Recording
Vanda.
Antonín Dvorák
Vanda: Olga Romanko
Bozena: Irina Tchistjakova
Slavoj: Peter Straka
High priest: Pavel Daniluk
Homena: Michelle Breedt
Lumír/Roderich: Ivan Kusnjer
Knight/Roderich's herald: Jörg Pavelec
Hlasatel/knight: Gerd Grochowski
Knight: Petr Frybert
WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne
WDR Radio Choir Cologne
Prague Chamber Choir
Gerd Albrecht, conductor
Orfeo (distributed by Qualiton Imports) C 149 003 F (3 CDs)
Like Schubert, one of his idols, Antonín Dvorák constantly sought to add opera to his other fields of conquest. But success stubbornly eluded him until late in life (1900), when his ninth opera, Rusalka, assured him recognition not only in his native land--which never really turned its back on his earlier and weaker creations--but in other theaters as well. Altogether, he wrote ten operas over a span of three decades (1870-1904), and it is safe to say that his comprehensive musical gifts never allowed him to write unappealing music in any medium. But--like Schubert and his mentor, Brahms--he lacked an innate dramatic instinct; nor was he a good judge of librettos. In Dvorák's case, the issue of politics also interfered. The Czech nation did not achieve political independence during his lifetime, and the nationalistic pressures on him limited his choices of suitable (non-foreign) librettos.
Vanda (to follow Dvorák's original title, as opposed to the Germanized Wanda favored by Orfeo) was the composer's fourth opera, introduced at Prague's Prozatímní Divadlo (Provisional Theater) under Smetana's direction in 1876. (The National Theater in Prague opened five years later.) The opera is based on an ancient Polish legend; Czechs and Poles not only were bound in a Slavic fraternity, but were involved in struggles for independence. After the death of the pagan Polish king, Krak, his daughter Vanda inherits the throne and must choose a husband worthy of her royal station. She loves a Polish knight, Slavoj, but the high priest (an implacable, Ramfis-like character) insists on her favoring a number of more suitable contenders, including the German prince Roderich. Slavoj defeats them all in combat to prove his valor in a scene reminiscent of the first act of Wagner's Lohengrin. But the vengeful Roderich leads a German army against the Poles. While the war is fought offstage, Vanda prays to her heathen gods and offers her own life in exchange for her nation's victory. Her wish is granted, and Vanda--true to her vow, and urged by the high priest--throws herself into the Vistula River.
Vanda is in five acts with some Meyerbeer-like ingredients--martial passages, a short mazurka suitable for ballet, and some sorcery--but it is not overlong, and acts 2-3 and 4-5 are easily combinable. Nevertheless, Dvorák seems to have overestimated the stage facilities of the Provisional Theater, and, at the premiere, act 3 had to be replaced by a narrative to relate the action. Moreover, as the Orfeo booklet's annotations reveal, the opera's original score was lost [End Page 126] during World War II and "the surviving parts were in a desolate state." It fell to the American musicologist Alan Houtchens and Jaroslav Holecek to assemble the present version using all available material, thus presenting "more music from Vanda than ever before."
Complete the work may be, but it is still a flawed opera. Its complex action is treated mosaically. Vanda and Slavoj are sympathetic but one-dimensional characters, and neither is Roderich sufficiently developed. We know that in the legendary period of the opera the Poles were heathens and the Germans Christians, yet nothing is made of the religious conflicts. There is an undertone of sympathy for the socially inferior Slavoj in opposition to the rigidity of the high priest and the invading Germans, which may or may not reflect the rebellious spirit of Czech nationalism in the 1870s, but it takes a more intimate knowledge of Czech history to be aware of it. Finally--and this is rather strange on the part of the set's producers--the libretto text is printed only in Czech (with brief trilingual synopses). Surely at least a German translation could have been supplied by a company domiciled in Munich.
There was a previous recording, accomplished at Prague Radio in 1951 in a somewhat dated but entirely respectable AAD sound. 1 That version with fine Czech soloists came with a helpful English text, but the cuts (some forty-five minutes' worth) are sizable, rendering a complex opera even harder to follow.
Orfeo clearly scores in terms of choral presence and orchestral richness, but, in the main, the singing principals do not surpass their 1951 counterparts. Tenor Peter Straka is outstanding; he endows Slavoj with innate nobility and poetic character reminiscent of Julius Patzak's Florestan. Olga Romanko's Vanda has the range and stamina to do justice to the title role's demands, but her efforts are diminished by an excessive vibrato. Pavel Daniluk's smooth, wide-ranging basso manages to soften the high priest's stern image, but baritone Ivan Kusnjer, somewhat ill-treated by the recording engineers, emerges as a surprisingly gentle villain in these surroundings. Chorus and orchestra are excellent, and conductor Gerd Albrecht's commitment to the music is evident.
Ultimately, Dvorák's orchestral mastery is the distinguishing
element in this production. The music attending Vanda's coronation
in the first act is very effective, including a stirring choral
finale. The orchestra never fails to respond to the action's changing
moods with imagination, richness, and occasional welcome Slavic color. As
always, Dvorák--not a natural theatrical man--did his best
to write a good opera; Orfeo's producers could have done better, with
the inclusion of an English text, to make it more exportable.
George Jellinek
George Jellinek, author; critic; host of the nationally syndicated radio program The Vocal Scene
Note
1. Supraphon su 3007-2 602, with Drahomíra Tikalová (soprano), Beno Blachut (tenor), Vaclav Bednár (baritone), Karel Kalau (bass); Prague Radio Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Frantisek Dyk.
