STRAUSS : ARABELLA

Radio New Zealand Concert network
Sunday 25th of September 2016 at 6.30 - 8.40 pm
Sunday 18th of May 2014 at 6.03 -  10.05 pm
Sunday 5th of August 2007 at 3 pm

INTRODUCTION
SYNOPSIS
REVIEW
REVIEW
LIBRETTO (German)
 2016 (1980)STRAUSS: Arabella, an opera in three acts
with libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
An archival performance from 1980
Arabella....................... Kiri Te Kanawa
Zdenka......................... Barbara Daniels
Count Waldner............ Alexander Malter
Countess Waldner....... Sona Cervena
Mandryka.................... Ingvar Wixell
Matteo......................... William Lewis
Count Elemer............... Michael Ballam
Count Dominik............ John Brandstetter
Count Lamoral............. Kevin Langan
Fiakermilli.................... Erie Mills
A fortune teller............ Rebecca Cook
San Francisco Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Wolfgang Rennert 2014
STRAUSS: Arabella, an opera in three acts
Despite a series of misunderstandings and hurt feelings, the beautiful Arabella finds love with the wealthy suitor Mandryka
Arabella............................ Malin Byström
Zdenka.............................. Juliane Banse
Count Waldner................. Martin Winkler
Adelaide........................... Catherine Wyn-Rogers
Mandryka......................... Michael Volle
Matteo.............................. Roberto Saccà
Count Elemer................... Brian Jagde
Count Dominik................ Alexey Lavrov
Count Lamoral................. Keith Miller
The Fiakermilli................ Audrey Luna
Fortune Teller.................. Victoria Livengood
Waiter.............................. Mark Schowalter
Welko............................... Mark Persing
Djura................................ Jeffrey Mosher
Jankel............................... Timothy Breese Miller
Cardplayer 1..................... Scott Dispensa
Cardplayer 2..................... Seth Malkin
Cardplayer 3..................... Earle Patriarco
Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orch/Philippe Auguin


The New York Metropera staged this in 2001, with Renée Fleming; a commercial video recording of a performance in November 1994 has Kiri Te Kanawa as Arabella (and I own a copy of it)

I hesitate to describe this opera as a rarity, since Kiri Te Kanawa has it in her repertoire, and it is supposed to be second only to Der Rosenkavalier in popularity, but Denis Forman has omitted it from The Good Opera Guide. The record I own has Julia Varady as Arabella, with her husband in real life as Mandryka, namely Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and he was also coupled with Lisa Della Casa in another performance. But there are four recordings in the Penguin Guide, so Denis seems to be in denial this time, since this suits his criteria for inclusion. Kiri's part in the ROH performance under Jeffrey Tate is highly praised.
   The moral of the story is: be careful who you offer a glass of water to.
ARABELLA Richard Strauss
NY Metropera video recording, 1994 (conductor: Christian Thielemann)
This is a another romantic comedy-drama from the same team that produced Der Rosenkavalier (librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal and composer Richard Strauss), though it is not a silver rose that is presented, but a glass of water, as a mating rite.

Vienna, mid-19th century, in a hotel where the Waldner family reside.
Act 1
Count Theodor Waldner (Donald McIntyre) has lost his fortune through gambling, and he needs to find a rich man to marry his beautiful elder daughter Arabella (Kiri Te Kanawa). Their younger daughter, Zdenka (Marie McLaughlin) has been brought up as a boy (could not afford two coming out ceremonies?). Countess Adelaide (Helga Dernesch) is having her fortune told by cards, while creditors are at the door. Lieutenant Matteo (David Kuebler) is madly (suicidally) in love with Arabella; the love letter he received from her was written by Zdenka, who loves him, but he thinks she is a boy and calls her Zdenko. Arabella tells Zdenka that she is disdaining all her suitors because she is still waitng for the right man to come along, and she thinks she has seen him that very day. She is correct: Mandryka (Wolfgang Brendel) has fallen in love with her photograph (sent by her father to the man’s uncle, who had died) and he has come from afar to woo her. He lavishes money on the Count and arranges with him to be introduced to Arabella at a ball that night.
   The Count stands wondering whether he has been dreaming, and he repeats aloud Mandryka’s offer of money, ‘Help yourself’. Zdenka enters and asks what is happening, but he goes off leaving her puzzled. Matteo sneaks in, and she promises him he will receive a note from Arabella at the ball. Her sister arrives and wants to know why she is not  ready for the sleigh ride, when the horses are stamping their feet impatiently. Yes, Zdenko replies furiously, and your Elemer! Arabella soliloquizes: My Elemer? No, not Count Elemer, nor poor Matteo, but that stranger I saw (he’s probably married already!). Today is Carnival (Faschingsdienstag, Shrove Tuesday) and tonight is my reception, and I will be Queen of the Ball. They go out into the snow.

