This one has a vexed history: it was written in the forties and fifties, but not recorded until 1966, and not actually staged until 1982--but that 1982 version was an abridgment, and it wasn't performed in its entirety until this 2011 production from Minnesota opera, streaming from now until the 24th for the price of fifteen dollars. Why is it time-limited? I don't know. I feel like some outfits do these things without considering that streaming a pre-recorded piece is not the same as an actual live performance.
Well, you know what Wuthering Heights is about, probably. Catherine? Heathcliff (no one should terrify the neighborhood)? Well, yes, so the idea is that he's an orphan brought to this estate; the father dotes on him, but then he dies and there's just his violent son, who hates him, and his daughter, with whom he forms a passionate bond. But she marries Edgar Linton instead and he marries his sister Isabelle for revenge, but those relationships aren't up to much. Then Catherine dies. The end. Well, not really, but that's the end of the opera. The book goes on for quite a while, with a romance between Catherine's daughter Cathy jr. and Hindley's son Hareton. None of that here, though. There's no indication that Catherine HAS a daughter, in fact.
I looked and I found that reviews of this are decidedly mixed, but I thought it was pretty great, for the most part: very passionate, very Straussian music; I never thought much about the Heathcliff/Catherine relationship before, but the music really helps with that. There are many musical highlights here. I did have some issues with it on a story level, however. First, my mellow was kind of harshed by the stuff at the beginning of the second act with Edgar and Isabelle; I mainly just felt sorry for the two of them, being sucked into this whole thing that is not in any way their fault. Passionate, immortal love is great and all, but it can easily shade into monstrous narcissism, and when your drama ends up having collateral damage, it's easy for that to happen.
My other, more serious issue is with what parts of the book are included. I don't think there's any need to closely follow the novel's plot; liberty hall! But I have to say, it does feel oddly incomplete as it's presented here. If you're not going to bother with the children, I think it would make more sense to have Catherine and Heathcliff die together. But nope--and the opera even opens with the Lockwood stuff, so you know Heathcliff is still around years later, and there's a sense that his story isn't quite finished, but...well, it is, as far at the opera is concerned. That doesn't work. Best to just cut poor ol' Lockwood.
Still, a very good opera, in an extremely handsome period production. Worth seeing. I'm sort of surprised there aren't more Wuthering Heights operas; there's one by Carlisle Floyd, but I think that's it. Anyway, I will conclude by presenting these Timeless Words of Wisdumb:
Indeed!
No comments:
Post a Comment