A letter from Muenster on the occasion of the Muenster Opera production of Le Prophete

A letter from Muenster on the occasion of the Muenster Opera production of Le Prophete, September, 2004

Dear Meyerbeer friends,

We just returned from Muenster where we experienced THE TRIUMPHANT SUCCESS of the
production of Le prophete. Let me tell it in the words of Jens Malte Fischer, professor for theatre history (and well known in Germany because of his critical commentary in an edition of Wagner's pamphlet "Jews in Music"). Fischer said: "This [Le Prophete in Muenster] is not only far superior to Vienna [Staatsoper, 1998-99] production, but this is probably the best Meyerbeer production we ever saw." What is the main reason for that statement ?

First of all, this success must be attributed to the uncommon engagment and the devotion to the work by the new theater director, M. Wolfgang Quetes and his tireless assistant, M.Matthias Heilmann. M. Quetes is well-known for his open mind concerning the unknown repertoire in Germany -- among other works he newly re-discovered Weber's operas Oberon and Euryanthe in new productions for the stage. In Muenster, he began his new directorship by staging Le Prophete. And he succeeded to show us a completely new and fascinating view on this masterpiece of music history.

I should first make note in particular about his excellent stage-direction of the chorus. The chorus sounded like 120 people - in fact, as the choir-director, M. Peter Heinrich, told me, there were only some 45 singers! But each one of them is a true artist. In the revolt scenes the tenors sounded like trumpets and the basses like a thunderstorm; and the female voices in the coronation
scene sounded like angels. Not only were the voices beautiful, the chorus members were excellent actors well guided by M. Quetes. This chorus, rather than static observers, were dramatic protagonists, acting as a real dramatic counterpart to each other and the other characters; in all accurately reflecting Meyerbeer's innovative intention to involve the chorus in the dramatic action.

In an equally accurate manner, M. Quetes developed the scenic intensity of the chamber-like soloist-scenes. For example, the brief scene of Jean delivering his fiance Berthe to Obertal to rescue the life of his mother is psychologically fascinating, but even I never imagined that this
important scene could be acted so well as to convey the full depth of the emotional conflict. Vocally, on the other hand, M. Daniel Magdal as Jean was not at his best in the second act, but he developed in the course of the action; he was fascinating in the prière of third act in dominating the revolting masses and in the exorcism scene of the fourth act. Mrs. Suzanne McLeod was an excellent Fidès, absolutely sure in intonation and coloratura cadenzas. She interpreted the role in a more lyrical way in order to develop the dramatic climax of the role in the fifth act - the Cavatine O toi qui m'abandonnes and the following Duo with Jean could not be rendered better. Carmen Acosta gave her Muenster debut as Berthe, she is also a first class singer. She rendered both the coloratura flexibility and the dramatic qualities of her part in an admirably way, her suicide scene at the end of the trio was owerwhelming. One should underline, that beside those main characters
the three anabaptists (M. James Mc Lean, M. Radoslaw Wielgus and M. Plamen Hidjow) were also presented as main characters in this production. Their musical presence was remarkable all along the piece, and as actors, they rendered the diabolic devilness as good as the comic traits of the figures, which is a quite difficult task. M. Anton Keremidtchiew as Oberthal was equally convincing, at the beginning as a decadent nobleman and at the end as the real antagonist of Jean. It is clear that a chorus like that of Muenster has excellent choir-soloists in the minor parts.

The orchestra worked hard to render the delicious sonority, the finesse of the sound values and the characteristic unusual, and sometimes delicate rhythms of Meyberbeer's rich score. Under the direction of Ivan Törzs they succeeded well, especially in the powerful music of the revolt scenes and in the coronation march. One should note that the repertoire of this same orchestra under its prior director was filled almost entirely with Wagner and Strauss; for relaxation, they performed some Bruckner symphonys. But the musicians now admit that they discovered for themselves, as they told us in their own words, a new world of music in this score. As a result, we had the unusual pleasure of hearing Meyerbeer performed by a typical German style orchestra, with powerful brasses and strings. In short: if at the Metz performance of Les Huguenots we heard Meyerbeer derive from Mozart, with the Muenster Prophete we heard Wagner derive from Meyerbeer, and this is also an interesting experience.

The set design was simple: a kind of antique theatre arena with two removable stairs and two levels for acting. It was mostly impressionistic by the different light effects which changed the aspect of this arena at each tableau (by the way: Bravo to the technical stuff) ; the aspect of the church in the coronation scene was alone worth to be applauded. This spartan but impressionist set design gave the work some antique greatness and authority, well appropriate to the philosophical ideas it expresses.

The production was based on my new critical edition of the original version. Some cuts were inevitable. The theatre has no ballet and limited financial capacity. Beside the ballets, the overture, the chidren's chorus, the prière of Fidès in act four and some repetitons in different numbers were cut. But those cuts didn't disturb the action, nor the dramatic development, with perhaps the only exception of the cut of the fifth act bacchanale, which gave way to a little abrupt step from the suicide scene of Berthe to the Couplets. At the end all participants showered with the ovations of an enthusiastic public - and they merited it very much !

Matthias Brzoska

September 29, 2004