Abduction from the Seraglio

I was incredibly excited to see the Volksoper's production of The Abduction from the Seraglio. I had been awed earlier in our trip by Puccini's Madame Butterfly, and couldn't wait to get another taste of opera in Vienna. Unfortunately, I was incredibly disappointed by what I would end up experiencing.

The basic plot is interesting enough. Konstanze and her hand-maiden are abducted and taken to the harem of the Pasha Salim. Konstanze's lover Belmont attempts to rescue her with the help of his servant Pedrillo. Everyone stands around and sings about how bad everything is, and drama ensues.

While the music is beautiful, as all music of Mozart characteristically is, the voices chosen to play the parts in this particular production were not good enough to overshadow the lack of scenery and sight-read feel of the music on the part of the orchestra. The bright spot in the production was the soprano who performed the part of the hand-maiden. She had a lovely, clear and sparkling tone. Her arias shone brighter than any other piece performed all evening.

Of course opera as an art form is mainly about the music (understandably so...), but the reason it's opera and not just a concert of collected pieces and performers is because there is scenery to be admired. The scenery of this particular opera was white. ALL white. The performers for the most part wore all white, the floor and ceiling and walls and furniture were ALL white. The only color element to be seen throughout the first three acts of the performance were four false ferns. I suppose there was some sort of artistic statement to be found there, but sadly it must have been lost on me.

I only stayed through the three of the four acts. While everything musical in Vienna is a treat sheerly because of where it is taking place, I suppose the old addage remains true that not all that glitters is gold.