Complexities run rampant in Strauss’ ‘Ariadne’
Take a passionate composer anxious to share his masterpiece with the “richest man in the world.”
Toss in a comedy troupe determined to unbalance his vision and outrage, mayhem and chaos ensue.
Richard Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” opens at the Santa Fe Opera on Saturday, July 28.
“Everything that could go wrong goes wrong,” said soprano Amanda Majeski, who is playing the “pants” role of the male composer. The singer last performed at Santa Fe in last year’s “Capriccio.”
Amid the confusion, the tenor complains about his wig. An impudent lackey informs the composer the violins are playing at dinner. A leader of some comedians demands to share the bill. She clashes with the prima donna as dissent spreads.
Premiered in 1916, the opera’s complex gestation offers an amusingly perceptive account of the act of creating art. The opera’s second half segues into a work about the Greek myth of the goddess Ariadne, who symbolizes purity. She falls in love with Bacchus after being abandoned by her lover. It’s an elusive opera-within-an-opera attempting to fuse the frivolous with the heroic.
“It feels like you’re flying when you’re singing Strauss, especially the final aria,” Majeski said.
“You need a very firm masculine energy,” she continued. “This has more brusqueness to the music that I find very interesting.”
The libretto shifts from German to English after the prologue. The language switch provides its own challenges, she said.
“It’s a little dicey getting your tongue around the words.”
Tenor Bruce Sledge, last seen in the Santa Fe’s 2015’s production of “Rigoletto,” sings the role of Bacchus.
“Ariadne thinks he’s the spirit of death to take her away,” Sledge said. “He doesn’t really know he’s a god,” he continued. “His parents were gods. He knows he should be, but he’s never used any of his divine gifts.”
But before he turns beatific, Bacchus is “sort of a stereotype; a pain-inthe-butt tenor,” during the prologue, Sledge said.
Bacchus has his own conflicts. Circe tried to poison him and he wonders about Ariadne’s intent.
The part is notoriously tough, demanding great stamina and heft on the singer’s part.
“It’s got a very heroic nature to it,” Sledge said. “It keeps going up into the upper range of the voice.”
The show marks Sledge’s fifth time at Santa Fe.
“I love it here,” he said. “I love the administration and management. I love the city. I love the nature here. I love going hiking. The company has a really warm feeling here. It doesn’t feel like it’s entirely work.”