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Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf & Duisburg, Germany 2010 - 2011

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NEWSREEL November/December 2010 - B.06

(* Soon to be updated)

SEASON 2010 - World Cultural Heritage - Quotes

"As the Ruhr Gebiet (the industrial area in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, just across Belgium's border) will be the cultural capital of the year in 2010 and will draw much international attention, we feel that our reporting on Opera Houses and Music Halls in its near vicinity (Ghent and Antwerp is a mere 3.00h ride by ICE train from Köln; Brussels 2.30h) could cut a niche. Opera is not an isolated bussiness of the individual Opera Houses anymore, it has become a dialogue and a unification tool in New Europe. Incentives in Köln and the Oper am Rhein deliver the buzz." - Argo Spier

"To the American opera lover it is quite feasible to make a roundtrip visiting Köln, Dusseldorf, Duisburg and in Belgium, Brussels and Ghent in a three-day sprint for opera and classical music. This is really the message that the Music Halls in the near vicinity of the Ruhr should get out in 2010 – dialogue and feasibility." - Argo Spier

ARCHIVE 2010

Oper am Rhein & Ballett am Rhein

NEWSREEL December 2009 - In the Theater Duisburg two significant Premieres took place on the 5th of December, the Ballet Am Rhein's Martin Schläpfer 'b.02' production of Johann Sebastian Bach's Kunst der Fügeand the Oper am Rhein's children's opera, Robin Hood of Frank Schemmer. Both productions, already successful 'classics' since their World Premieres not so long ago, deal with contemporary society and give glimpses of 'world excerpts' and the challenges brought forward by our fast-moving society that has such a strong frequentative (fragmentative?) inventory. The public received both productions with standing ovations. Operatic and classical expression in the Ruhr Gebiet of Nordrhein-Westfalen (upper Germany) has become in the last few years very predominantly real. And these two premiers are yet another indication of the acceptance and need of the public for this kind of communication. The planning of productions by the Oper am Rhein, and now also the Ballett am Rhein, and the 'cultural desires' of the audiences are in great accord. There is a vibrant synergy, across the board. The interaction of the artistic mediums exhilarates; opera and dance are very much alive in this part of Europe. This will draw opera fans worldwide during the 2010 event of the Ruhr, the heritage capital next year. Duisburg and Dusseldorf (where the two Opera Houses of the Oper am Rhein are located) are within easy reach of each other as well as from practically all main cities in the vicinity (Köln, Frankfurt; and in Belgium, Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent). A three-day excursion, including ballet, opera and drama performances in three different cities on consecutive nights, is highly feasible and definitely adds to enticing the tourist planning next year's city-roundtrip adventures. Discovering this venue of European culture in 2010 is highly recommended.

Both productions on the 5th shared a certain precariousness that added 'expectation' to the day. (Debate and dialogue - See also the reporting of the furore caused by the Tatjana Gürbaca production of Richard Strauss' Salome in October 2009.) They are both 'firsts' -- a full evening of ballet production by the Ballette am Rhein's new choreographer, Martin Schläpfer, and Robin Hood, the first matinee under Christoph Meyer, the new Generalintendant of the Oper am Rhein. It is not a fait accompli that a children's opera will be a success, and as far as ballet is concerned (and everybody knows this) it’s very hard for a faithful audience to accept a new choreographer. Martin Schläpfer has had to step into the shoes of the much beloved and able Youri Vàmos who built up through the years an almost cult-like status among ballet lovers in Duisburg and Dusseldorf. With his 'b.02 - Kunst der Fuge', Schläpfer now has not only had to introduce himself but also win the respect of Youri Vàmos' audience.

This is exactly what he did on the 5th.

