Moses und Aron is among the greatest works by Arnold Schoenberg, and one of the capital operas in 20th Century, in which the man who revolutionized the classical music created a masterpiece in which the dodecaphonic system was the vehicle to convey the story of a people lost in its despair and its necessity of a saviour, as well as a personal situation in the composer, who was seeing how antisemitism during Weimar's Republic was leading to the heinous fate awaiting to European Jews. Indeed, soon after his work he would embrace Judaism again.
Schoenberg's masterful opera was premiered in Spain in 1985, at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, in Barcelona, with Franz Mazura in the title role. However, its Madrid premiere found too much obstacles with several opportunities lost: It was said to be supposed to have its premiere in Teatro Real in Summer 2004, by the Staatsoper Berlin on tour with Daniel Barenboim, who were touring each summer in Madrid, but the difficulty of the work for the conservative audience (then starting because Teatro Real was re-opened in 1997, after a 72-year period of no opera on its stage) made the choose allegedly not very suitable for the Madrid Government and for, as it was said, Teatro Real itself. As a result, Moses was replaced by Tosca that summer in Teatro Real.
Finally, it was scheduled for the 2010-2011 season, in a co-production with the Vienna Opera, thanks to Antonio Moral, the leaving manager who intended to have this title as a farewell after a successful 4-year management. The staging should have been the interesting Reto Nickler staging who can be seen on DVD, saying on the final credits "co-production with Teatro Real". However, in that season the legendary Gerard Mortier began his tenure in the opera house and decided to post-pone this title because he felt the Teatro Real chorus and orchestra weren't still prepared for such a work.
Concert performance of Moses und Aron at Teatro Real, Madrid. September 7 and 9, 2012.
It wasn't until 2012 when Moses und Aron was finally performed but it did in a concert version, but with a different musical team: The SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden Freiburg and the Europa Chor Akademie, which were touring Europe with this opera and finally recorded it on CD, were the chosen to give this masterpiece its final premiere on Teatro Real. The sensation I had was that we had attended the best rendition of the work in the last two decades, excepting the Boulez's one in 1995 from Amsterdam. As an off-topic note, the subtitles were displayed in Spanish and German, and since it was rare because they are usually displayed in Spanish and English, we thought that could be due to the visit of Angela Merkel to Spain, but the German chancellor didn't attend the show. Nevertheless, a considering number of Germans and people from the tiny Jewish community of Madrid did. During those years, the 2008 Crisis hit also the Teatro Real and after lights went offf and just few seconds before the performance began a woman talked for the worker's rights from the third floor, delaying the performance for several minutes.
Conducted by Sylvain Cambreling, the orchestra went from low to highest, improving as the performance went by, and by the end of the first act it already reached a supreme level, maintaining it during the following act. The German orchestra revealed to be experienced (it had premiered here Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise last year) , the basses had overwhelming tremolos and violins had a shining sound, closing the opera with a dramatic, light sound, as it were fading at the same time Moses were collapsing of despair. The Chorus was accomplished, but in a level a bit under the orchestra. To give a touch of staging, a picture of a desert was put at the bottom.
It featured a big cast, with Franz Grundheber as an unforgettable Moses, who not only seemed to recit but also to sing the role, with his powerful voice, dramatic and perfect diction, portraying an authoritative and introvert Moses. So shocking when reciting the line "So bin ich geschlagen", conveying his defeat at convince the people of the idea of an unrepresentable God.
Andreas Conrad was an excellent Aron, with a generously volumed voice, and a great tone of character tenor, one of the best of his tessitura in Europe. The rest of the cast sang well, to mention Friedermann Röhlig (an amazing bass) and Johanna Winkel among them.
It wasn't until June 2016 when Teatro Real finally staged Moses und Aron. It was done in a co-production with the Paris Opera, in the acclaimed staging by Romeo Castellucci, premiered in the French capital in November 2015 and in Spain the following year. At last, the Madrid audience could see a proper performance of this masterpiece, being one of the most awaited shows of the lyrical season.
This opera was composed in an era in which the German society was lost, and "needed" something or someone which could take them out from the misery and violence. But leaving the historical context aside, we can see that Schoenberg's Moses is timeless, and very human. He is not only the Biblical leader figure, but also an intelligent man who has in front of himself a titanic challenge: to take the people from the oppression and take them to the Promised Land. And the people has no time too: they don't want words or ideas they don't understand but facts, images which make them confident. History at its purity. The fascinating and delving libretto merges with the explosive score into a work in which Moses' and the people's moods and anxiety are conveyed to the audience. This work, as said, is like a great symphony, and also could be in a musical condition between opera and oratorio. The first act is challenging for the orchestra and chorus, since they have to stage the Exodus from Egypt. It leaves the spectator with astonishment, due to its orchestral grandiloquence. Act II is colourful, sensual, since its nature is orgiastic, because the people is adoring the Golden Calf. However, it turns into despair with Moses' final defeat.
