The Marriage of Figaro leaves sunny setting for Nordic noir
Mozart’s iconic opera gets a Scandinavian twist in presentation by Canadian Opera Company
Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro was written by an Austrian in Italian and set in Spain. But the version the Canadian Opera Company (COC) is presenting Feb. 4 to 27 has a decidedly Nordic feel.
The COC purchased the production from the Salzburg Festival, where it performed to acclaim in 2006, 2007, 2009 and again in 2011. The work has won over audiences in other countries as well with its more serious take on what is considered a comedic farce. No more sunny Andalucia: this is a colder, darker clime.
It’s now Toronto’s turn to experience the work heavily influenced by the images of Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman with its formal black and white sets and costumes, and clean, uncluttered lines.
This Marriage brings the focus inward to the feelings of its characters: betrothed servants Figaro and Susanna, seducer Count Almaviva and the Countess who realizes she’s lost his love. The action takes place at a country estate over the weekend as the Count tries to assert his right to have sex with a servant on her wedding night. An angel appears and so does a black crow, additions brought in by German director Claus Guth.
There will still be laughter at the hijinks of the couples, but this is much more than a traditional “opera buffa.”
How a happy Italian opera got a moody Swedish spin Set and costume designer Christian Schmidt is well acquainted with the brooding muse of Swedish filmmaker Bergman.
He’s seen all of his films including The Seventh Seal, where death and a man play chess; Wild Strawberries about an old man’s remembrances of youth; and Scenes From a Marriage, with a couple’s disintegrating relationship under a microscope.
These films, along with the works of playwrights Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, formed a Nordic framework for the creation of Salzburg’s Marriage of Figaro 10 years ago.
Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershoi, with his stark drawings of the interiors of his own home, influenced construction of the summer manor where the action takes place, Schmidt says.
Although it is a grand home, there are indications of decay, such as the dead crow the characters encounter on arrival.
The inspirations from Scandinavian film, theatre and art extend beyond the black-and-white palette of the sets; there is no visual clutter and the action stays firmly within the house, often in vestibules and on stairs; transitory spaces, Schmidt explains. He describes the effect as “a little bit creepy” and says some who’ve seen the opera compare the design to that of movie director Alfred Hitchcock (another fan of stairs and crows).
The last act does not move out into the garden, as is traditional, but stays within the manor. “We changed the atmosphere. It is more like a dream. Surreal,” says Schmidt.
Video projection creates “shadows of leaves, trees and nature, of the moon shining.” The effect is that “everything is possible. But also, a little bit wrong.”
Meet the queen of all Countesses
Soprano Erin Wall is no stranger to The Marriage of Figaro: she has performed in it half a dozen times, primarily as the Countess. But she’s never seen a Marriage like this one.
“This is really different. I really studied it before rehearsal. I was a little shocked by it.”
Gone are the sunny courtyards, baskets of flowers and gardens that audiences usually see in Mozart’s work.
“All my other productions have been completely traditional. But this new direction makes perfect sense and, as a singer, I find that gratifying. For everything there is a reason.”
The Canadian-born, Americantrained soprano is becoming one of the most in-demand singers internationally, both in opera and on the concert tour.
Wall, who is married to Roberto Mauro, director of music and artistic administration for the COC, lives in Mississauga yet has performed with the company only twice before, in 2012. She sang Clémence in Love from Afarand Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann.
Working on Figaro has been a delight, she says.
The farcical moments of people hiding their trysts from their partners and mistaken identities all remain, but “there’ll probably be less laughing” in this version, Wall adds.
“She loves (the Count). It’s difficult and complicated,” says Wall of her character, calling the ending “ambiguous.” We’re having a Nordic moment The cold countries are very hot.
Now that Toronto Blue Jay Josh Donaldson has sported a braid à la Ragnar in the TV Show Vikings, it can safely be said Scandinavian chic has gone mainstream.
Anu Muhonen, director of Finnish studies at the University of Toronto, hails from Stockholm and is aware of the “Nordic Noir” trend embodied by author Henning Mankell and his detective Kurt Wallander, played by Kenneth Branagh on TV, as well as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson.
“Fascination with Vikings is a way of people going back to their roots, especially as it relates to the role of family and people being equal,” says Muhonen.
The Game of Thrones TV series, filmed in part in Iceland, has further fostered interest in these ancient cultures. So too has the popular video game Clash of Clans, she says.
Then there’s Swedish singer Robyn, Iceland as a hot wedding destination — according to Vogue — and chunky knit sweaters adding to the mix.
“There’s a huge interest in Swedish language, movies, design and music. In this time, it’s a place people want to go to.”