With 'b.02' (World Premiere 2002 performed in venues such as the European Bach Festival Stuttgart, the Swiss Basel Tanzt and the Biennale of Lyon), he exploited the virtuosity of each and every dancer and created a solid and jubilant form-content unit in a production that is technically difficult. The statement he had to make was one that suggests the concept of 'completion' and the compelling desire for unification between the language of music and the language of dance. And it worked out. His message got across to the public and he won it. The standing ovation and nine curtain calls are proof of this. Bach's baroque pearl of world excerpts and kaleidoscopic sound pictures came to life in a most dynamic and contemporary setting; Schläpfer's approach to ballet is a daring one. He seems to be lingering in front of doors, desiring to brave their opening. This stalling of his and yet the proceeding, crystallized in the various movements of the production. It created a tantalizing tension and the spectator, too, wanted to enter through the door to see what was on the other side. In his own words, Schläpfer is 'casting the Angkor in unexplored waters'. His engagement with the Ballette am Rhein may prove to be a most happy one that may lead to exciting new definitions in future productions. Also, his ability to appreciate an individual dancer's own form and technical capability and use it to build and generate a collective synergy as he integrates it into a bigger collage, is one that not only establishes his own following, above and beyond Yuori Vamos' audiences, but also makes him one of the most positive investments the Ballett am Rhein has made recently. 'b.02' is a must see, even for those art lovers on the periphery. It is an experience accurately described thus in the promotional material:

'...An evening's theatre (modern ballet) whose language of movement, as diversified as it is imaginative, is a lively conceptual assortment in positively extravagant Baroque abundance of everything from classic to modern dance vocabulary, from ballet pure to dance theatre, from slippers to pointed shoes (high heel ballet), without losing focus for one moment'.

To this can be added that Schläpfer has an eye for the most subtle of movements and gestures ... the circling of a finger, a soft-erotic pose in the nude and a wink to history of the programming of the Oper am Rhein, Giorgio Battistelli's opera, Fashion in 2008 (See newsreel archive), using its catwalk to introduce to the audience every single dancer - a lovely simile.

Robin Hood - Children's opera

The production of the children's opera, Robin Hood, was probably the most exciting moment this year for children from six years up -- Robin didn't so much concern himself with the pestering of the Sheriff of Nottingham and the infringement of unfairly earned tax money in the production; he went all out to save the children who were unwillingly sucked into the virtual world of video games and had to do hard labour for a silly, cruel and idiotic king until the mother at last found the 'secret' button to resolve it all. It needs to be said that the father, too, was sucked into the 'game', now the opera. This is something children (and grown-ups too) can relate to and, yes, mommy IS the immaculate super saver. There is no debate or discussion about this! Tatjana Ivschina (sets and costume), Svenja Tiedt (stage) and Bernhard F. Loges (acting), together with Rainer Mühlbach and Wen-Pin Chien (music direction), have with this Robin Hood staged one of the most memorable productions yet in the Oper am Rhein. The Opera had its World Premiere last year in Berlin at the Komische Oper Berlin and already is a hit of some magnitude. The decor was magnificent and the idea of portraying the various acts as different levels in a video game was superbly found. For the Generalintendant, Christoph Meyer it is a great success - he and the Oper am Rhein are the heroes that profit most. All young mothers with children are now swooning over his work and the programming of the Opera. He made it possible! They hadn't known that opera could be that fantastic and so close to reality. It's the fact that 'daddy', too, was sucked into the 'game' that did it ... that's the proof of how close-cutting contemporary reality is in opera today.

Argo Spier, Opera Pages
Consulting editor, Joneve McCormick, USA

 

The Tatjana Gürbaca and Immo Karaman productions of Richard Strauss' Salome and Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes:

NEWSREEL October 2009 - The Oper am Rhein sparked off its 2010 Season in mid-September this year with two operas by two 20th century composers - Salome (1905, Dresdner Hofoper, Dresden) by Richard Strauss, and Peter Grimes (June 1947, Sadler’s Wells Opera, London) by Benjamin Britten. Both composers are in the hate-or-love league and are on tag-off lists of die-hard opera lovers. There is also a history of fierce debate regarding both operas (Salome was banned in England and Britten’s suggestive non-avantgarde favours a radical stance concerning the symbiosis between music and libretto) and putting these two operas together and using them as an opening statement for the 2010 Season programming sends a strong and significant signal as to what can be expected in the new year. 2010 is an important year for Opera Houses in Nordrhein-Westfalen as the Ruhr Gebiet has been nominated as 'World Cultural Heritage'; and it will be the ‘capital of the year’. This will bring international focus and exposure to the cities of Köln, Düsseldorf, Duisburg and Essen. With the mentioned two productions it seems that the Opera am Rhein wishes to set an example ahead of competing neighbours and create a challenging platform for dialogue and exchange of opinion. To add to the excitement, there's the news that the Oper Köln and the Oper am Rhein have synchronised the dates of their opening activities so that it has become possible for spectators to attend three operas in three different cities on three nights. This too is a statement concerning dialogue.

