Manuel Winckhler, Brenda Rae, Siyabonga Maqungo, Peter Rose, Dionysios Avgerinos & Samuel Hasselhorn (Photo: Bernd Uhlig)
Richard Strauss’ Die schweigsame Frau (The Silent Woman) remains a genuine rarity. Despite the pedigree – a score composed at the height of Strauss’ powers and a libretto by Stefan Zweig after Ben Jonson – the opera has never secured a lasting foothold in the repertoire. The UK has barely seen it at all – its last appearance was at Garsington Opera in 2003. On the evidence of this revival at the Staatsoper Berlin, that feels both understandable and slightly frustrating.
Understandable because, for all its musical riches and flashes of comic brilliance, Die schweigsame Frau simply struggles to sustain itself over three sprawling acts. Frustrating because when performed at this level, it becomes impossible not to admire.
The plot itself is gloriously flimsy. Sir Morosus, an ageing retired naval commander who can no longer bear noise of any kind, decides to marry in search of domestic peace and quiet. His nephew Henry – an opera singer – conspires with a theatrical troupe to trick him into marrying Aminta, a supposedly meek and silent young woman who transforms after the wedding into an impossibly loud and chaotic nightmare. Predictably, the deception spirals into escalating farce before finally resolving itself in reconciliation and forgiveness. Cleverly constructed though Zweig’s libretto undoubtedly is, the central joke begins to wear thin long before Strauss’ luxuriant score does.
“Christian Thielemann drew peerless playing from the Staatskapelle Berlin…”
With a 19:00 start and a final curtain close to 22:40, the evening undeniably tested stamina. Yet it’s difficult to imagine a more persuasive case for the work than the one presented here. Christian Thielemann drew peerless playing from the Staatskapelle Berlin, revelling in Strauss’ endless invention without allowing the score to collapse under its own weight. The orchestral playing was sumptuous throughout – warm strings, gleaming brass and woodwind playing of extraordinary character – but Thielemann also understood that this opera works best when it keeps moving. He maintained momentum wherever possible, ensuring the comedy never entirely stalled.
Vocally, the performance could scarcely have been better cast. Peter Rose was magnificent as Sir Morosus, finding genuine pathos beneath the character’s bluster and misanthropy. Strauss may repeatedly invite us to laugh at Morosus, but Rose also made clear the sadness of a man increasingly bewildered by the modern world around him. His final monologue emerged with touching sincerity.
Brenda Rae’s Aminta combined vocal brilliance with razor-sharp comic instincts, effortlessly negotiating Strauss’ demanding writing while relishing the character’s theatrical transformation from obedient bride to monstrous spouse. Samuel Hasselhorn was equally impressive as the Barber, relishing the role’s manic energy and driving much of the evening’s comedy, while Siyabonga Maqungo brought warmth, lyricism and a ringing tenor voice to Henry.
Siyabonga Maqungo, Brenda Rae & Peter Rose (Photo: Bernd Uhlig)
The only new addition to the revival cast was Evelyn Herlitzius as Morosus’ housekeeper, and she nearly stole the show outright. Her wonderfully batty cameo performance felt perfectly calibrated to the opera’s absurd world, delivered with enormous personality but never descending into caricature.
Indeed, one of the evening’s greatest strengths was the consistency of the casting right down to the comprimario roles. Serafina Starke, Rebecka Wallroth, Dionysius Avgerinos, Manuel Winckhler and Friedrich Hamel all contributed vividly characterised performances that helped maintain the production’s comic momentum.
Jan Philipp Gloger’s staging updated the action to contemporary Berlin and initially appeared poised to deliver a biting satire on the city’s housing crisis. The opening projections of apartment listings and ‘flats to let’ advertisements suggested a sharply contemporary frame for Morosus’ domestic anxieties, though this idea gradually receded as the evening progressed. Even so, the production remained consistently intelligent and visually striking. Ben Baur’s designs looked superb, finding the right balance between realism and theatrical exaggeration, while Tobias Krauss’ lighting and Leonard Wölfl’s video design helped sustain the production’s restless energy.
Ultimately, however, the evening also demonstrated why Die schweigsame Frau remains more admired than loved. There are long stretches where Strauss’ inexhaustible musical imagination seems to be working overtime to compensate for material that cannot entirely support it dramatically. One left admiring the opera more than truly embracing it.
Still, as an interpretation – dramatically, vocally and musically – this would have been difficult to better. For anyone curious about this Strauss oddity, the Staatsoper Berlin offered a rare chance to encounter it under near-ideal conditions.
Die schweigsame Frau runs until 29 May. Details and booking information can be found here: staatsoper-berlin.de.