Here is a major new
studio recording of Weber’s exotic supernatural
three act opera Oberon. Philips
have assembled international forces
conducted by period instrument and historically
informed performance specialist Sir
John Eliot Gardiner. The Swedish soprano
Hillevi Martinpelto, German tenor Jonas
Kaufmann and Australian tenor Steve
Davislim were all engaged to lead a
distinguished cast in this enigmatic
mythical drama. The studio recording
was made at the Watford Colosseum following
critically acclaimed concert performances
and is said to be the first to be recorded
in an English language version.
Weber was a reformer
whose goal was to make opera into a
total work of art - musical, literary,
dramatic and stenographic. In this sense
he anticipated Wagner, who admired him
greatly. As a composer Weber was a progressive
who rejected well-worn Italian operatic
formulae in favour of a new, intensely
Romantic and specifically German style.
This was in fact a cross-breeding of
late eighteenth and early nineteenth
century French opera with popular German
Singspiel, in which sung pieces alternate
with spoken dialogue, a form that had
reached its artistic peak in Mozart’s
The Abduction from the Seraglio
and The Magic Flute. In Weber’s
three best-known operas: Der Freischütz
(The Free Shooter), Euryanthe
and Oberon, all completed
in the early to mid 1820s, the musical
depiction of nature became an important
element, and an atmosphere of the supernatural
and of fantasy wafted onto the stage.
It is no wonder that Weber’s operas
so powerfully influenced the next generation
of Romantic opera composers, especially
Berlioz and Wagner, just as his evocative
instrumental writing, in his concert
and salon pieces as well as his operas,
influenced Mendelssohn, Chopin and Schumann.
Sadly, Oberon was to be Weber’s
swansong as he was to die in London
only six weeks after the London première.
The unqualified success
of Weber’s opera Der Freischütz
(The Free Shooter) in 1824
in London brought about a commission
from Covent Garden to write a new opera.
Billed at its Covent Garden première
in 1826 as, ‘A Grand Romantic and Fairy
Opera’, Oberon, is a spectacular
in twenty one scenes and lavish sets
with a large cast. The libretto, in
an English text from James Robinson
Planchéis, is based on a translation
of Oberon by the German poet
Christoph Wieland, itself based on a
medieval French chanson, with the addition
of Shakespeare’s Fairy King Oberon and
the mischievous Puck. The ridiculous
plot follows the well used fictional
world of the heroic Christian Knight
against the shadowy Muslim Caliph of
Baghdad. The action jumps uncomfortably
from Oberon’s bower in fairyland to
France, to Baghdad, a ship, a rocky
Mediterranean island, and to Tunis.
The opera ends triumphantly in the court
of Charlemagne.
Oberon is full
of a rich variety of musical styles
and mixes some of the familiar fantasy
characters of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer
Night's Dream with trials of love
in exotic settings. Along with Weber’s
best known opera Der Freischütz,
enormously important in the development
of the genre of opera, Oberon
manages to link the world of Mozart’s
Magic Flute with the music dramas
of Wagner. Unfortunately it is often
said to lack sustained interest and
suffers from a deplorable libretto.
It was famously damned by musicologist
Donald Tovey, who claimed that Weber
had poured his finest music into a pig
trough.
In its best pages Oberon
reaches a summit that few other operas
attain. It is at its best in the overture
which is a magical excursion into the
kingdom of fairies, sprites and elves,
continually touched with the mystery
and wonder of the forest. It seems clear
that the young Mendelssohn must have
been influenced by this when he composed
his Overture to ‘A Midsummer Night’s
Dream’ Op. 21 in 1836. In the delightful
overture Gardiner and his orchestra
combine sharply observed detail with
wonderfully natural and unaffected playing.
The inclusion of a
narrator is a successful move; the role
is taken by English actor Roger Allam,
acclaimed for his many appearances with
the Royal Shakespeare Company. Tenor,
Steve Davislim, as the fairy King Oberon
in the opening Aria, scene no.2, Fatal
vow! is a disappointment and seems
rather nervous with noticeable wobble
in his voice. The part of the Oberon
is rather curious as the character is
hardly employed in the score. As the
noble Knight, Sir Huon of Bordeaux,
the tenor Jonas Kaufmann is a first-rate
casting. In one of my favourite moments
Kaufmann is in fine voice in his romantic
Aria, scene no. 5, From boyhood trained
with strong, direct and expressive singing
and an appealing timbre to his voice.
Another highlight is Reiza’s wonderful
set piece Aria, scene no. 13, Ocean!
thou Mighty Monster. Soprano Hillevi
Martinpelto, as Reiza soars beautifully
to the heavens and the rich and smoky
timbre of her voice is most attractive.
In Fatima’s popular Aria, scene no.
15, O Araby, dear Araby, my own native
land! the mezzo-soprano Marina Comparato
displays her smooth and velvety voice
with considerable clarity. The orchestral
contribution really sparkles and the
playing and singing is beautifully tailored
to the score drawing out an endless
kaleidoscope of subtle colours.
The sound from the
Philips engineers is top quality. The
company is also to be congratulated
for a superb presentation providing
full texts, a synopsis and superb essays.
Under the baton of
Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Oberon
is a delightful experience and deserves
to heard by a wider audience.
Michael Cookson
Monteverdi Choir 
