Each sex is different

Once again, the artists are the most perverse. After the singer and the poet have splashed themselves with a dark mass in a huge bathtub, they discuss the difference between old-fashioned opera and modern repertoire. Most likely, composer Philippe Boesmans is also ironizing himself with this in his opera "Reigen." For Boesmans' operas follow the classical model of literary opera, for which he mainly adapts plays of the early modern period, preferably those that delve into the abysses of human sexuality. Success has proven him right; for a contemporary composer, Boesmans is re-enacted quite often. On the occasion of his eightieth birthday, which is due on May 17, the Stuttgart Opera has included "Reigen," which premiered in Brussels in 1993 and is based on Arthur Schnitzler's famous, and still semi-infamous, play. The theater director Luc Bondy, who died last November, had reworked it into a libretto, leaving the basic structure untouched: In ten scenes, two people meet in ascending social stratification. Although the linguistic codes become more and more complicated, the scenes always end up with one thing: probably the most famous hyphens in world literature. Boesmans translates them into the voices of a couple singing from offstage, vocally entwining in verses from the biblical Song of Songs. In the introduction to "Rosenkavalier" - written only a few years after the "Reigen" - Richard Strauss had already been much more violent in the matter of sexual contrast. Otherwise, however, Strauss could be considered a stylistic model. Boesmans, too, treats erotic desire as a light-handed game that becomes a self-referential one about music. He ironically quotes his way through half of music history. Even in the permanent acoustic presence of the third as the best-hated interval of modernity, there is a piece of coquetry. In Boesmans' work, the characters come from the most diverse musical worlds, which partly compensates for Schnitzler's linguistic differentiation, which falls victim to the red pen or the genre of opera. Thus the young gentleman (Sebastian Kohlhepp) rests on broad string chords, while the parlor maid (Stine Maria Fischer) brings swing into his house. The authoritarian lines of the mendacious husband (Shigeo Ishino) are supported only by a few orchestral interjections, while his wife (Rebecca von Lipinksi) is clearly marked by the hysteria that was customary in Schnitzler's time. Advertisement But the eclecticism of the means also ensures that the score lacks its own face in the long run. The composition does not register a formal counterweight against the scene. In the classical orchestral apparatus, the violins too often win out in the end. In any case, it is not the fault of conductor Sylvain Cambreling. The Stuttgart General Music Director, who had already conducted the Brussels premiere, illuminates the score with the Stuttgart State Orchestra with maximum tonal sensuality. In return, Boesmans actually masters what many contemporary composers find difficult: he can write for voices, which the singers thank him for with an impressive ensemble performance. There the Dirne (Lauryna Bendžiūnaitė) entices in cooing coloratura, while the Soldat (Daniel Kluge) recites rather straightforwardly. There the singer (Melanie Diener) indulges in the great lines of the high dramatic, while the count (André Morsch) may illustrate his barren pedigree with excursions into falsetto. That they also have an individual effect in terms of body language was ensured by director Nicola Hümpel in improvisationally guided studies with the singers. The head of the co-producing Berlin theater troupe "Nico and the Navigator", like her costume designer Teresa Vergho, finds fine forms to tell social layers in the present. Here, everyone has their own sex. Some make foam pads swell, others pull on Vienna sausages, the third just press their hands together intensively. Fortunately, there is only one thing that none of the couples do: undress and perform the theatrical sex simulations. Instead, Hümpel gets intensely involved in the atmosphere of the score and also searches for lightness. The slightly insane plastic furniture, already known from "Nico and the Navigator", contributes to this. Set designer Oliver Proske does not force the scenes into a uniform stage design, but allows the spaces to playfully emerge from one another. On a screen in the background, video projects (Judith Konnerth) sufficiently unobtrusively reinforce the singers' facial expressions. This may seem a bit harmless at times, but it is never pregnant with meaning. Contemporary opera as audience success, how nice.

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