Deutsche Oper Berlin, season 2024/2025
“INTERMEZZO”
A bourgois comedy with symphonic interludes in two acts
Libretto and music by Richard Strauss
Court Conductor Robert Storch PHILIPP JEKAL
Christine, his wife MARIA BENGTSSON
Franzl, their little son ELLIOTT WOODRUFF
Anna, their chambermaid ANNA SCHOECK
Baron Lummer THOMAS BLONDELLE
Kapellmeister Stroh CLEMENS BIEBER
Notary GERARD FARRERAS
His wife NADINE SECUNDE
Commercial counsellor JOEL ALLISON
Legal counsellor SIMON PAULY
Kammersänger TOBIAS KEHRER
Resi LILIT DAVTYAN
Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Conductor Sir Donald Runnicles
Production Tobias Kratzer
Stage, costumes Rainer Sellmaier
Light Stefan Woinke
Video Jonas Dahl, Janic Bebi
Berlin, 23rd March 2025
Intermezzo certainly occupies a special place in Richard Strauss’ oeuvre. Between the mythological and intellectually demanding pieces Die Frau ohne Schatten and Die Ägyptische Helena, it is an intermezzo about his own marriage dedicated to his beloved son Franz. At the same time, he created another memorial to his wife Pauline de Ahna who was said to be eccentric, ill-tempered, snobbish and outspoken. However, the marriage was happy and she was a great source of inspiration to her husband who also portrayed her as the hero’s companion in Ein Heldenleben and in several sections of Symphonia Domestica. Intermezzo was supposed to be a “completely modern, absolutely realistic character and nervous comedy”, but long-time librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal refused and so, Strauss wrote the opera play himself without further ado. Naturally, he develops great musical mastery in the dozen or so symphonic interludes that connect the scenes. They are emphasised even more by the conductor and orchestra being transmitted to the stage via video in Tobias Kratzer’s production from 2024 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, which consistently moves the action into the present, complete with smartphones, tablets and emojis. Robert Storch is an acclaimed conductor who makes a guest appearance at the Deutsche Oper Berlin with Intermezzo – what else? – while his feisty wife Christine remains bored at home. Thus her encounter with the dim-witted Baron Lummer, a windbag and scrounger, comes in very handy. After they crash their cars into each other, they end up in bed rather than dancing at the Grundlseewirt’s after a tobogganing accident. Strauss would hardly have allowed his wife to have an infidelity! Director Kratzer is bubbling over with ideas when he has Christine and Lummer dress up as characters from Ariadne auf Naxos, Rosenkavalier, Arabella and Salome, or Christine even wields the axe at the notary in Elektra’s usual grey dress (stage and costumes designed by Rainer Sellmaier). Later, above the actual scene, there are black-and-white video clips from past performances of these operas and finally, synchronised with the scene between Christine and the chambermaid, even from Intermezzo, namely from the Munich production in 1963. Another original idea of Kratzer is to set the scene in the Vienna Prater during a thunderstorm in a Strauss Air plane with an ostrich logo (“Strauss” means ostrich in German), where Storch and Stroh argue about the misguided letter from Stroh’s lover, the cause of the marital misunderstanding between Storch and Christine. The concluding scene comes along quite harsh: after the couple have reconciled, Christine has to sing her last lines of remorseful devotion to her husband from his score. He rushes off to conduct his orchestra of extras on stage, who appear to be playing the music from the pit, while Christine is once again left alone at home with her son, who has been addicted to conducting and music since the beginning. Kratzer’s strong production is certainly transferred to Sir Donald Runnicles, who makes the Strauss-experienced Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin sound precise and dynamic, not only in the ravishing symphonic interludes. The typical bouncy, silvery Strauss sound is missing as the icing on the cake and that is the snag: the bourgeois comedy is stylistically a parlando opera, a conversation piece like Der Rosenkavalier or the later Capriccio in a more chamber music setting. It was premièred in 1924 at the Dresden Schauspielhaus rather than the larger Semperoper for good reason. The singers have to sing a lot of text in a short time, which means that they have to be accompanied delicately and with filigree rather than being drowned by orchestral floods. Maria Bengtsson as Christine does not get involved in a vocal competition, and she measures the most extensive and demanding part with her luminous soprano, elegant appearance and great style. Philipp Jekal as Strauss’ alter ego Storch has an evenly coloured cavalier baritone who can really show off in the climactic phrase Nun, da bin ich Ihnen aber schon ausserordentlich dankbar, and he sings with great differentiation on the fine line between vanity and trustfulness. The character tenor Thomas Blondelle also performs valiantly in the role of the weak Baron Lummer, who comes across as the director’s alter ego. The small but dramaturgically important role of Kapellmeister Stroh is sung by Clemens Bieber, a deserved member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin ensemble for 35 years. His make-up and costume turn him into Runnicles’ double on stage. Anna Schoeck uses her fresh, powerful soprano to convince as the chambermaid Anna. If ever there was a Strauss opera worth seeing, especially for connoisseurs, it is certainly Intermezzo. Given that performances will unfortunately remain a rarity even in German-speaking countries, this production should not be missed. Whatever we may think today about the more than 50-year marriage of Richard Strauss and Pauline de Ahna, it began with their wedding in 1894, for which he dedicated four beautiful songs to his wife, including my favourite “Morgen!”. Photo Monika Rittershaus