Attended a National Symphony Orchestra event called Viennese Delights!
at Wolf Trap Farm Park in Northern Virginia last night. The program,
conducted and engagingly introduced by Emil de Cou, who becomes the NSO
Associate Conductor next fall, consisted of excerpts from Strauss, Der
Rosenkavalier; Lehar, an aria from The Land of Smiles and the Act I
finale from The Merry Widow; Sieczynski, "Vienna, City of My Dreams;"
Lumbye, The Champagne Gallop; O. Straus, "My Hero" from The Chocolate
Soldier; Mozart, "O, wie will ich triumphieren" from The Abduction
(Morris Robinson was especially good here, playing the seraglio guard
whose voice is hilariously un-eunuchlike); and lengthy excerpts from Die
Fledermaus.
This was probably not the most authentic Viennese program in history, as
over half of it was sung in English. But it was certainly enjoyable.
Most of the program was unfamiliar to me, so I was glad to at least get
acquainted with parts of the above chestnuts. The NSO as usual played
well, overcoming the treacherous acoustics at Wolf Trap's Filene Center,
which is a structure that is covered (with a very high ceiling) but open
at the sides and the rear. It's easy for sound to get lost here but the
NSO was up to the challenge.
Comedic moment of the night: In the Fledermaus segment, the audience
was transfixed by the antics of -- you guessed it -- a bat that found
its way onto the stage. It was clearly disoriented or dying, because it
took several headers onto the stage and seemed to be acting erratically.
Maybe the intense stage lighting. I was wondering if things would come
to a halt when it clung for a moment to the gown of one of the singers,
then stopped for a while at the feet of the concertmaster; both of these
women ignored it like the pros they were. Even the conductor noticed
it. But the show went on, and our vicarious trip to Vienna proceeded
without too much audience laughter.
A few months ago I asked, "What Makes Operetta?" Emil de Cou answered
that last night. "In opera," he said, "there is murder, sex, betrayal,
and the heroine dies at the end. In operetta, you have all those
things, but at the end the people drink champagne."
This was a delightful evening filled with music that sometimes is not
taken as seriously as it should be.
Mitch Friedfeld
Vienna (not the real one; the one in Virginia)
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