Schoenberg and Bartok examine the human condition

The faux, brick frame used to set off Robert LePage’s production of Bela Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Arnold Schoenberg’s Ewartung did more than house a stage within a stage.  Profoundly, the arrangement literally and figuratively created a window into the human condition.  Seattle Opera’s success with these two difficult, 20th Century operas, depends on the visceral impact the sets had with me and likely will have with others.  But, it also depends on strong singing from the cast of three and adroit playing by the orchestra, both of which were achieved.

Bluebeard’s Castle 

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and Ewartung are separated by a few years in time but are stylistically different.  Bartok relies on his love of Hungarian folk music and Schoenberg his zeal to change the musical paradigm of the 20th Century.  Both operas, however, provide a glimpse into the minds of two composers essential to the classical music of the time.  Seemingly, they both preconceive the tortured, loneliness that would consume people, countries, continents, and the muse of the world’s artists as the result of economic collapse and two world wars.  Bluebeard seems to analyze the loneliness of the individual, while Ewartung examines the tug of war between conscious and unconscious.  Schoenberg spends twenty-five minutes in the company of the madness of the Woman’s stream of conscious externalized internal meanderings. Its not hard to imagine the Woman’s anxiety as Schoenberg’s own.

Schoenberg’s music has always carried the stigma of being difficult to listen to.  The composer had bouts of insecurity but, like most artists, longed to be accepted while he challenged the established order of music.  During the time he lived in the United States, he wanted to write film music.  For him, it wasn’t necessarily about money, but about becoming part of popular culture through movies.  Schoenberg’s prospects weren’t good and he died never composing music for the big-screen.  Schoenberg’s name and music have been so maligned, the City of Birmingham Symphony offered a money back guarantee if listeners didn’t enjoy a recent performance of the composer’s hyper=romantic Gurrelieder .

Both operas are difficult to hear, Schoenberg’s especially so.  The material of Erwartung jumps around, scattering and coalescing, a perfect match for the Woman’s eerie tale.  Bluebeard is a little easier on the ears.  Bartok avoided Wagnerian leit-motifs, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t reuse material to remind us of moods and moments.  Bartok’s sound world is sustained by glumness, even as light and love penetrate the cracks of the castle.  Bartok’s rhythms, especially when sung, gallop and give the back and forth between Bluebeard and his fourth wife, Judith, a determined forward motion leading to an inevitable conclusion – Judith taking her place among Bluebeard’s other disappeared wives.  Lead by Evan Rogister, the orchestra was in top form.  These complex scores came to life under his baton.  They emerged naturally, even a little softer around the edges than I have heard on recordings.

On the vocal side of things, Susan Marie Pierson was spectacular as the Woman in Ewartung.  Whatever you think about the twisting madness of the libretto or Schoenberg’s gnarled music, Ewartung requires a soprano of unimpeachable skill to sing almost uninterrupted for nearly thirty minutes.  John Relyea who sang Bluebeard and Malgorzata Walewska who sang Judith did well too.  These two, however, seemed unable to project at times.  Maybe it was the limitations of the sets and staging?  Maybe it was the limitations of these two singers?  I am not sure.

The real star of the evening were the sets and stage direction.  Spartan but versatile, the set was a visual feast.  In Ewartung the fake brick wall gave way to creeping, physically able actors.  They moved with dream-like elegance fueled by the gripping madness of the Woman.  Props – a bed, scythe, chair, trees, and other devices – floated and shifted on stage with the help of The Mistress, The Lover, and The Psychiatrist.  The set was basically the same for Bluebeard’s Castle.  In this opera, however, the illusion of depth, light, and projections onto a gauzy screen haunted Judith and Bluebeard as the seven locked doors were opened.

Ewartung and Bluebeard’s Castle run until March 7th.  The operas aren’t easy.  There is little hummable music, yet it will still leave you breathless and with a better sense of the human condition.  Bartok and Schoenberg understand better than most the conflict within the self.  With the help of the Seattle Opera these examinations were well worth my time and attention.