This is how sopranos (even those who like taking risks) feel after working with Neuenfels : Depressed... Like a beaten dog. nytimes/2000/10/13/arts/13MATT.html But admirable as it is, the willingness to take dramatic risks has gotten Ms. Mattila into situations she regrets, like the new production by Hans Neuenfels of Mozarts Così Fan Tutte at the Salzburg Festival this summer. The opera tells the story of two cocksure young men who test the faithfulness of their fiancées. This updated production cluttered the stage with bizarre props, including monster-size insects, and distracted attention from the singers with background videos, some of them erotic. When Ms. Mattila sang Fiordiligis fiery aria, Come Scoglio, in which she declares her constancy to be as unassailable as a fortress, she arrived onstage walking two men like dogs on leashes, both scantily clad in leather and chains, crawling on all fours. What was the point? There was none, Ms. Mattila said. It was one of the worst experiences Ive had for a long time, she said. I didnt believe in the production. Nobody understood what they were doing or why. Ive done many crazy things, but there is also a line one cannot cross. That production was especially unfortunate because Ms. Mattila had decided beforehand to retire this role, and she wanted her final performances to be meaningful. Such is the quandary of singers today who work hard to form interpretive ideas and then have no choice but to comply with a directors concept, however offensive. I was so depressed, she said. I felt like a beaten dog after every performance.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 18:08:17 +0000
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