Castellucci tried to show how the brothers convince the people to follow them. The Biblical prodigies are turned into modern scientific experiments, as well as people's inner chaos whose height is the Golden Calf feast. When the opera begins there is a tape whose film descends to the floor, to reach Moses. It's the Revelation. For this production a real ox was used to represent the Calf, much to the fury of many animalists which denounced animal abuse to be firstly in a Cage during the revelation and made to move through the scene and later smeared with a bit of black liquid (representing oil) during Act 2. Soloists and chorus are dressed in white, and in Act 1,which fussionated with lighting at the end of Act 1 while working the miracle of the cane turned into snake (now represented by an enormous medical-scientific device). On stage during this big scene were projected different words related to the science, snakes, the people and the world. At the end of Act I, some people take off their clothes and remain naked. Then a naked woman falls. Silence. The countdown of the 40 days begin.
Act II begins with Moses absent and people needing a leader. Aron has to humiliate himself and smeared with oil, the new gold with he becomes the minister of this frenetic new cult. Reason represented by an obeying, indoctrinating notion of an unrepresentable divinity has deserted the people, to give way to the passion, anarchy which needs an image to see in what they belief. They abandon themselves to material richness (consumism), they swim into a pool of petroleum, they dance and made the fox to move. Have they lost their innocence or even rebelled against that unaccessible and distant God?
Then, Moses appears and the Sinai is shown. The people awakes from that wild dream and order is restored. Blackened, wearing an African mask, Aron is the tribal, primary side of the people, in strong contrast with Moses' white clothing, serious and severe aspect. On stage, the Sinai has been replaced with a night, starry sky. God has won, Moses didn't, and as the final confrontation of the brothers happened, it is clear that things will never be the same: Aron is convinced that the people needs a representation of the God which will led them to the promised Land and glory, so maybe this feast has been necessary, because they need to see an image of what they believe. The people has now returned to their former submissive state of accepting the invisible God, but Moses sinks into despair because he has not been able to prevent this frenzy, so this is a personal defeat because his lack of people skills, his shyness (already in Act I he seemed less convincing than his brother) have made him to fail conveying the idea of a God which doesn't need nothing but devotion for being praised. In this point, Moses collapses on stage holding two black curtains while the stars shine on the sky.
Former First Lady Sonsoles Espinosa singing with the chorus. Second woman from right, the tall blonde one.
Lothar Koenigs gave a fantastic performance, with strings, brass and percussion sections sounding really spectacular. An experienced maestro who had conducted the work worldwide, conducted with appropriate tempi, profound and mystic during first act, and lively and energical in Act II. At the end, the strings shone at during Moses' final words, at a tragic, dramatic, intense level never seen before.
The Chorus was really the best of the performance. Their interventions were memorable and very chilling while reciting their Sprechgesang parts. It seems as if Mortier were right in this aspect: they seemed to have studied deeply every detail their difficult part and they gave their best on stage. One of the best performances remembered by this chorus. As a curiosity, the former First Lady of Spain, Sonsoles Espinosa, wife of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (President of Spain from 2004 to 2011) was singing with the chorus, as she is soprano in the supporting section of the chorus.
Albert Dohmen recited well, even sometimes seemed to have sung the part, however he wasn't as stunning as Grundheber. During the first act he sounded convincingly authoritative, with a grave voice and accent.
John Graham-Hall on the other hand gave a great rendition, despite the vibrato exceeding a bit and some signs of tiring, but his singing was excellent, and as an actor portrayed the tensions and problems that Aron had to face.
The rest of the supporting cast wasn't at the same level of the 2012 one, Catherine Wyn-Rogers sang correctly the sick woman, Andreas Hörl was a great Priest, and Julie Davis standing out as one of the virgins. Michael Pflumm as the Naked Youth had a light tenor nice voice, but lacked a bit of volume.
Albert Dohmen and John Graham-Hall as Moses and Aron. Madrid, 2016.
This performance was necessary, because there's been too much time for seeing this opera finally performed in the Spanish capital, to enjoy such a complicated but fascinating work, even when the memories of the concert version were present.
Arnold Schoenberg changed for good the course of music, and his legacy is full of masterpieces, each one revolutionary at their best. Their difficulty for a conservative ear, once one has delved in his work, becomes a great admiration and fascination, both of the challenging of his famous atonalistic masterpieces as well as his more popular, magic and haunting tonal, post-romantic, wagnerian-style period.
There have been (and I didn't attend), and will be, more performances of his music in Madrid. But by recalling the ones I attended, I intended to share how important he is for the musical life of a big city, orchestra and theatre, and when you experience it live, it never leaves you indifferent.
My reviews are not professional and express only my opinions. As a non English native speaker I apologise for any mistake.
Most of the photographs are from the internet and belong to its authors. My use of them is only cultural. If someone is uncomfortable with their use, just notify it to me.
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