Johannes Mooser / Critiques

At the Staatstheater Meiningen you can currently marvel at a lively picture by Markus Lüpertz: The painter not only painted the stage design and costumes, but also took over the direction of "La Bohème". It is a premiere of a special kind: at the age of 80, the painter Markus Lüpertz staged his first opera with Puccini's "La Bohème" at the Staatstheater in Meiningen. The gloomy stage design he painted reflects his own Berlin bohemian period, which he experienced as dark, cold and poor, says our critic Uwe Friedrich. Lüpertz has also painted the costumes of the singers, who step forward during their performances and sing to the audience. As a result, the whole thing looks like a lively Lüpertz image. Overall, Friedrich's production is reminiscent of paper theatre, as was very popular among the bourgeoisie in the 19th century. But there is little to be felt here of a psychologization of the characters or of emotionality, Friedrich judges. A successful excursion into directing, nothing more The production is also involuntarily funny in places and overall a "beautiful, really good ensemble theater at a German city or state theater". The conclusion of our critic: A short, entertaining opera that you like to watch. "This is all very beautiful, very decorative. Lüpertz himself has said that he does not see himself as a director. However, I also find that reassuring. This is an excursion that I find successful overall, if you completely refrain from the psychologization of the characters, but want to see a basically extremely conservative view of "La Bohème".

The eagerly awaited directorial debut of painter prince Markus Lüpertz in Meiningen was acclaimed by the premiere audience.Premiere or vernissage? That was the question here. Markus Lüpertz as an opera director, after everything that could be heard from him in advance, could only become an opera from the spirit of painting. The eager opera-goer has done the furnishings more often. However, the refreshingly vital-looking eighty-year-old has never directed it himself. The painter prince no longer wants to become a director In Meiningen he had Maximilian Eisenacher, a co-director for purely artisanal work, at his side. At the press conference, shortly before the premiere, Lüpertz admitted with his typical serene self-irony that he did not intend to become an opera director now. Of course, he did not try to hide the fact that he enjoyed the attention he received. The contradiction mentioned between his clear criticism of the currently dominant way of staging opera as an entertainment event and what happened in Meiningen with and around him for this premiere, he acknowledged with a smile with the remark that he was just a professional artist and lived from his notoriety. Will former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder appear? Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his wife did not come to Meiningen for the directorial debut of painter friend Lüpertz – as already reported in the press. This announcement was part of the apron that the historic theatre location once again needed. But it would have been just an additional treat for the category Miscellaneous anyway. Overwriting of the umpteen times reproduced images? This "La Bohème" was already spectacular. Not only because this applies to every premiere in December of the second corona winter. Especially in areas with worrying numbers of infections. The new artistic director Jens Neundorff von Enzberg in Meiningen and his star guest have caught the right time window. As many spectators as were allowed to fill the rows in a well-masked manner and at the end thoroughly cheered a version of opera that is not common today. Whereby the aura celebrated in Puccini's "La Bohème" above the rooftops of Paris, with artists' existences that freeze, starve, are in arrears with the rent and still live and love, particularly invite an overwriting of the umpteen times reproduced pictures of this repertoire perennial favorite. In addition, with the central love story between Mimì and Rodolfo, which ends with the inevitable death of the young woman. With Puccini's great, languishing tone, his scenic confrontation with a contemporary extension into the afflictions of our present is almost obvious for ambitious directors. In your mind's eye, you can literally see the associative video worlds with images from an increasingly fragmented society, including the diffuse threats posed by global uncertainties. Including the current pandemic threats, which in fact affect every theatre in a very concrete existential way. Opera becomes two-dimensional Lüpertz puts the exact opposite of this on stage and thus for discussion. He insists on his art, on painting and thus first of all on two-dimensionality and color. He does not let movement become a problem because he deliberately refers to the ramp singing and a gesture between baroque theatre and commedia dell'arte. With him, so to speak, all paths lead through the middle to the ramp. From there, the face to the audience is smashed or languished, which holds the stuff. And what the gripping sound that GMD Philippe Bach and the Hofkapelle courageously contribute from the trench requires or allows. Depending on the. Still life on the easel Visually, there is a small stove in the artist's residence against a dark gloomy background (in which the few pages of manuscript paper blaze surprisingly long), two skylights on the floor and an easel, on which a still life is then applied instead of solid food. The costumes are colorful throughout, the make-up strong. All of them are good with a powerful voice. The choir, rehearsed by Manuel Bethe, is juicy green with red caps and has its grand entrance in the Café Momus picture as a decorative Christmas tree with candles in the background. Painter Marcello armed with color palette Whether the butterfly tenor Alex Kim as Rodolfo or Julian Younjin Kim as the painter Marcello armed with color palette or Johannes Mooser, who is known as musician Schaunard due to his of course also two-dimensional instrument box, and Selcuk Hakan Tıraşoğlu, who walks as the philosopher Colline with an academic headdress. Monika Reinhard not only turns her Musetta into a vocal highlight, but also succeeds in taking the step from the two-dimensional sketch into the three-dimensional liveliness of coquetry. Especially when she plays her games with her current lover Alcindoro (Thomas Lüllig), the theater briefly gains the upper hand over painting. Of course, they all have their (sometimes involuntarily funny) ups and downs between the brochures staggered to the depth picture or the painted furniture. The fact that deniz Yetim, who sings convincingly throughout as Mimì and her Rodolfo, is not granted a spatial approach even in reconciliation, and even dies standing up, is not due to any rules of distance here, but to the approach of the painter, who sometimes attributes the plot solely to the music. Conclusion: Experiment successful The visual value of this Gesamtkunstwerk of staged painting with Puccini's music and three distinctly idiosyncratic poetic texts that the painter has written about it and which, performed by himself, are recorded off-screen is enormous. The personal statement that the painter Markus Lüpertz makes about music theatre direction is, of course, controversial. Overall, however, the experiment was a success. You were at a vernissage as well as in a premiere. Both had their own charm. But it also worked together for most viewers.