On its Premiere on the 19th of September in Duisburg, Tatjana Gürbaca's Salome proved to be the needed needle that could prick open the party balloon and let the concourse happen. A strange flavoured vapour of agitation however seems to have oozed out, namely the toxin of meta introspection and confrontation. Her creation is one of the finest exhibits of a congruent use of form-content unity seen on the opera productions scene. The provocation flowing from it forms a strong basis for debate. It exposed the first layers of individual sentiments (likes and dislikes) for what they are, and confronted the spectator with the need for a renewed meta questioning of his own expectations. This Pandora box, once opened fully, will initiate further discussion and debate of a much more perilous nature – namely, it will address the question of the 'why' of expectations.

Tatjana Gürbaca's production of Salome has achieved what few other productions achieve – creating an instant ersatz (a mirror) for the spectator to reflect the very source of his expectations of opera. The sexual aberrations in the drama were not, as such, exploited but the boredom and nihilistic horizontals that result in the despair of unfulfilling desires. Taking a boxy cliché to the extreme, the stage view was even narrowed in breadth and height by some three meters both ways and the homeliness of homespun decadence on the stage was reflected with reversed perspective. It mimicked the spectator’s individual small room of his chair and reduced him to a peeping tom, watching how others are engaged in lustful embroidery that doesn’t really rise above the level of doodling. The spectator was drawn into voyeurism, now expecting a saucy swing party, but ends up with vulgar disgust for not being able to supply a needed authenticity.

“Where is the explicitness of group fornication or the kick of its suggestion?” “Where the naked belly dancing for Herod?” “Where the soprano that shows more than flat white underwear?”

The clue lies in the frustration of even having to think these questions.

“What is it that you want from a soprano? That she can do pole-dancing as well as she can sing?”

Gürbaca uses a kind of wallpaper poetry storytelling to tell her story of Salome. The technique reminds of the work of Charles Buckovski, the banality of it. It's a grabbing of whatever imagery lies near at hand, making a collage with it, creating an atmosphere rather than a punctuality in which all threads have definition. In the mis-en-scene, for example, there are Jews haggling over religious interpretations of ethics, standing on a double bed, speaking to one another over their GSM’s. The dawning disappearance of ‘evil’ lust and the emptiness of it all is neigh at hand, they seem to prophesy. As a stand-alone, this is a beautiful simile, yet containing contrast too. The visual active image of a Talmudic conference contrasts the (hidden) image of the imprisoned John (a christian) who, from the dark of his basement in the collective unconscious (Freud), taps his Morse Code messages on a retro-radiator of the dawn of another word called Word. The kitschy interior of the room on stage is an image out of the 50's, an after-the-war image. And the 80's till 90's are pasted from the yuppie and nouveau riche symbols of the thin (virile) phalluses that are incarnated golf clubs. There are no vaginas (multitude), only the erected penis (singularity). (That’s the frustration, the non-coitus possibility, isn’t it?) No amount of conclusive material in the spectator’s mind can be summoned to round off the impulse that comes from the mis-en-scene. The spectator is foiled, caught in his own domain. He came for sordid disgust and he got it. And, like Salome, he is very very angry that he feels the way he feels. He has experienced a confrontation with his own expectation level of what he has come to think Opera should be about.

"What is opera? Is it supposed to be a mere repetition of all the operas we have seen before – the same never-ending unfulfilled lust?"

