This is the world premiere recording of Franz Danzi’s
1813 romantic opera in two acts,
Der Berggeist - or, The Spirit
of the Mountain. The whole idea of a ‘romantic opera’, as
self-designated, was new to German opera. The term had been used previously
by Viennese composer Ignaz Ritter von Seyfried in 1805, and E.T.A. Hoffmann
deployed it too. Danzi was unusual in so deliberately pinning the idea
of a romantic opera to
Der Berggeist - though with Weber and
Marschner in the 1820s the concept became both far more concrete and
prevalent. The business of earthly and ghostly commingling in romantic
art was, however, established and the fairy and spirit world became
part of the lexicon of romantic or magic opera. This was the realm chosen
by Danzi and he constructed a series of fine ensembles, ariosos, storm
scenes, supernatural passages, and everywhere established contrast between
the world of the human and the world of the spirit. There are strophic
songs, choruses, and instrumental postludes and plenty of moments for
orchestral uproar and characterisation where Danzi is clearly primarily
interested in sonic effect.
I won’t go into any detail about the plot - magic spells, the
purity of love, the question of the gnomes, and the rest of it, though I
should counsel Anglophones that the text is in German only. So brush up your
German, and cling on to the separately tracked scenes which have synopses
printed in the booklet.
Danzi is a fine orchestral composer. The overture is well crafted
and effective, and if you were told it was a lesser-known work by Weber I
doubt you’d demur. The long opening scene is stylistically
wide-ranging, deftly pointed and enshrines a consecutive series of elements
- high wind writing in support of arioso and aria, and a vigorous storm
declamation that demarcate Danzi’s self-confidence. Such things go
hand-in-hand in the opera; the rustic winds and choruses are both apt and
effective. Danzi makes much of internal contrasts within scenes, often quite
stark ones, that show the breadth of his conception even in a work that
might strike us now as naïve in its depiction of faery or spirit
worlds.
He also evokes older times, such as introducing music rooted in late
seventeenth-century polyphony. At times he feints towards a Mozartian sense
of drama; there is something lightly Seraglio-like about Jacob’s aria
Ja, schon im Geist, seh ich es ragen in the first act, for example,
and a Weberian and Mozartian quality to the finale of the same act. This
doesn’t suggest a duality in Danzi’s imagination, so much as a
conflation of two influences that work harmoniously together. Contrastingly
voiced trios add to the timbral and vocal variety to be enjoyed; the
introduction of a ballad aria -
Ich bleibet hier, in act two -
similarly is an act of inclusion rather than diffusion. The strong role
accorded the solo cello in the orchestral passage towards the end of the
work - it’s an unashamed
orchesterstück - is as deft as it
is appropriate.
Frieder Bernius directs with imagination and attention to detail. He
has been doing great things in Stuttgart and continues the list of
accomplishment here. He has a fine, youthful cast around him, equipped with
refined, clear often Mozartian-sounding voices. There are no outstanding
singers, as such, but then it’s a real ensemble piece. If I had to, I
would single out tenor Tilman Lichdi for the mellifluousness of his tone and
his vocal placement. But really it’s invidious to do so. This is a
very enjoyable romantic opera, deeply rooted in folkloric soil, and
splendidly performed. It was recorded live, by the way, and you’d only
really know it from the applause at the end.
Jonathan Woolf
