Deutsche Oper Berlin. Puccini’s Turnadot. May 18, 2019.

Deutsche Oper Berlin.  Parkett 1 (Seat R13-P23, 82 euros).

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – John Fiore.  Turandot – Anna Simirnova, Calaf – Stefano La Colla, Liu – Meechot Marrero, Timur – Andrew Harris, Ping – Samuel Dale Johnson, Pang – Gideon Poppe, Pong – Michael Kim.

 Minimalist exterior of the Opera House.

 No chandeliers, no murals, simplicity defines the inside as well.

The walk from the train station was more interesting.

This was the first opera of this trip, and it was an opera staple, Turandot.

The Deutsche Oper Berlin first opened its doors in 1912, was destroyed during the second world war, and reopened with a newly design building in 1961.  The word to describe the outside design is “austere” and the inside is “practical.”  Which may not be all bad.  Another example would be Lincoln Center.  The auditorium seats 2000, which makes it rather large by German standards (La Scala seats also about 2000).  Our seats are in the center, close to the stage.  The acoustics are generally good.

The orchestra pit is deep, so we had no view of the conductor or the musicians during the performance.  During intermission I went up to a higher level to look at the set up, and a rather large orchestra was used.

The experience was mixed.  Let’s start with the good.  All the principals sang very well, Liu gentle and pleading; Calaf a bit insensitive,  but consumed by love; and Turandot quite severe.  The German audience probably isn’t much into applauding after each aria, it happened only once, after Liu delivered her haunting “Signore Ascolta.”  Calaf turned in an excellent Calaf in “Nessun dorma,” but there was no applause.  To make up for it, the applause at curtain call was very enthusiastic.

The costume is modern, but quite non-descript.  Most people are dressed up as Westerners, but one of the three “clowns” had a Chinese official dress on part of the time, the other sometime dressed up as a Turandot. 

Most “traditional productions” (I haven’t seen that many) have a severe-looking executioner wielding an axe at the beginning of the show.  What we got here was more like a comedy sketch, the victim pulled his coat above his head and ran around a bit before leaving the stage.  Liu has a skirt on, which was okay; but the light denim coat makes her look a bit ridiculous.  This most likely contributed to why the show seemed a comedy at the beginning.

The set was just a bit better than minimal.  There seemed to be this attempt to make the whole thing a play within a play.  We have several rows of folding chairs where the mob/chorus sat, with seat numbers painted on them.  In the back is a wall with a cutout up high, serving as the place where the officials sat.  For the third act the wall fell down (done after curtain, so for a couple of seconds the audience thought something went wrong.)

As the opera progressed, some surreal and disturbing elements crept in.  The “play within a play” aspect was done with some production people walking around the stage, but they more than direct, they herded and used their batons to keep people in line.  We are in Berlin, I am not sure it’s time to make references to its dark history yet.  After Liu committed suicide, her body (in effigy, no doubt) was hoisted up and remained hanging for quite a while, adding to the macabre feel of the production.  The most inexplicable thing was at the end Calaf and Turandot would knife Timur and the emperor, respectively, to death.

Curtain call in front of the set used for Act 3.  From left: emperor, Liu, Timur, Calaf, chorus master, conductor Fiore, Ping, Pang and Pong (the three not necessarily in order.)

In the on-line description of the story there is this “deep philosophical” discussion.  First, the annotator points out how inexplicable it was for Turandot and Calaf to come together, and that Liu sacrificed herself.  All good, I attribute that to the librettist not being able to put together a coherent story.  To me, one goes to Turandot for the music, not the story (for the first timer, some funny moments).  He (Jan Philipp Reemtsma) lost me when he then proceeded to talk about the connection between might and violence, and even proceeded to invent – as far as I know – the word “autotelian” which simply meant sadistic.  No one can deny his last sentence “Wherever spaces are created for the perpetration of autotelian violence, autotelian violence will be perpetrated.”  No kidding.

It took a lot of research for me to find out which is the most popular of the three or so opera houses in Berlin.  Berlin State Opera is in the former East Berlin, it has as Barenboim music director for life.  In a few days they will stage Macbeth with Placido Domingo in the lead role (read into this whatever you want, but still a big name).  It seats 1300 people. We walked by Komische Oper, you have to look for it to find it; photos of the interior show a more traditional opera theater.  It seems to put on less-known more modern operas.