
studio recording.
Robert Hugill
Kiel Opera Chorus