Carl ORFF (1895 - 1982)
Antigonae - Ein Trauerspiel des Sophokles von Friedrich Hölderlin
(1949)
Antigonae - Martha Mödl (soprano)
Ismene - Marianne Radev (mezzo)
Chorführer - William Dooley (bass-baritone)
Kreon - Carlos Alexander (baritone)
Ein Wächter - Paul Kuen (tenor)
Hämon - Fritz Uhl (tenor)
Tiresias - Josef Traxel (tenor)
Ein Bote - Kurt Böhme (bass)
Eurydice - Lilian Benningsen (soprano)
Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks/Wolfgang
Sawallisch
rec. Bayerischer Rundfunk Herkulesaal, Germany, 1958
HÄNSSLER PROFIL PH09066 [77:24 + 65:42]
One of the most striking evenings I have ever spent in an opera house was in
Stuttgart in 1980 watching a double bill of Carl Orff operas. In that instance Die
Kluge coupled with Orff’s orchestration/arrangement of Monteverdi’s Klage
der Ariadne. Both works struck me then as eminently theatrical whilst occupying
a very similar sound-world to parts of Carmina Burana. That heritage,
both timbral and aesthetic is shared by the work under consideration here - Antigonae.
Sticking with the classical analogy; Janus-like (OK I know its Roman not Greek!)
this work occupies an important place in Orff’s oeuvre as it sits on
the cusp between the populist primitivism of the works mentioned above and
the declamatory theatre works - Oedipus der Tyrann (1959) and Prometheus.
Antigonae dates from the end of the 1940s when Orff was still coming out
from under the cloud of his perceived Nazi sympathies. As part of his post-war
defence he had claimed (fictitious) membership of the German resistance movement Die
Weisse Rose (The White Rose). Apparently some see parallels between the
classical tragedy of Antigonae and the execution of Sophie Scholl (another
young woman who defied the state to do what she perceived as right) - one of
the key members of Die Weisse Rose - by the Nazis in 1943. By coincidence
1943 was the year of Die Kluge’s composition.
Whatever the ultimate truth of this work’s origins it makes for a curious
opera. Orff acknowledged as much by describing the piece not as an opera but
as a Vertonung, a "musical setting" and indeed the work comes
across as a sequence of almost ritualised encounters. How much is lost in the
translation from stage to audio only I do not know but in this form it works
rather well. Certainly so when it is projected as powerfully as in this historical
performance from Bavarian Radio in 1958. Sonically it is remarkable and historically
benefits from the presence and praise of the composer who wrote warmly to Martha
Mödl who plays the eponymous heroine: “again I express my thanks
and sincere admiration for your great Antigonae. Some time will pass before ‘the
masses’ and the press (not all, but most of it) are capable of grasping
and appreciating such a performance ...” Sadly, as someone who cannot
speak German the absence of a complete libretto or even a detailed synopsis
makes the following of the dramatic narrative all but impossible. Here is the
synopsis as copied from Wikipedia (the one in the liner-notes is even shorter!):
The opera begins in the early morning following a battle in Thebes between
the armies of the two sons of Oedipus: Eteocles and Polynices. King Kreon,
who ascended the throne of Thebes after both brothers are killed in battle,
decrees that Polynices is not to be buried. Antigonae, his sister, defies the
order, but is caught. Kreon decrees that she be buried alive in spite of the
fact that she is betrothed to his son, Haemon. The Gods, through the blind
prophet Tiresias, express their disapproval of Kreon's decision, which convinces
him to rescind his order, and he goes to bury Polynices. However, Antigonae
has already hanged herself rather than be buried alive. When Kreon arrives
at the tomb where she was to be interred, his son, Haemon, attacks him and
then kills himself. Finally, when Kreon's wife, Eurydice, is informed of Haemon's
and Antigonae's deaths she, too, takes her own life. At the end of the opera
Kreon is the only principal left alive.
The libretto is in fact a line for line setting of Friedrich Hölderlin’s
German translation of Sophocles’ original play of 442 BC. This results
in an opera running only a few minutes shy of two and a half hours. Much of
the text is declaimed in the quasi-sung style Orff called singstimmen.
