The German Singspiel - comedy with music, performed in German
with spoken dialogue – had developed to a popular genre
towards the end of the 18th century, even challenging the Italian
opera buffa, where the musical numbers were linked by sung recitatives.
In an attempt to prove the viability of the Singspiel the Austrian
Emperor Joseph II commissioned two works – one from each
genre – to be performed on the same occasion in the Orangery
at Schönbrunn on 7 February 1786. They were supposed to
deal with the same subject: the creation of an opera and the
establishment of an opera company.
The competitors were Mozart, who composed the Singspiel Der
Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario) and his Italian rival – and
once supposed to be his murderer – Salieri with the buffa
Prima la musica e poi le parole (First the music and then the
words) – a theme that Richard Strauss also dealt with in
Capriccio. To the disappointment of the Emperor, Salieri was
the winner, more perhaps thanks to a superior libretto than the
quality of the music. In terms of quantity Salieri also won hands
down: he provided an overture and thirteen musical numbers plus
recitatives while Mozart’s score comprises an overture,
two soprano arias, a trio and a vaudeville. Der Schauspieldirektor has always belonged to Mozart’s least performed works for
the stage – and no wonder. Just a few months later his
supreme comedy Le nozze di Figaro was premiered at the Burgtheater
and four years earlier he had already written Die Entführing
aus dem Serail which must be counted as one of the few masterpieces
in this genre. Still, anything that Mozart wrote is of some interest
and the two arias are good, quite taxing, actually. Perhaps they
would have been better-known today had they been included in
one of his great operas. Best of all is the overture, in effect
a miniature symphonic poem, illustrating, in Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s
words “the impresario stamping his foot, the candidates’ apprehension,
their bathos, their artificially bolstered self-confidence, the
tough, jealous competition and finally the threat of bankruptcy
and disaster – all this within around four minutes – the
length also of the Figaro overture, to which it may be inferior,
but not much.
The Vienna Philharmonic play the overture as to the manner born,
which they are and Sir John, who was an instinctive Mozartean
sees to it that it always on the move. It may be a little softer-edged
than Harnoncourt’s, the closest competitor on a Teldec
recording from 1987, but this is Mozart playing on the highest
level. Where Teldec picked excellent singers of mainly less than
world fame, Decca engaged a starry cast with Gruberova as Madame
Herz singing with her customary care for details and nuances,
even though she doesn’t seem completely at ease with the
part. The coloratura is agile but the overall impression is a
bit monochrome. Kiri Te Kanawa, who sings Mademoiselle Silberklang,
is at her most mellifluous – more satin than silver actually – with
ravishing tone and exquisite pianissimos, while her florid singing
is less than elegant. As Herr Vogelsang we hear the splendid
Mozartean tenor Uwe Heilmann, who appears in the trio and the
vaudeville. He sings with honeyed tone while the ladies twitter
delightfully. They are joined by Buff in the finale, sung by
Manfred Jungwirth, best known to collectors as a fruity Baron
Ochs in Solti’s famous Der Rosenkavalier from 1969. Here,
in 1989, he was already 70, according to the reference books,
and he has lost much of the bloom but can still turn a phrase
with a great deal of charm. He is heard to much better advantage
in his Entführung aria in the “appendix” – much
longer than the opera – where in a 1971 recording he is
a lively interpreter and his low D sits comfortably. This aria
was originally issued as part of a Mozart Festival, which was
reissued in its entirety on Decca Eloquence a few months ago
(see review). Gruberova’s and Kiri Te Kanawa’s arias
are from a set of concert arias recorded 25 years ago, and they
are both excellent. One of the gems is the little Uno moto
di gioia, written as a substitute aria for Susanna at a revival
of Le nozze di Figaro in 1789. About it Mozart wrote to his wife: “The
little aria which I composed for Madame Ferraresi ought, I think,
to be a success, provided she is able to sing it in an artless
manner – which, however, I very much doubt. ”If he
had written it with Edita Gruberova in mind he would have had
no such doubts. She treats it as the unpretentious but lovely
song it is. Art concealing art, maybe. Irresistible it is. Schon
lacht der holde Frühling was supposedly written as an insertion
in Paisiello’s Barbiere di Siviglia, but the production
was never realised and Mozart never completed the orchestration,
which Professor Franz Berger completed for this recording. It
is quite virtuosic, composed for Josefa Hogfer, who later created
The Queen of the Night. Gruberova has of course been on of the
great Queens herself and she negotiates the coloratura with all
her considerable skill.
Kiri Te Kanawa is in her creamiest voice in her arias, Vado,
ma dove? being one of the loveliest of Mozart’s many concert
arias. The nine-minute-long Bella mia fiamma, addio! ...
Resta, oh cara is a tragic scena, written for Josefa Dusek, who also
was the dedicatee of Beethoven’s dramatic Ah! Perfido,
which was more or less modelled after this aria. Bella fiamma
is more restrained, more resigned, with less of the furioso of
Beethoven’s piece, but towaeds the end the emotions run
high and here Kiri shows a great deal of temperament. In sharp
contrast to this is Hehmt meinen Dank, a light lyrical piece
with pizzicato accompaniments and traces of Pedrillo’s
romance from Die Entführung.
The overture to Le nozze di Figaro, which is the final music
on the disc, was Pritchard’s last recording and he really
enjoyed doing it with the VPO. It’s a genial but lively
reading, where the comedy is never far away. It was quite interesting
and instructive to compare it to Karajan’s recording with
the same orchestra (see review) – the latter indulging
in romantic accents and crescendos, far removed from the classicist
approach of Sir John.
Readers already well supplied with concert arias might be tempted
by Harnoncourt’s more logical coupling, Salieri’s
Prima la musica, with witch the Mozart work originally was coupled
at Schönbrunn, in what I believe is the only existing recording.
It is not complete, the recitatives are gone and six of the musical
numbers are also missing but it gives some idea of what the work
was like. As for Der Schauspieldirektor both recordings have
their merits. I could live with both – and in fact I do.
The problem seems to be that at present the Harnoncourt recording
is not available – at least there was no entry at all for
Salieri under “Opera” on Amazon. Warner should put
it on the market again without delay. But anyone who wants to
try Der Schauspieldirektor can safely buy this Decca version
and will have a substantial helping of lovely arias excellently
performed as well.
Göran Forsling
Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano) – Mademoiselle
Silberklang; Edita Gruberova (soprano) –
Madame Herz; Uwe Heilmann (tenor) – Herr
Vogelsang; Manfred Jungwirth (bass) –
Buff
