Mozart’s ‘Abduction’ is New Again!

In the world of classical music, one can choose to either look to the constantly modern for inspiration or search through the centuries past for brilliant surprises. The Lyric Opera of Chicago tends to do both. Last season, the opera company put on John Adams’ Dr. Atomic and this year, the Lyric brings us this Mozart jewel – The Abduction from the Seraglio. Although more well-known than Mozart’s Bastien und Bastienne, one can hardly call this opera part of the standard repertory. For one thing, you need singers of exceptional quality, especially for the bass role of Osmin and the soprano role of Konstanze. Another challenge is balancing the contrived plot of captured tourists trapped in a foreign land with the true raw emotion of the piece. On all counts, this new production of The Abduction achieves superbly.

The opera in question was written when Mozart was 26 and still getting his legs under him. He desperately wanted a success in his newly adopted home, Vienna, and this opera was to give it to him. Even the emperor enjoyed it, although he famously complained that it had “too many notes.” Indeed, the opera has so many musical ideas and such high ambitions that the seams tend to show. The trade-off of course is the sheer beauty of the music. I know reviews are more about performances than music, but the music in this opera is wonderful. Osmin’s first aria, Wer ein Liebchen hat gefunden, is a miraculous piece of music, balancing the amorous words of the song with the quick turn to jealousy and control on the part of the singer. Such amazing pieces abound for all the main characters, in the instance of Belmonte, the tenor hero, over and over. He has no less than four arias, a couple duos, a trio, a quartet, and a lot of German dialogue. The point: the singers have their work cut out for them, in glorious style.

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Fortunately, the Lyric put together an exceptional cast of singers. Matthew Polenzani, who has sung many roles for the Lyric in the past, including a wonderful run in Tchaikovsky’s Onegin, was the perfect Belmonte. His voice, nonplussed by the challenges of the music, is so fluid and well-honed that it does whatever is needed. Erin Wall, this production’s Konstanze, has a razor sharp voice, perfectly controlled and highly flexible. There were several times during the opera when I chuckled out loud at Mozart’s excesses, combined with sheer wonderment at Ms. Wall’s abilities. In the second act, for example, she had to sing two of her arias back to back. In the first, the soprano sang of deep loss and sadness, the audience enthralled and still. Moments later, she had to begin her fireworks aria, Martern aller Arten. The coupling of the two arias should be a test for any soprano, requiring emotional and virtuosic range. Ms. Wall had it all.

The high point for me was Andrea Silvestrelli, the opera’s Osmin. Mozart writes a bass part so low that Osmin’s first utterances boggle the mind with aural depth. Silvestrelli, who will be doing Wagner for the Seattle Opera later this year, has a voice that is amazing. With it, he could cross all the gauntlets Mozart placed before him. Not only that, Silvestrelli brings such wonderful, larger than life acting to the piece as well. He was fun to see and jaw-dropping to hear, especially in pieces like the duet, Ich gehe, doch rate ich dir. The less serious pair of Pedrillo and Blonde, were also portrayed by wonderful singer/actors. Steve Davislim was able to show his comedic side through most of the piece, but showed his chops in the serenade In Mohrenland. It was a rich, beautiful tenor, wasted in the role. Aleksandra Kurzak was a wonderful foil to Silvestrelli, and she could match him note for note, move for move. They could easily have their own television show playing domineering wife and witless husband.

The opera has many such balances – Belmonte and Konstanze, and Pedrillo and Blonde are contrasts, as are Osmin, the boorish Turk and the Pasha Selim, a wise and generous man. The music, wonderfully performed by the orchestra under Sir Andrew Davis, has those contrasts as well, beginning immediately in the overture. The task of the designers for this new production, director Chas Rader-Shieber and Set/Costume Designer David Zinn, then was to bring that to the fore. Their solution: contrast the true emotions of the characters on one stage with the silly location of the opera on another. Most of the first act has the world of the Pasha on a stage, complete with painted backdrops and lavish costumes. The stage sits on the Lyric stage, almost as if the opera itself is aware of its artifice. When Belmonte appears, he stands in front and removed from the stage to show his connection to the emotional side of the story. Osmin is of course, prominently displayed on the artificial stage. As the opera progresses, the artifice is blown away and we are left witness to characters who love and pine for each other, and grieve at their separation. The stage on the stage is merely a barren plank, and by the third act, the stage is gone entirely. Although a wonderful intellectual idea, visually, it makes the subsequent acts less stimulating. After all, at this stage of Mozart’s game, we are given solo aria after solo aria. There’s not much going on. To subtract visual stimulation makes it less appealing, although what remains is pure magic – Mozart’s music.

Next year, the Lyric Opera tries its hand at Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, and if this season’s rendition of the composer’s early classic is an indicator, it will be a triumphant success.