Richard Strauss: Frau ohne Schatten / The Woman Without a Shadow, opera

Conductor: Valery Gergiev

Festival Ljubljana 2010

Richard Strauss:
Frau ohne Schatten / The Woman Without a Shadow
An Opera in Three Acts
Libretto: Hugo von Hofmannsthal

Mariinsky Theatre of St Petersburg
Conductor: Valerij Gergijev

Stage Director: Jonathan Kent
Set Designer: Paul Brown
Choreographer: Denni Sayers
Lighting Designer: Tim Mitchell
Chorusmaster: Andrej Petrenko
Concertmaster: Dmitrij Jefimov, Irina Trutko


Cast:
The Emperor: Agust Amonov
The Empress: Elena Nebera
The Nurse: Olga Savova
The Messenger of Keikobad: Nikolaj Putilin
The Guardian of the Threshold: Oksana Šilova
The Apparition of a Youth: Jevegenij Akimov
The Voice of a Falcon: Tatjana Kravcova
A Voice From Above: Jekaterina Krapivina
Barak, the Dyer: Vladimir Vanejev (11.8.) , Edem Umerov (12.8.)
The Dyer’s Wife: Olga Sergejeva
The Hunchback, Barak’s Brother: Andrej Popov
The One-Eyed Man, Barak’s Brother: Andrej Spehov
The One-Armed Man, Barak’s Brother: Vjačeslav Luhanin
The First Maid: Svetlana Čuklinova
The Second Maid: Jelena Železnjakova
The Third Maid: Jekaterina Sergejeva

Children's voices, imperial servants, other people's children, servant spirits, spirit voices, voices of the town guardsmen: Children's chorus, Chorus and ballet of the Mariinsky Theatre and extras of the Festival Ljubljana

Stage manager: Irina Arsenjeva
Technical Director: Oleg Malihin

Duration approx. 4 hr and 20 min, with two intervals.


In March 1911, two months after the resounding success of Der Rosenkavalier, composer Richard Strauss wrote to the librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal: “If we ever again cooperate on a large scale project perhaps we should try something colourful and vigorous in content. I am thinking of a magical fairytale in which two men appear alongside two women, one of whom belongs to the world of fairies while the other would be an unusual figure, but not from this world.” Hofmannsthal went on to write the story in the style of the fairytales from A Thousand and One Nights, a story of marital love, but at the same time a text for opera with the same content. The composer believed The Woman without a Shadow to be his most perfected and best opera. Wonderful solo instrumental passages constantly emerge from the mainly dense orchestral writing, while the demanding singing parts have an extraordinarily beautiful position. The opera was first produced on the stage of the Vienna State Opera on 10 October 1919. Although the composer had completed it some two years earlier, in 1917, it had not been staged earlier due to the state of war. The work has never been previously performed on a Slovene opera stage.

Synopsis of the opera The Woman without a Shadow

Act 1, Scene 1
For a year the Emperor has been living with a wife who changed from a gazelle that had been hit by a spear into a beautiful young woman. However, the Empress is the daughter of the chief of the spirits of Keikobad, and in spite of marrying the Emperor she is not mortal because she does not have a shadow - the symbol of mortality and fertility. A messenger from Keikobad appears in the Emperor’s palace and informs the Empress and the misanthropic Nurse that if the former does not find a shadow within three days the Emperor will turn to stone and she herself will have to return to the kingdom of spirits. Meanwhile, the Emperor has departed for a three-day hunt, primarily to find a falcon earlier lost in the wild. Therefore, the Empress decides that in order to save her husband and herself she must travel to the mortal world, accompanied, against her will, by the Nurse.
(orchestral interlude)
Scene 2
The Empress and the Nurse arrive at the house of the embittered Barak, the Dyer. His much younger wife does not like children. Furthermore, she is constantly arguing with Barak’s crippled brothers. The Nurse gives her a beautiful description of the carefree life she will lead if she gives up her own shadow to the Empress, while also informing her that she will have to deny her husband for three days. During these days, the Nurse and the Empress will serve Barak’s wife as maids, while spending the nights in the falcon’s house. Due to this faithlessness the mournful voices of the unborn resound from afar, as Barak desires nothing more than a child of his own. When Barak returns home he has to sleep in a bed by himself, while on the road the town watchmen sing the praises of conjugal love.

