If English National Opera was a racehorse, its trainer would surely face a steward’s inquiry for in-and-out running.
After, for instance, their dire recent Traviata, how can they put on a show as good as this?
Wozzeck is one of the great masterpieces of 20th Century opera.
American soprano Sara Jakubiak as the much put-upon Marie in WozzeckIt’s a tribute to ENO that we are never in any doubt about that, and nothing here, even a bit of rewriting by debutante director Carrie Cracknell, strikes a jarring note, of which, of course, there are already many embedded in a score that still sounds as if it was written yesterday.
How Wozzeck reached the stage is in many respects a more compelling story than the rather banal plot of Georg Buchner’s play, found among his papers after his sadly premature death in 1837, aged only 23.
Buchner’s scrawls took years to decipher, and the play was finally published in 1871. You wonder why the Austrian novelist responsible persevered, because the story is neither original, nor especially arresting.
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A discharged soldier, Wozzeck, is deeply depressed by his poverty, and destabilised by a doctor who uses him as a guinea pig in a medical experiment.
The final straw comes when his partner, Marie, commits adultery with an NCO.
Wozzeck stabs her to death in their squalid flat, where their young son is sleeping, and then commits suicide himself. And, er, that’s it.
But the play’s Viennese premiere in 1914 so impressed Berg he immediately declared his intention to turn it into an opera.
Which he did in 1922. Even then there were problems, because Berg’s music is so utterly uncompromising.
It took a great conductor, Erich Kleiber, and many rehearsals to premiere it in Berlin in 1925. Such was its success that even being banned by the Nazis couldn’t stop its ultimate triumph.
The opera’s many difficulties are brilliantly confronted by conductor Ed Gardner, a strong cast and Cracknell’s production team.
Gardner revels in the music’s savagery, and yet again the ENO orchestra surpass themselves.
Leigh Melrose was Wozzeck at the Salzburg Festival last summer, and his command of the role is total.
He is well matched by the American soprano Sara Jakubiak as the much put-upon Marie.
It’s a pleasure to welcome back to London after 17 years the distinguished American bass James Morris to sing the Doctor.
Tom Randle as the Captain, Brian Register as the ghastly Drum Major and Adrian Dwyer as Wozzeck’s pal Andres all offer sterling support.
Cracknell updates the action to today, with soldiers returning from Afghanistan.
She handles every aspect of this tragedy with a sure touch, even the ending, where, instead of drowning, Wozzeck stabs himself at the table over which the dead Marie is already slumped.
There is then a coup de theatre worthy of Brian de Palma, as the walls run red with blood.
Beginners beware, but seasoned opera lovers shouldn’t miss this.
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