Johann Simon MAYR (1763–1845)
Elena
Opera semiseria in two acts (1814)
Elena / Riccardo – Julia Sophie Wagner (soprano)
Costantino – Daniel Ochoa (bass)
Paolino / Adolfo – Mira Graczyk (soprano)
Carlo – Niklas Mallmann (bass)
Edmondo – Markus Schäfer (tenor)
Anna – Anna-Doris Capitelli (mezzo-soprano)
Ernesta – Anna Feith (soprano)
Governor – Fang Zhi (tenor)
Herald – Harald Thum (tenor)
Urbino – Andreas Mattersberger (bass)
Simon Mayr Chorus, Concerto de Bassus/Franz Hauk
rec 17-25 August 2018, Kongregationssaal, Neuburg, Germany
World premiere recording
The Italian libretto together with a German translation may be accessed at
the
Naxos website
Reviewed as downloaded from press preview
NAXOS 8.660462-63
[73:34 + 77:21]
“Rescue opera” was a popular genre in the early 19th century. To
quote Thomas Lindner’s liner notes for the present issue, a rescue ope ra is
an opera “in which an innocent hero or heroine is accused of a capital
offence they have not committed and condemned to death, before finally, after
various mishaps and complications, escaping by the skin of their teeth and
having their names cleared.” The best known, and the artistically and
musically best example, is Beethoven’s Fidelio, which started life
as Leonore when it premiered in Vienna in 1805. It was later
reworked and foreshortened, and after further revisions it was presented in
the shape we know it today in May 1814.
The German libretto was based on a French one by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, and
he was also the brain behind Étienne Mehul’s Héléna (1803), which
in its turn was used as a master by Andrea Leone Tottola’s Elena,
set to music by Johann Simon Mayr and presented during the carnival in
Naples on 28 January 1814, the same year as Fidelio saw the light
of day. Elena is an opera semiseria, i.e., a heroic-comic
opera, and the plot is complex: Duke Costantino was falsely accused of
murdering his father, a ruler of Arles, by Romualdo, a relative of his
father. Romualdo usurped the throne and Costantino had to flee. His wife
Elena also fled, disguised as a man under the name Riccardo.
When the opera begins Riccardo has just arrived at the property of Carlo, a
wealthy landowner, who soon realises that Riccardo in fact is a woman. She
reveals to Carlo her identity and tells him that she left her son outside
Carlo’s farm three years ago. Carlo found the boy and took him in and has
regarded him as his son. Mother and son meet, and in a beautiful romance
“Riccardo” tells her son Paolino what had happened to her in the shape of a
fairy tale. Soon Costantino arrives and husband and wife rejoice.
Costantino tells her that Romualdo is dead, but his son Edmondo, is now
Costantino’s enemy. Costantino flees again. The Governor, who is on the
look-out for strangers, arrives and arrests Paolino. Elena reveals her
identity, and both she and Carlo are also arrested.
In the second act Edmondo appears. After various complications he gathers
those present, among whom the Governor is keen to have Costantino, Elena
and Paolino condemned to death. Now Edmondo confirms that Costantino is
innocent. Romualdo left a written confession on his deathbed that it was he
who killed Costantino’s father! Everyone is happy and rejoices.
There are subplots that I have left open, but you get the gist, I hope. By
1814 Mayr had turned 50 and was deeply experienced as opera composer. His
music doesn’t have the depth of Beethoven’s, but he was an instinctive
dramatist, and the long score – the music takes 2˝ hours, not counting the
interval – unfolds efficiently and without longueurs. The secco recitatives
may be a liability, but they are delivered most of the time convincingly
and with insight. As always, his instrumentation is skilful, he employs the
woodwind elegantly and flute and clarinet get ample opportunities as
soloists. The clarinet has a field day in Edmondo’s aria in the second act
(CD 2 tr. 6) with a fine obbligato part. Trumpet fanfares are also heard –
in the overture and then in the long finale to the first act, when they
herald the arrival of the Governor. Mayr was an inspired melodist and the
lively potpourri overture brims over with delicatessen. Everything points
to a happy end, which readers who plodded through the plot will already
know.
There are several fine musical numbers, beginning with the jolly chorus of
peasants that opens the proceedings. Riccardo’s romance (CD 1 tr. 12) is
touching, the first act finale, mentioned above (CD 2 tr. 2), is a masterly
scene which fizzes along swiftly and with growing intensity. Edmondo’s
aria, also mentioned before, and, even more, Edmondo and Carlo’s duet (CD 2
tr. 8) is something to savour. The Governor also has an aria (CD 2 tr. 10)
with a melody that really sticks, and towards the end the Sextet (CD 2 tr.
14) is another masterpiece, that was hailed by both critics and audiences
in Naples and Milan.
The singing is generally good, with Julia Sophie Wagner as the eponymous
heroine standing out. She shines especially in the aria in act II (CD 2 tr.
12), beautifully sung with a lot of dramatic coloratura. Daniel Ochoa as
Costantino is a grand dramatic bass with great stage presence, and Markus
Schäfer as Edmondo, in his late 50s, has retained his smooth lyric tenor,
so successful in Bach and Mozart, and sings with elegance. The other tenor,
Fang Zhi as the Governor, has more heft as befits the role.
Anna-Doris Capitelli (Anna), Niklas Mallmann (Carlo) and Andreas
Mattersberger (Urbino) also contribute honourable achievements. At the helm
is Franz Hauk, whose untiring work for many years to re-establish Simon
Mayr’s reputation as one of the important composers of his time, has been
invaluable, and is worth all the accolades he has received. This latest
instalment is another feather in his well-supplied cap.
Göran Forsling