Also Immo Karaman’s interpretation of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes contributes to the discussion. With his perfection of the use of the tableaux vivant, he has recreated an authentic British exocentric theatricality of egoism. In his darkly-lit mis-en-scene flashes he makes the choir take on the role of ‘moral majority’ and becoming the voice hidden in the collective unconsciousness. That is the place where our expectations and desires for thrills are hidden too. It was spectacular on the night of its premiere in Düsseldorf on the 18th of September how this voice ‘in all of us’ pointed a blaming finger right into the direction of the public (us), including and indicating the orchestra in its box as well, and proclaiming loud and clear, ‘the guilty one will be found’. The question 'who or what makes opera come into existence?’ screams itself out. Opera, the symbiosis between music and poetry (libretto) (and drama too, a Gezamtwerk in which all art forms converge), yes of course, but there is also the dialectic, and the strife and competition between the art forms. And there are the expectations of the spectators as they have come to grips with what 'opera' is supposed to be, how they have experienced opera in the past, that are also in the play. Opera is a field of energy in which numereous processes are active. Act 1 of Peter Grimes illustrates this beautifully. In the duet between Peter Grimes and Ellen Oxford the flute took over from voice and forced itself to be all overpowering, as if music wishes to abolish speech. Britten, with his jubilation of the ‘new’ and his vision of the coming of the convivial affluent utopia (after WW2), exploited this ambiguity. He was only too aware of the ‘where it is supposed to be’ in opera and Immo Karaman shares this sensitivity.

***

It just might be that the dialogue that the Oper am Rhine is envisioning was really born with the opening of the season in Düsseldorf and Duisburg on the 18th and 19th of September 2009. It will change the way we have been involved with opera. And it just might also be that those opera lovers who come after us will shrug their shoulders many years from now and say:

‘Oh, it all started in the Ruhr in 2010.’

Argo Spier, Opera Pages
Consulting editor, Joneve McCormick, USA

ARCHIVE - April 2009 - With atonal music in cold March 2009, the Oper-am-Rhein in Dusseldorf, Germany, touched into fragile fringes of the divide between the believers in emancipated dissonance and those that prefer the more conservative compositions. It has engaged itself in a firm challenge to program one of the highlights of 20th CenturyOpera. The Premiere of Schönberg’s Moses and Aron was on the 20th of March 2009.

Moses and Aron was written in 1930 but first performed in 1954, World War II in a concertante version in the Hamburg Musikhalle. The first scenic version took place in Zürich Stadthalle in 1957. It was immediately received as avant-garde and a breakaway from the traditional way of composition. Intellectuals swooned over it. However, not many Opera Houses saw themselves fit to engage in its performance after that, for a variety of good reasons. The 12-toned technical dodecaphony is considered a system of composition that has given up on musical norm. It is composition that has ‘descended into a pool of decadence’ and ‘the destruction of aesthetic judgement’ may be argued. The die-hard tonal lover considers it a ‘demonic’ creation binging about only a ‘psychic echo’ which leaves the listener ‘empty’ after its onslaught. In his book, Die Grundlagen der Musik im menschlichen Bewusstsein (1961), Ernest Ansermet started this polemic and motivated his disclaim in strictly scientific terms. His arguments were later proven to be not so relevant and accurate. Theodor Adorno, who first viewed atonality as an ‘unhindered deployment of musical expression’ and ‘a deliberation from tonality in the face of the collapse of the neo classic style of composition’ (such as the compositions of Stravinsky for example) too later wrote in his Philosophie der neuen Musik (1949) negative comments on Schönberg’s efforts to organize atonality into dodecaphony. And adding to the heap of layered discourse, Schönberg himself, and later his student Alan Berg, who composed ‘that 'terribly dramatic’ atonal Wozzeck that was first performed in a full scenic version at the Paris Opéra in 1979, had their doubts about it. Yet atonal style of composition had its influence on the development of the history of composition and is today viewed as one of the exceptional developments of the 20th century.