Act 2, Scene 1
The Empress has still not succeeded in acquiring a shadow. Dressed in simple clothes, the Nurse takes her back to Barak’s house. Before Barak’s young wife, the Nurse conjures up the image of a handsome youth, who is supposed to seduce her. Barak returns home, the vision vanishes, and the voices of the unborn are heard again.
(orchestral interlude)
Scene 2
The forest in front of the falcon’s pavilion. The Emperor knows that his wife and the Nurse will spend three nights in the falcon’s house, which is where the falcon has led him. When the two women approach, the Emperor wants to kill his wife for her suspected unfaithfulness, but neither his arrows nor his sword obey him. Powerless, he takes refuge in the mountains.
(orchestral interlude)
Scene 3
Barak’s house. With a potion, the Nurse secretly induces Barak to sleep. She then once again conjures up the image of the handsome youth. Barak’s wife almost gives in to temptation but her conscience does not allow her to. She then wakes up her husband. They immediately start to quarrel and the wife runs away with the Nurse. Barak no longer understands anything but feels pity for the Empress.
Scene 4
In her dreams the Empress sees her husband, with his heart already turned to stone, wandering aimlessly through the forest. Suddenly a stone door opens, through which the Emperor disappears, all of which is the fault of the Empress.
(orchestral interlude)
Scene 5
Barak’s wife is also filled with guilt, and she confesses to her husband that she has sold her shadow. During his justified wrath the heavenly forces send him a sword with which to kill his wife. As this sacrifice would be too awful the Empress gives up the shadow. The sword slips from Barak’s hand and his house disappears.

Act 3, Scene 1
A dungeon in the underworld. Barak and his wife know nothing of what has become of each other. Mysterious voices summon them to the light of day.
(orchestral interlude)
Scene 2
The entrance to the temple of the spirits. A boat puts in before the enormous stone gates and the Empress steps out. She must answer to the highest judge. The Nurse rebukes the mortal world. She sends Barak and his wife, who are searching for each other, in different directions, and herself falls into a helpless rage.
(orchestral interlude)
Scene 3
In the temple of spirits the Empress must undergo a test. As she catches sight of her husband, who has now almost completely turned to stone, she hears tempting voices urging her to drink the water of life and thus gain a shadow, but at the same time she hears the desperate voices of the mortal couple. Finally she renounces her own happiness, which would be based on the suffering of others. In so doing she overcomes the final test and saves both herself and the Emperor.
(orchestral interlude)
Scene 4
A landscape in the kingdom of spirits. Barak finally finds his wife, whose shadow has been returned to her. The Emperor and Empress, who now has a shadow, have also found happiness in true love. The voices of the unborn sound in a joyous song.

Valery Gergiev’s inspired leadership as Artistic and General Director of the Mariinsky Theatre since 1988 has taken Mariinsky ensembles to 45 countries (presenting the best of Russian opera and ballets as well as the complete Shostakovich and Prokofiev symphonies and Wagner’s Ring cycle) and has brought universal acclaim to this legendary institution, now in its 226th season. In November 2006, the new and superb Mariinsky Concert Hall opened, and the new Mariinsky Opera House is schedule to open at the end of 2011.

Presently Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, Valery Gergiev is also founder and Artistic Director of the Stars of the White Nights Festival and New Horizons Festival in St. Petersburg, the Moscow Easter Festival, the Gergiev Rotterdam Festival, the Mikkeli International Festival, and the Red Sea Festival in Eilat, Israel.


Text: Peter Bedjanič
Translation: Neville Hall