Why isn’t this composer better known?
Bregenz Festival, Austria Beatrice Cenci
Beatrice Cenci may not quite be Berthold Goldschmidt’s most emblematic work, but this opera and its mixed fortunes still tell us everything about the composer. Written almost 70 years ago and awarded a prize at the 1951 Festival of Britain, it had to wait until 1994 to receive its stage premiere in Magdeburg, and again until this summer’s Bregenz Festival for a second production.
Once considered one of the great hopes of German music, Goldschmidt fled the Nazis and settled in London in 1935, where he remained until his death in 1996. Most of his work was ignored by the British musical establishment and he survived by conducting. But a heart-warming big push in the early Nineties saw recognition at last for his music.
As the Austrians show in Bregenz, it’s never too late to fall back in love with Goldschmidt’s music. This Cenci “places” the composer well, since the opera is performed in Goldschmidt’s own German translation of Martin Esslin’s English libretto, based on Shelley’s verse drama about one of Renaissance Rome’s most depraved dynasties.
Goldschmidt’s German Expressionist palette – think bel canto Hindemith – is full of dark, sardonic sounds, at least until a reconciliatory finale, and Johannes Debus conducts the Vienna Symphony Orchestra with true feeling for the score.
With subject matter of such gory decadence (the young Beatrice, having been raped by her avaricious father, helps plan his murder and finds only condemnation by the church), it has been suggested that Goldschmidt’s score is too lyrical. But it derives its individuality by not echoing other violent operatic melodramas – it’s not Tosca, for heaven’s sake.
Johannes Erath’s brilliantly focused staging – sets by Katrin Connan, costumes by Katharina Tasch – gives the drama a Renaissance-punk twist while putting the power and goldpaved wealth of the Church on show.
In the title role, Gal James lacks only a little vocal warmth but is moving, and there are vivid performances from Dshamilja Kaiser (Lucrezia, her mother), Per Bach Nissen (Cardinal Camillo) and Michael Laurenz (Orsino, a prelate).
The baritone Christoph Pohl has all the vocal charisma required for the loathsome Francesco Cenci himself, helping to make a strong case for Goldschmidt. But how many times does a composer need to be vindicated before he remains in repertoire?