It is therefore most obvious that the Oper am Rhein has ventured into a space of no return by accepting the challenge to take part in the discourse and program Moses and Aron. In its defence can be said that similar pushes into precariousness and debate is also happening in other Opera Houses, such as NordRheinland-Westfalen, at this very moment. It might just be that we are living in exciting times and that a need has arisen for experimental deviation. In the Theater Bonn the experimental work of Juan Allende-Blin, Des Landes Verwiesen, is running in a ‘Konzertante mit szenische Aktionen’ retake version. And in the Oper Köln Der Wildschutz oder die Stimme der Natur by Albert Lortzing, also an opera with challenging aspects. It has a vulgar idiom of humour, is a satire with ironical traces and has an abundance of references to strictly British vernacular – it is hard to ‘translate’ this successfully for a predominantly German audience. The dice however for the Oper am Rhein are much more loaded. Atonality is much more demanding and difficult for an orchestra to perform to perform and the theme in Moses and Aron, monotheism, is of such a complicated, debatable nature that many Opera Houses won’t think of touching it. And in Moses and Aron there is the many-layered aesthetic and ethical dialogue as well.-- a mammoth challenge to reckon with the sound collage of Schönberg’s atonality and to focus at the same time on getting the concept needed to make the idea of monotheism ‘work’ on stage. For example: How does one portray a concept of invisibility on stage when the music ‘goes into all directions’? How the idea of absence in the face of omnipresence? How a God who is rejecting any formal production of images of Himself? (Even Schönberg had a problem with this when in the last act he overemphasised the role of Aron and the pagan ritual of offering). How a God that is Word? And what about the apriority in monotheism that polytheism is sine qua non irreligious? What about Schönberg's own (operatic) ‘theology’ ('poisoned' by commentary from the Talmud)? And his interpretation of the Judaic Occidental story of a Moses and an Aäron that is really metaphor and not myth … the story about ‘a word without a mouth’? And how does one build a set that expresses individuality, free individual choice and contrast it with the manipulative weight that goes out from a religious norm? How does one ‘work in’ a massive choir that has to function as a single character, a ‘das Volk’ personified AND as a remnant of Greek theatrical narrative? How does one put Moses and Aron on stage and NOT insult Jews, Christians, Islam believers, Polytheistic believers, Agnosts and/or humanists with a setting of a ‘story’ that is a story of a Word from God?

The problems ind the challenges of a production such as Moses and Aron are multiple. Any Opera House that does take on the challenge is to be congratulated. This is the case with the Oper am Rhein.

With all the complexity involved, criticism of the Premiere performance-on the 20th of March serves a better purpose when it is executed as a dialogue and not as a marked up washing list to tick off what went wrong and what could have been done differently. And in the plain making this statement – this is another compliment to the Oper an Rhein and to the musicians, the singers, the choir and all who have been involved in the production of this demanding opera – the fact is stated that the opera has generated an attitude of involvement among the spectators which is basically what Opera Houses are supposed to do, namely, to generate a cultural energy and stain their audiences with it. I am talking about involvement, engagement and the ‘being drawn in of the spectator’. The audience ‘understood ‘without too much explanation what was at stake on the 20th. The night of the Premiere exhibited a restraint in the audience. Moses and Aron was Holy Ground. The way the Opera was filling up before the performance spoke of this lingering awareness. It was the slowest and most ‘unortliche’ and chaotic filling of an Opera hall I have personally experienced ever. 5 minutes into the programmed start there was still a groping for seats. And the applause at the end of the last act was equally restrained. There was awe in the air. The opera ‘worked’. And the applause at the end was in the same vein. The Oper am Rhein has succeeded in its goal and challenge and the public appreciate it. Abstract celibral atonality has opened up a dialogue.

Argo Spier

Retake of Lady Macbeth von Mzensk in Dusseldorf

Archive - June 2008 - With Demitri Schostacowitz's Lady Macbeth von Mzensk, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Dusseldorf and Duisburg, Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany) delivers, as one of its last operas of the season 2007 - 2008, opera that cuts to the bone. On its second night, Lady Macbeth von Mzensk received numerous 'Bravo' calls throughout the opera and even some wolf whistles from the younger females at the end, as the tragic figure of Katerina became more and more entangled in the web of her cirumstances. The performances delivered by soprano Morenike Fadayomi, as Katerina, and tenor John Uhlenhopp, as Sergej, in this low-budget production were of such a high standard that they compensated for the lack of elaborate stage design and make this one of the best productions of the Oper am Rhein this year. The rawness with which the characters were cast by Dmitri Tcherniakov nears what Schostakowitz might have envisaged for the opera in its original version, before he was forced to succumb to Stalin's silent censorship and rework it to its present form.

