Korngold’s ‘Dead City’ comes to life at the ENO

Less than two years after the end of the First World War, an opera about the loss of a loved one resonated with contemporary society, and was a huge success. Its 23-year old composer, Erich Korngold, already had two successful one-act operas to his name. This new full-length work in three acts attracted fierce bids, resulting in a double premiere. In 1920 Die tote Stadt opened simultaneously in Hamburg and Cologne (with Otto Klemperer conducting). Its title, meaning “The Dead City”, may have worked well at the time, based as it is on a novel of 1892 by the Belgian writer Georges Rodenbach, Bruges-la-Morte. But it doesn’t quite display the essence of the work, which is a psychodrama of loss and recovery.

A young man named Paul is torn between fidelity to the memory of his deceased wife and a growing attraction to her living look-alike. He has failed to come to terms with her death, and one room is preserved as a shrine in her honour, including photographs, a lute, and a lock of her hair. Only he and his housekeeper Brigitta have entered the room, but that is about to change as Paul enters a series of increasingly disturbing and violent visions. As it unfolds, the plot takes on the subtleties of a psychological thriller.

Turning this into a gripping stage drama, the ENO’s artistic director Annilese Miskimmon has succeeded brilliantly. The intriguing details include a brief time reversal during Paul’s hallucinations, and the appearance of choir boys down the chimney into the fireplace. This is a production of which the English National Opera can be justifiably proud, and another excellent riposte to the folly of the notorious Arts Council England funding cut.

The cast is superbly led by the Swiss tenor Rolf Romei as Paul. His youthful looks belie the fact that he has sung the role in many other places after performing it at Basel in 2006. The sincerity of his character’s grief suggests that nothing will move it. Not even his friend Frank, strongly and beautifully sung by Norwegian baritone Audun Iversen, can rescue him from the depths of his mourning.

With Sarah Connolly a firm presence as Paul’s housekeeper Brigitta, and Allison Oakes as Marietta, a bouncy and attractive look-alike to the dead Marie, this is a terrific cast. It is well supplemented by the minor roles, such as Rhian Lois and Clare Presland as sexy dancers, who work with Marietta in a touring opera company (performing Meyerbeer’s Robert le Diable). Paul needs to pull himself out of his morbidly romantic obsession by engaging with the reality of sexual attraction. Instead, he recreates the past by fantasising in a dream sequence about the murder of her replacement, Marietta.

The religious procession in Act 3 is very effectively portrayed behind a screen, emphasising the Catholic world of 1920s Austria in a production that balances the sacred and profane. The English libretto (based on a translation of the original by Paul Schott, a collective pseudonym for the composer and his father, Julius Korngold) worked well, and the continuous musical tension of this opera was fully brought out under the baton of Kirill Karabits. That tension may be too much to keep this opera in the standard repertoire. But if it reminds one of the finest Hollywood film scores, that is because Korngold himself wrote many of them, after moving to America in 1934 following Hitler’s accession to power.

This production of Die Tote Stadt is really gripping, but only runs until April 8. So catch it while you can, before the Arts Council cuts off the ENO’s lifeline.

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