Gender benders in the Black Forest
OperaSlippedisc, courtesy of OperaVision, travels to a European festival that is something of a hidden gem: Rossini in Wildbad in Germany’s Black Forest. Friday night’s production of Rossini’s sparkling medieval ballad, Le Comte Ory, includes some joyous musical recycling (attentive ears will recognise part of last week’s stream, Il viaggio a Reims) and plenty of cross-dressing.
So what to make of Rossini’s comedy Le Comte Ory? Well, it is certainly more than just a collection of old man’s jokes. When the Count has finally managed to penetrate the barricaded castle, Isolier appears (who is actually not allowed in either) but has a key role: he unmasks the Count and, in an indescribably beautiful trio, he stands disguised in the dark between him and the Countess to protect her. The Count tries to approach him. But wait! Isolier is not a man at all, it is a woman in travesty. So we have a tenor disguised as a woman who thinks he is making love to a soprano, while in fact he is courting an alto in the role of man who takes the place of the soprano. And what to make of an opera in which a large proportion of the music derives directly from a work whose substance is entirely different, namely, Il viaggio a Reims? There are indeed many questions to address faced with one of Rossini’s most charming and graceful operas. The annual celebration of Rossini in Wildbad in Germany’s Black Forest seeks in their new production to tackle at least one. Who is Isolier? Is the boy Isolier a man or a woman who dreams of being a man, strong like a crusader?
Here is a clue as to who is who: Comte Ory is sung by Patrick Kabongo, Countess Adele is sung by Sophia Mchedlishvili and Isolier is sung by Diana Haller.
Plot: all the men are away on a Crusade. Only the young Count and his companions are around but have other things in mind; they are on the prowl for amorous adventures. In ridiculous disguises, they try to outwit the women, for now, bereft of their husbands. The beautiful and strict Countess Adele, to honour her crusading brother and other knights, has taken a vow of chastity, although she has fallen in love with Count’s noble squire, the young Isolier. Surely, in such circumstances, shouldn’t all men be banished from her castle?
Sung in French. Subtitles in French, German and English.
Streamed on Friday 23 August 2024 at 1900 CET / 1800 London / 1300 New York
Nothing to worry about – in opera, everything is ‘make-believe’, sometimes even including the singers.
disgusting anglo saxon trash “culture” infecting things decent
So reassuring to read your comment! I truly believe we should have a channel or online venue called The Eurotrash Channel: it would be a challenge to keep up with the many garbage-based European opera productions, but we could at least try. Then eventually we might also have
an Ameritrash Channel. Opera is dying at the hands of incompetent general directors, third-rate stage ‘directors’ and singers who won’t stand up to them or who don’t know the difference.
I would imagine three in a bed, one woman, one man dressed as woman, one woman playing man’s part dressed as woman, was the trash culture of 1820s Paris.
The residents in Wildbad in Germany had more to worry about 81 years ago, August 23, 1943, when the battle of Kursk ended, but they’re free to enjoy the gender bending characters in a Rossini opera today. Progress has been made.
Where is a relation between Kursk and Bad Wildbad?? There is NONE! I have lived in Bad Wildbad and still live nearby. Bringing it to a relation with Kursk is nonsense! Anyway, I hope the people who have produced that gender trash would have to finance the productions on their own instead of being heavily subventioned, then they wouldn’t produce that weird stuff. There are very few opera goers and 90% of those rare species will avoid that queer stuff. But maybe I’m just too old-fashioned …
I know this piece very well and was really looking forward to it. I thought it very well sung throughout with and with a very good orchestra. But the excellent soloists(Comte Ory, Gouverneur, Comtesse) are wasted on such a dreadful production on an inadequate stage. The acting was hammy, which is not necessarily bad – but this was, especially Isolier. The set is awful, mostly shocking costumes (but I loved the departing soldiers body-image tee shirts!) and there appears to be practically no stage direction with the chorus having little stage presence and looking uninvolved most of the time (the men in particular) or stomping around noisily – just singers put an a stage. Admittedly there was little scope/room for soloists or chorus to do much with it as they were shoe-horned into too small a space.
Overall – very enjoyable providing you just listen to the music and don’t watch it. I would have been good as a concert version.
Spoiler alert: Talent free zone. Ugly as a box of spanners too.