Here beginneth the 2nd lesson.
Act 2  [50 m]
The party is the Fiakerball (coachmans’ ball, a fiaker being a Viennese two-horse taxi-cab) and their mascot is Fiakermilli (Natalie Dessay, no less) has a few lines, but will mostly polka and yodel.
   Mandryka and Arabella come face to face (She is more beautiful than her picture! He is the one!). The three stooges (unsuccessful suitors: Dominik, Elemer, Lamoral) each ask her to dance, but she turns them all down. She listens to her new lover’s sad story of his first angelic wife. He also tells her that it is a custom in his country (‘Slovenia’, Croatia) for a woman to give her future husband a glass of water as a token of her commitment to him. Fiakermilli presènts a bouquet to Arabella. She wants an hour to be on her own, to break with her girlhood and her wooers; and then she leaves.  Matteo is in despair, because she ignored him, and Zdenko fears for him, so she gives him a note with a room-key, and assures him he will meet Arabella there (it will be Zdenka in the dark). Mandryka overhears this, misunderstands, and then flirts outrageously with Fiakermilli. All depart.

Act  3 [50m]
Matteo is at the hotel, looking pleased because he has just had a blissful encounter with Arabella   (actually Zdenka in the dark). Arabella arrives from the ball, equally happy, and singing to herself about the joys awaiting her with Mandryka in his forest-lands. In astonishment, Matteo asks whether she is going out, but she bids him goodnight and heads for her room; but he stops her and tries to sort the situation out; he has just promised to her in darkness that he will let her go, but he begs her for one last glance. Mandryka, returning with the parents, now has his fears confirmed when he sees the couple together; he hurls accusations and all become involved; eventually he challenges Matteo to a duel, with heavy sabres (previously the father of the bride had threatened to take Mandryka on with pistols, but then he remembered that he had parted with them).  Zdenka appears, calling to her Mama and Papa; for shame she is going to make her bed in the Danube river; non-members of the family find the face of this girl familiar, but with her hair down and wearing a nightdress they cannot recognize Zdenka. She confesses, and Matteo, liking the new form of his dear friend, accepts her. Sabres (for Mandryka) and pistols (for Waldner) are brought in, but it is too late for that. Mandryka and Arabella have to resolve the problem. She calls for a glass of water from the well, to be brought up to her room; when the servant brings it, she descends the staircase again carrying the glass. She could drink it herself, and forget him for ever, or hand it to him and be his for better and for worse. He drinks it down, smashes the glass, and their pact is sealed.

STRAUSS: Arabella, an opera in three acts
Arabella.................................. Adrianne Pieczonka
Zdenka................................... Genia Kühmeier
Mandryka............................... Thomas Hampson
Matteo................................... Michael Schade
Count Waldner....................... Wolfgang Bankl
Adelaide................................. Daniela Denschlag
Count Elemer.......................... John Dickie
Count Dominik....................... Adrian Eröd
Count Lamoral........................ Johannes Wiedecke
Fiakermilli............................... Daniela Fally
Fortune-Teller......................... Janina Baechle
Vienna State Chorus & Orch/Franz Welser-Möst
(recorded on 9 December 2006 by Austrian Radio)

 Obsolete NYMet links
BACKGROUND
COMPOSER
CHARACTERS
SYNOPSIS
STORYLINE