Beethoven would surely be proud

By Aaren Pastor     11/1/11 7:00pm

Opera is a beautiful melange of narrative, orchestration and song, woven together in hopes of creating a renewable, potent force that enthralls audiences each time they view it. Fidelio, now playing at the Houston Grand Opera, embodies the essence of these three elements to a breath-taking degree.

Fidelio gains its prestige in part because it is Beethoven's sole opera, agonized over for 11 years before first being produced in 1805, then performed in 1814. Fidelio tells the elegiac story of a faithful wife, Leonore, who follows her wrongfully-imprisoned husband Florestan to jail disguised as the errand boy Fidelio. Determined to free her husband, who is jailed for political transgressions, Fidelio begs the jailer, a kind-hearted old man named Rocco, to take him to the depths of the dungeon. Don Pizarro, the evil prison governor, smarms his way around the prison, slapping Marzelline's rear (Rocco's daughter) and generally acting like a sleaze. Tensions mount when Pizarro hears that the minister, a friend of Florestan's, is coming to visit his prison. Pizarro orders Rocco to dig a grave for Florestan, whereupon Leonore (still disguised as Fidelio) goes with him into the depths of the dungeon.

The German language is elevated to soaring heights and the music is transcendent. The HGO orchestration, led by conductor Michael Hofstetter, principally of Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele Orchestra and Chorus, is beautiful. The first 10 minutes of the performance soar loudly enough to overpower the singers, but afterward the instruments provide emotionally rich undertones that add nuances of depth to the solos and harmonies of the singers.

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The world-renowned Finnish soprano Karita Mattila plays both the title role and Leonore. While the introductory scene between soprano Britanny Wheeler as Marzelline and her spurned lover Jaquino, performed by Norman Reinhardt, was captivating, the clear, powerful voice of Kartia Mattila, the 1983 Singer of the World, was earth-shattering. She is recognized as one of the best sopranos of the modern era for obvious reasons. When the two sopranos harmonize in Act 1, it is a true thing of beauty.

However, Mattila does not carry the performance herself. Tenor Simon O'Neill's appearance in Act 2 is enough to swoon over. A great bear of a man, he seizes the stage in rags and chains, and his voice echoes throughout the halls of the Wortham Theater. Together, O'Neill and Mattila evoke such an emotionally stirring performance that I completely ignored the English subtitles above the stage.

Kristinn Sigmundsson fills out the role of Rocco with his bass voice. It is rich and warm, everything a gentle giant of a soft-hearted jail-keeper should sound like. Tomas Tomasson rounds out the lead roles as the deliciously evil baritone Don Pizzaro. His very strut across the stage leaks oily, corrupt politician.

Indeed, the very dynamic staging of the opera under German director Jurgen Flimm is exceptional. In his HGO debut, Flimm has his singers flinging guns, climbing the prison bar lattices, chewing on real bananas and throwing themselves thither and yon. In short, they work the stage like actors. Robert Israel scores with his set design of a World War II-era facade. Walls of lime- or mildew-streaked concrete were offset by the small jail-keeper's house, shrouded in blooming potted plants. The lighting illuminates everything crisply, throwing into relief everyone and everything on stage without glaring upon them.

In sum, though this is only Fidelio's third appearance in HGO history, it is a masterful, intense reworking of Beethoven's famed opera.

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