The last scene of the opera, in which the womaniser Serjej makes unabashed love to Katerina's cellmate in front of her, is a perfect example of how women never ‘kill the thing that they love’ but rather liquidate the 'object' that distracts their lover. It is unthinkable that Katerina would turn her hatred on Sergej; she suffocates the woman he was unfaithful with, using a pillow. Both Demitri Sjostakovitz (composer) and Demitri Tcherniakov (regie) understood this to its core and it is the strong emphasis throughout the opera on this theme that makes Lady Macbeth von Mzensk now in Duisburg such a tremendous opera.

Oper am Rhein slowly notches itself up on the scale of 'must visit' Opera Houses with the selection of its productions and its emphasis on operatic tragedy and realism. (Ref. its other productions in 2007 – 2008)

ARCHIVE - Janaury 2008 - The Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Dusseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen) has chosen Giorgio Battistelli's The Fashion as high event of its opera season 2007-2008. With the opera's premiere performance on the 26th of January, 2008, having a 'fashion niche' of novelty, the Oper am Rhein is all set to put on a spectacular event. With the slogan 'Opera is fashion' it wishes to play into the hands of its audiences. People flocked to the event 'to see the opera but also to be seen by others at the opera'.

Dusseldorf is situated in the fashion and design Drei Ecke of upper Nordrhein Westfalen and, together with its neighbouring Dutch town, Eindhoven, it has become famous in the last decennia for its fashion and ultra contemporary design. The conductor is John Fiore and stage management is by Michael Simon. See Ticket Hot line for reservations

on-line tickets

Rising in rank

ARCHIVE - Giorgio Battistelli composed works such as Experimentum mundi, an 'opera di musica immaginistica' with fragments of Diderot and D’Alambert; already more than 200 performances have taken place since its creation in 1981. And then there is 'antasia da camera in forma di spettacolo' (1987); Anima for xilomarimba, basmarimba and big drum (1988); and Le Combat d’Hector et d’Achille (1989), which had its premiere at the Festival Musica of Straatsburg (1990). From 1993 to 2002 he composed Frau Frankenstein (Berlino, 1993), Prova d’Orchestra (Strasburgo, 1995), The Cenci (Londra, 1997), Die Entdeckung der Langsamkeit (Brema, 1997) and Auf den Marmorklippen (Mannheim, 2002).

giorgio battistelli at the vlaamse opera

The Fashion World Premiere - tempo & excitment

[Press - Giorgio Battistelli's 'new' music, Oper am Rhein, Dusseldorf.
Date: 2008-02-10 - Occasion: The Opera The Fashion - Battistelli
Text: Argo Spier - Wordcount: 1000]

The new work, The Fashion, had its World Premiere on the 26th of January 2008 in the Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf and it was a sold-out performance. Is it Haute Couture or Prêt-à-Porter to use terms in writing about an opera very much in use in Fashion? This is from five questions put to Director Michael Simon. The Fashion is namely an ‘Auftragswerk’ (a commissioned work) for Giorgio Battistelli and expectations for it are high. Mr. Battistelli composed works such as Experimentum mundi, an 'opera di musica immaginistica' on fragments of the Diderot and D’Alambert encyclopedy, of which already more than 200 performances took place since its creation in 1981. And works such as Jules Verne, an 'antasia da camera in forma di spettacolo', Anima for xilomarimba, basmarimba and big drum and Prova d’Orchestra (Strasburgo, 1995) which was part of the Vlaamse Opera's Fellini Cycle that was awarded World Creation status last year.

