Metropolitan Opera Archives

Ariadne auf Naxos received eight performances this season.
The Prologue was sung in John Gutman's English translation. The Opera was performed in the original German.
There was a newspaper strike during this period and no next-day newspaper reviews.

FUNDING:
Production a gift of Francis Goelet

Review 1:

Review of Everett Helm in the Musical America of 1/4/63:

Fifty years after the unsuccessful first version (Stuttgart, 1912) and 46 years after the successful second version (Vienna, 1916) of Richard Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" saw the night of day, the Metropolitan Opera came out with its first production of this curious chamber opera. On December 29 a packed-out house cheered the work and its performers much as Met audiences cheer most performances-that is to say, with more enthusiasm than discrimination.

In the present instance, much of the enthusiasm was warranted as far as the musical performance was concerned-less so as regards the staging. But the opera itself remains a questionable affair. In the affections of its creators, Strauss and his librettist Hofmannsthal, it occupied a very special place. Strauss addicts, however, disagreed among themselves as to its artistic value. Anti Strauss detractors can find little good to say about it.

I must frankly confess to belonging in this category. The "plot" seems to me silly and contrived, the music slick and meretricious. The whole work represents for me a kind of specious sophistication that is not sophisticated at all, since it "takes in" and makes dupes of the audience, being all form but having no real content.

Be that as it may, the Met deserves much credit for producing this relatively off-beat work and for bending every effort to achieve a performance of high musical excellence. Conductor Karl Böhm is today the most authentic interpreter of Strauss, whom he knew well and from whom he received personal instruction and advice on the performance of the composer's works. Böhm conducted the small orchestra with authority and finesse, achieving fine balances, clear textures and a chamber quality that allowed the voices to be heard at all times. The tempos were slower than those usually heard, but perhaps that is how it should be.

Hearing the voices clearly is particularly important in the prologue, which consists largely of recitative, much of it in quick parlando style. In order to make this dialogue intelligible, the prologue was given in English. The Major-Domo, spoken by Morley Meredith, was entirely clear. The words sung by Kerstin Meyer in the role of the Composer were entirely unintelligible-at least from the very center of the house, where we sat. The English diction of the other singers ranged from about vague to intelligible.

At this juncture, another question must be posed: Is "Ariadne" a suitable work

to be given in such a large house as the Met? It is a matter of record that Strauss himself was upset because the first version was done in the too large Munich opera house-about half as big as the Met. The size of the auditorium seemed to bother Kerstin Meyer, who sang with splendid musicianship but who forced in her love scene at the end of the prologue.

Leonie Rysanek, as Ariadne, turned in a fine performance. Her warm, appealing voice is remarkable for its flexibility and its effortless dynamic range from the softest pianissimo to the most powerful fortissimo. Gianna d'Angelo, in the key role of Zerbinetta did some very fine singing and looked very pretty indeed. But she neither looked nor acted the part of a light-headed flirt who tries to convince Ariadne that the best remedy for mourning is to find a new lover as quickly as possible.

This brings us to a crucial point: the staging: Miss d'Angelo's lack of profile and of characterization was typical of the entire evening. If there is one factor that is indispensable to this opera, it is a lively, witty, imaginative mise-en-scéne. Carl Ebert provided none of these qualities; the sense of effective theatre was conspicuous by its absence. There were old, worn-out clichés of acting, tired gestures, a lame attempt at occasional humor and a complete lack of real sparkle. Miss d'Angelo, to return to this "example." is a young, gifted singer with a fine voice and, we may assume, a reasonable degree of intelligence. We may further assume that she could have played a different kind of Zerbinetta, if Ebert had so instructed her. And we may finally assume that he did not so instruct her, since the whole show was as theatrically flabby as her characterization of this particular role.

The same can be said of Walter Cassel as the vocally excellent but theatrically pale Music Master. And the dreary, would-be-funny antics of the Dancing Master (Paul Franke) and the four commedia dell-arte "clowns": Theodor Uppman, Andrea Velis, Ezio Flagello and Charles Anthony, all of whom did excellent jobs of singing. The Naiad-Dryad-Echo trio-a strange cross between the three "Ladies" of Zauberflöte and Wagner's Rhine Maidens-was joy to hear, as sung by Laurel Hurley, Gladys Kriese and Jeanette Scovotti respectively.

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