This shares certain of the characteristics of sprechgesang but remains
more tonally centred. Punctuating these extended tracts of declaimed text are
instrumental interludes which one would have to call minimalist - track 3 CD
1 gives a good idea of this. Orff uses a very particular instrumentation: 6
flutes (all doubling piccolos), 6 oboes (3 doubling Cor Anglais), 6 trumpets,
4 harps, 6 pianos (all played 4-hands), 9 double-basses and a huge percussion
section requiring 10-15 players. Theoretically this could produce a vast wall
of sound but Orff uses it very sparingly - usually punctuating the text with
sharp-edged ‘events’ either high or low in pitch. Indeed the woodwind,
harps and brass are held in reserve and used very sparingly indeed - the vast
bulk of the instrumental accompaniment being reserved for the pianos and percussion.
The male choir - very much in the style of the In Taberna section of Carmina
Burana - seems to have the function of a Greek chorus, commenting on the
unfolding drama. So typical of Orff is their semi-sung rhythmic exultant declamation
of text over throbbingly insistent piano/percussion ostinati. It’s a
sound both sophisticated and primitive but thrilling in either case [CD 2 track
5 - is a perfect example].
It is to the enduring credit of the performers here with such minimal melodic
material and the absence of any extended explanation of the action that they
manage to hold one’s attention as powerfully as they do. Try the opening
to Act 2 [CD 1 tracks 9-10]. I love the menacing male choir and Paul Kuen’s
vibrant tenor is ideally suited to Orff’s penetrating high lines. Conductor
Wolfgang Sawallisch is now regarded very much as one of the old school but
it is easy to forget his contribution to the contemporary music scene of fifty
or so years ago. I do not have access to any other performances for comparison’s
sake but this sounds compellingly authentic. He was the conductor on the famous
studio recordings of Die Kluge and Der Mond with Schwarzkopf
and the Philharmonia at about the same time as this performance; 1957 original
release but now just re-released on EMI at a silly price. As a record of some
fine singing too it takes some beating; all of the main roles are powerfully
and dramatically sung. Checking the catalogue there have been several performances
released on CD but only one seems to have derived from a studio recording -
that on DG featuring Inge Borkh in the title role - which has been praised
for its charismatic performances. It is not clear if the recording under discussion
is a studio/radio recording or a live performance. I suspect the latter - there
is a little extraneous audience sound - so perhaps a concert rather than a
stage performance. Mödl had performed the role before - that recording
with Fritz Wunderlich in the supporting cast (was there ever a more flexible
tenor!) is still available from Archipel; it’s a live performance from
Stuttgart in 1956 and you can’t help feeling that this role is one that
she has both lived with and inhabits fully. Try CD 2 track 4 for an example
of her total commitment to the drama of the role.
I find the later Orff harder to warm to - the Karajan led De Temporum Fine
Comoedia from 1977 sits on my CD shelves gathering dust - just the 25-30
percussionists needed there. However this work is instantly more essentially
dramatic. For sure you could argue that Orff is a one-trick pony as far as
the sound-world he creates but conversely he is far more than a one-work wonder.
Given the extended declaimed text this is an opera/performance piece that would
require an idiomatic translation to claim a toe-hold in a non-German speaking
opera house but with an appropriate staging and charismatic leads I could imagine
this making a compelling evening in the theatre. Have any of Orff’s
operas/stage works been professionally staged in the UK? - I don’t know.
Certainly Antigonae is a far weightier work than the two fairy-tale
pieces mentioned earlier and they are closer still to the sound-world of Carmina
Burana. Even so, I have been really taken by this work. I could see it
capturing the imagination of the same kind of English National Opera audience
who respond to Philip Glass or John Adams. I would have to say that in my humble
opinion it is superior to either.
Full marks to Hänssler for releasing this performance. The sound quality
is absolutely first rate with little if any allowance having to be made for
the age of the recording or presence of an audience. The essay in the liner-note
is good but the omission of extended synopsis let alone libretto is little
short of scandalous. This is being released at mid-upper price and the documentation
should reflect the cost. Given the literal setting of the Hölderlin text
it is possible to find that online and refer to it while following the performance.
I tried to see if there was a libretto available via the Hänssler website
but had no luck following a fairly cursory search. For those who no longer
wish to leave their choice of Orff to ‘fortune empress of the world’ this
is music which rewards the adventurous listener richly.
Nick Barnard