The music of The Fashion has an intriguing tempo, has unexpected 'turns 'and is exciting across the whole line. It teases the ear, making the listener grow used to one rhythm and then abruptly alters that rhythm. It goes in one 'direction', then 'changes', making progressive 'jumps' and it continuously surprises. Again and again. There are the vague remnant pieces of sound known in the unconsciousness of the hearer, the offs and ons, and the almost tango, mamba, bomb, then the flutter of My fair Lady passing by. There's a Persian Market and The Devil that wears Prada ... oh, and Meryl Streep. And numerous suggestive strains of 'recent artistic hype' flow from it. In this sense the music IS fashion sine qua non and definition of it. It uses what is recognisable by the spectator (the potential buyer of fashion when the comparison is extended), takes hold of this ingredient, shapes it, re-shapes it and creates melancholy, lingers on past novelties. With his The Fashion Battistelli is not only Maestro with his music, but also magician, entertaining his audiences in the same way fashion needs illusion to be 'entertaining' to sell to potential customers. But all of Gorgio Battistelli's work is like this, exciting, actual and infusing adrenalin into the listener. The Fashion has however that extra 'new feel' about it. It is wonderfully evasive and a pleasure to experience.

Yet there's more to opera then just a perfect and exciting score and with this remark the age-old discussion concerning this, and the role of the libretto and the mis-en-scene in opera, is once again drawn into the immediate. To what extent do complimentary and supportive structures in The Fashion fulfil their roles in the creation of the opera? What contribution does the libretto, for instance, make in the totality?

The libretto is in English, and it IS English. (This was what was whispered in the intermission among spectators.) But what 'kind' of English?

'I say fashion is life
It is your mother
Or your wife
It is every living thing
It is the birdies on the wing ... etc.'

When looked at closely, the libretto uses the metaphor and speech type of hype that was fashionable in the late 80's in Britain. The vernacular of it was a novel modernism in England ... then. The libretto suggests 'dated fashion'. Also the attitudes flowing from its bravura are to be found in this period of time. The different world we are living in today, however, the more 'realistic' and serious one, requires a different fashion strain in order for it to find expression of the fashionable, a 'newer' one than the 80's attitudes cherished by Bob Goody's contribution in 'conspiracy' with Giorgio Brattistelli.

Bob Goody is quoted in the program of the opera as saying that when he was asked to write the libretto in 2004 he had to laugh. "Eine komische Idee! Meine Kenntnisse von Oper waren Null und von der Mode verstand ich noch weniger". (A hilarious idea! My knowledge of Opera was nil and of fashion I understood even less). The 'laughing' attitude to also conceal possible weaknesses has long since gone out of fashion - not that Goody concealed his weakness - he laughed about the presumption that it didn't exist! But one can reason that the ambiguity in Bob Goody's 'old fashion' libretto has its value. It contrasts with Giorgio Battistelli's 'new fashion' music and creates tension. The Devil really wears Prada.

The third 'conspirer' in the opera, the Stage Director, Michael Simon ... why? The tour- de- force of his interlinked and rotating stage has had considerable impact on the whole scene. The tempo in which everything has happened on stage was tremendous. What is the function of this maddening run? To state that fashion is a senseless and insane road leading just to the recreation of itself, that it goes nowhere? Rotates in ever-increasing manner? Or was it a case of ‘too much’ in ‘too short’ a real-time span? The push for the dynamic ... Was he right in doing so? Or did he go too far, distracted 'too much' from Battistelli’s music? This is another academic question that certainly will keep many occupied for some time. But this is always the experimental risk that has to be taken with World Premiers, first timers. Whatever the Stage Director does, there is no previous frame of reference with which to compare. There will always be the situation of the 'much', the 'more' or the 'too little'. Michael Simon has opted for the 'fast mode' and one has to agree that it has comparative value, mimicking the fast creative processes in the fashion industry.

Grosso modo the Premiere did loosen the tongues of the spectators. It was a ‘live’ event and the smile on Mr. Battestelli’s face after the opera said it all. It was a ‘conspiracy’ – a demanding working together of everybody involved - and it was a mission accomplished. The Oper am Rhein has achieved its objective, letting spectators and critics both have their say on a topic called ‘fashion’ in a city, Dusseldorf, that has long been renown as a center of the design industry.

Fashion is discursive inter-action, give-and-take and a pull. The opera The Fashion evokes the same and invites inter-activity. But there are many devils wearing Prada and each of them claims to have the best (fashion) impasto.

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