Ariadne auf Naxos

The Elijah Moshinsky production of Ariadne auf Naxos is delightful fun. The libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal does a great job of handling the dialectic of high art versus popular art, far better than Capriccio handled the dialectic of music versus lyrics. In the prologue we meet the characters--all stereotypic. There is the prima donna, powerfully sung by Violetta Urmana, the commedia dell’arte soubrette portrayed by coloraturist par excellence Kathleen Kim, petulant primo tenore Robert Dean Smith, and the frustrated underappreciated composer sung by the always excellent Joyce DiDonato. A benighted “Patron of the Arts” in 18th c. Vienna is entertaining his guests with a performance of a new tragic opera AND a comedy performance by the commedia dell’arte troupe. In order to get through in time for the fireworks he has ordered the two pieces to be performed simultaneously. The composer and the opera stars are outraged but the comedy troupe is sure they can improvise a solution. In this Prologue, the Music Master (Thomas Allen) tries to get the composer to compromise. He fails, but the flirtatious Zerbinetta, leader of the comic troupe, is so seductive that the composer relents.


The second act is the opera itself. The comedy troupe invades Naxos and tries to cheer up the forlorn abandoned Ariadne. Miss Kim has a marvelously stratospheric aria following Miss Urmana’s moving lamentation. There is also a deliciously harmonic trio by three nymphs Naiad, Dryad and Echo (Audrey Luna, Tamara Mumford and Lei Xu) who try to console Ariadne.


The sets and costumes by Michael Yeargan are appropriate to the time and place and gorgeously rendered. The first act scenery actually looks like a palace in 18th c. Vienna while the second act scenery is more abstract and merely suggests a lonely place with a cave. The ship of Ariadne’s rescuer Bacchus is suggested upstage.


Fabio Luisi conducted the small-by-Straussian-standards orchestra. The audience was as generous with their applause as the singers were with their performances. It was just that kind of night when everyone goes home smiling.


© meche kroop for The Opera Insider