Stephanie and I saw Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Met on Dec 21, 2024. I'd seen it once before, at the Met in 2003 - - this was Stephanie's first exposure to the work.
It's a very strange opera, a fairy tale on the subject of marriage. The title translates as "the woman without a shadow." There are two couples at its center: the Emperor and the Empress live in the spirit world and the Dyer (someone who makes dyes) and his wife live on earth. The Empress receives word at the start of the opera that she has three days to acquire a shadow (a symbol of her ability to have a child) or else her husband will be turned to stone. Her wingman, called The Nurse, says she knows of a woman on earth who will sell her shadow - - they tempt the Dyer's wife and she comes close to saying yes but then the Empress decides it's not right for her to take that from her. The head god sees the Empress's act of generosity and grants her a shadow. Everyone ends happy.
This rather straightforward story takes four and a half hours to tell! This is one of those operas that would be greatly aided by a set of pruning shears. Strauss himself said something along the lines of, "If I wanted cuts in my operas, I would have written them myself." Well honey, maybe you shoulda.
This opera, like all Strauss operas, makes the orchestra the star of the show. Oh dear Lord, the gorgeous sounds the Met Orchestra made. They brought out all the sparkling, warm, and lewd colors of the score. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted with relish and while the orchestra made plenty of noise, I never noticed them covering the singers.
I was surprised to see soprano Nina Stemme in the mezzo role of the Nurse. It wasn't so long ago I heard her as Isolde, and she's still singing that role so the high notes are there but she appears to be migrating to a lower center of gravity these days. She sounds good down there! I liked her portrayal - - the Nurse is often described as "diabolical" but I see her as a straight shooter. A little devious maybe but not diabolical, not intentionally evil like Iago or Scarpia.
Russell Thomas sang the unforgiving role of the Emperor. The other word that comes to mind is CRUEL. I really think Strauss had a bug up his keester when it came to tenors, and this role in particular - - it's relentlessly high and loud. Thomas never sounded strained or, to use a great rarefied opera word, "overparted." Maybe someone else could have sung it with more style or a more echt German kind of slice, but it was enough that he got through without making me worried.
Soprano Lise Lindstrom sang the Dyer's Wife. She sang with warmth and heft, never had any trouble competing against the orchestra. Plus she didn't shrink away from the harridan moments in the role. Can we please get her as Elektra?
Baritone Michael Volle did the most beautiful singing of the evening as the Dyer. It's like he was singing Brahms all night. Strauss wrote him the loveliest music, rich and tender. He was a treasure. This is purely a pipe dream, but I would KILL to hear him in the title role of The Pilgrim's Progress, a Vaughan-Williams opera I saw in London years ago. THAT opera is such an oddball, it makes this one look like Barney & Friends.
If you were to come up with a checklist of things a soprano wants in a starring role (and I imagine some sopranos back in the day had such a thing), the role of the Empress checks a lot of them: a glamorous costume, two gorgeous high-flying arias, a handful of well-chosen chest notes, a big emotional journey, and for the bonus round, a scene in which she speaks instead of sings. That juicy, scenery-chewing scene puts the role right over the top.
Elza van den Heever was off the hook as the Empress, she really went to town and made a side trip to the moon. One of those performances that will stick with me for a long time.
She's singing Salome later this season - - that's sure to be pretty amazing.
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