 | This is my Once o3r Twice a Fortnight post from February 7th, 2013. |
This is a great time of year: Valentine’s Day is coming soon, and there are a number of festivals all over the world (here in Ottawa, Quebec City, and let’s not forget Mardi Gras and the Carnival in Rio in a few days.
Seems appropriate then to listen to a comic opera involving some of those great elements: love, fun and general reveling in the context of an evening of dancing, encounters and the topsy-turvy world of a masquerade ball.
The masquerade isn’t a unique theme: think of Johann Strauss’ Fledermahttp://archive.org/details/MaskaradeFs39ByCarlNielsen
us, Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera and this gem of an opera from Denmark’s Carl Nielsen, Maskarade.
This Nielsen opera is more aligned with the shenanigans of Strauss’ tale than Verdi’s murderous plot . The masquerade of the title is a place where the characters can leave behind the oppressed lives they lead in a rigid society; it represents liberty and the Enlightenment, and even more, perhaps, a sense of joie de vivre in a land where weather (and duty) is often cold and gloomy. Not surprisingly, Maskarade has become the Danish national opera.
Carl Nielsen, a contemporary of other Scandinavian composers like Grieg of Norway and Sibelius of Finland is in my view the most avant-garde composer of the three. As a composer, he wears his heart on his sleeve: his symphonies, in particular his second, fourth and fifth, are studies in human nature and perseverance against life’s great challenges. It is somewhat fitting that Nielsen didn't consider Maskarade to be his best work - he often deplored that the last two acts lacked polish and cohesion. Yet, the overture and the short dance sequence simply known as “the dance of the cockerels” of the third act are both effervescent and tender. Here is the dance sequence:
Any opera lover worth his or her salt will see right through the plot of this opera: Leander is something of a party animal, which displeases his father Jeronimus to no end. Jeronimus has struck a gentleman’s agreement with Leonard (a well-to-do Copenhagen resident) that Leander will marry Leonard’s daughter Leonora. Leander, meanwhile, has met a wonderful girl at a masquerade ball, and is determined to marry her and not Leonora (whom he’s not formally met). At Leonard’s house, the mirror-image of the story is revealed. Now, one has to wonder who it is that both of these young people have met – as if you don’t know, but why spoil the antics that will invariably ensue…
The action culminates at another masked ball, this time it is well-attended: Jeronimus and his wife, Leonard, a trio of servants… You get the picture!
And, it goes without saying, the outcome of all of this not only proves that stars do indeed align, but that sometimes even in Opera, there can be a happy ending!
The Performance
Seems appropriate then to listen to a comic opera involving some of those great elements: love, fun and general reveling in the context of an evening of dancing, encounters and the topsy-turvy world of a masquerade ball.
The masquerade isn’t a unique theme: think of Johann Strauss’ Fledermahttp://archive.org/details/MaskaradeFs39ByCarlNielsen
us, Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera and this gem of an opera from Denmark’s Carl Nielsen, Maskarade.
This Nielsen opera is more aligned with the shenanigans of Strauss’ tale than Verdi’s murderous plot . The masquerade of the title is a place where the characters can leave behind the oppressed lives they lead in a rigid society; it represents liberty and the Enlightenment, and even more, perhaps, a sense of joie de vivre in a land where weather (and duty) is often cold and gloomy. Not surprisingly, Maskarade has become the Danish national opera.
Carl Nielsen, a contemporary of other Scandinavian composers like Grieg of Norway and Sibelius of Finland is in my view the most avant-garde composer of the three. As a composer, he wears his heart on his sleeve: his symphonies, in particular his second, fourth and fifth, are studies in human nature and perseverance against life’s great challenges. It is somewhat fitting that Nielsen didn't consider Maskarade to be his best work - he often deplored that the last two acts lacked polish and cohesion. Yet, the overture and the short dance sequence simply known as “the dance of the cockerels” of the third act are both effervescent and tender. Here is the dance sequence:
Any opera lover worth his or her salt will see right through the plot of this opera: Leander is something of a party animal, which displeases his father Jeronimus to no end. Jeronimus has struck a gentleman’s agreement with Leonard (a well-to-do Copenhagen resident) that Leander will marry Leonard’s daughter Leonora. Leander, meanwhile, has met a wonderful girl at a masquerade ball, and is determined to marry her and not Leonora (whom he’s not formally met). At Leonard’s house, the mirror-image of the story is revealed. Now, one has to wonder who it is that both of these young people have met – as if you don’t know, but why spoil the antics that will invariably ensue…
The action culminates at another masked ball, this time it is well-attended: Jeronimus and his wife, Leonard, a trio of servants… You get the picture!
And, it goes without saying, the outcome of all of this not only proves that stars do indeed align, but that sometimes even in Opera, there can be a happy ending!
The Performance
Carl August NIELSEN (1865 – 1931)
Maskarade, FS 39. (1904–06)
Comic opera in three acts
libretto by V. Andersen after the play by Holberg.
Jeronimus, a citizen of Copenhagen - Aage Haugland
Magdelone, his wife - Susanne Resmark
Leander, their son - Gert Henning-Jensen
Henrik, Leander's valet - Boje Skovhus
Arv, Jeronimus' servant - Michael Kristensen
Leonard, a citizen of Slagelse - Kurt Ravn
Leonora, his daughter - Henriette Bonde-Hansen
Pernille, Leonora's maid - Marianne Rorholm
Danish National Radio Choir, Danish National Radio Symphony
Conductor: Ulf Schirmer
Opera Synopsis: http://books.google.ca/books?id=bLDa...ed=0CGsQ6AEwBw
Performance @ Internet Archive: http://archive.org/details/MaskaradeFs39ByCarlNielsen
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