The conductor Juri Lebidev understands singers and instruments with a sense of justice obsessed with detail. His almost telepathic presence becomes an indispensable prerequisite for the trust between the stage and the pit, which made this blissful operatic event possible in the first place. The premiere and the performance the following afternoon were enthusiastically celebrated by those who had come and subscribers with unusual persistence.In "La clemenza di Scipione" all the singers have a parade number or at least a better stage coup thanks to Wilgenbus. Sara-Maria Saalmann asked for kind indulgence before the second performance. Unfounded. In addition to all the other requirements, she mastered her great aria with solo instruments in concert with bravura. In terms of structure, melos and ornamentation, this huge piece is amazingly similar to Konstanze's dreaded martyrdom aria from "Die Entführung aus dem Seraglio". Alexandra Scherrmann, as Arsinda's sister Idalba, proceeds even more confidently with coloraturas of emphatic lightness and physical frivolity, even when the powerful Marzius swings the raw leg of meat. Johannes Mooser finds the right vocal compromise between hero and poltergeist.With a tenor that is minimally throaty in the depths and clearer and clearer towards the top, Martin Lechleitner recommends himself as a Scipio who appreciates love more than war for larger tasks in the Mozart repertoire. It is astonishing this time how Onur Abaci as Luceius lets all difficulties of the soprano castrato part be forgotten. In the large duet, Saalmann's soft entrances merge with Abaci's virile and at the same time flexible, nuanced intonation in such a way that the two voices can hardly be distinguished. A deluxe plea for Johann Christian Bach! Hopefully this is only the prelude to further discoveries of operas in Eisenach.

One has to thank three initiators for the first own opera production in the Landestheater Eisenach. Jens Neundorff von Enzberg, the new director of the Meiningen State Theater, has more plans for the beautiful Bürgertheater in Rot und Weiß than guest performances by Meininger productions, as has been the case since the last renovation ten years ago. Director Dominik Wilgenbus brought him to Johann Christian Bach in his search for music theater works connected with the region. The Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Eisenach, not particularly familiar with early music, did an excellent job in “La clemenza di Scipione”. The premiere weekend became a great moment and a festival of voices.