It is wild romantic – they usually summarize with this word Heinrich Marschner’s opera, which was once so popular, but nowadays it is cultivated in places of German language, more with historic respect rather than with enthusiastic admiration. In reality, the main character’s, Lord Ruthven’s story, who has to kill three girls within close deadline, during a short day, (the ancient origin of his story he found in the company of another lord, Byron, more closely in the Doctor Polidori’s horrific imagination), with its frightening turns, extreme figures and charmingly confusing leading of story, can face up with the expectations of the wild romantic genre.

It is wild romantic – they usually summarize with this word Heinrich Marschner’s opera, which was once so popular, but nowadays it is cultivated in places of German language, more with historic respect rather than with enthusiastic admiration. In reality, the main character’s, Lord Ruthven’s story, who has to kill three girls within close deadline, during a short day, (the ancient origin of his story he found in the company of another lord, Byron, more closely in the Doctor Polidori’s horrific imagination), with its frightening turns, extreme figures and charmingly confusing leading of story, can face up with the expectations of the wild romantic genre. The Hungarian opera visitors can learn about it now, thanks for the programme of the Opera Competition and Festival in Szeged, because in contrast to the statement of the program, the performance of the opera troupe from the town of Rennes, from France, cannot be seen as the Hungarian premiere of the play (as it has happened in the year of the birth of the play in 1828). The Vampire cannot be taken into consideration as a well-known opera here. So the first moments of the performance on Saturday, were about the hesitant meeting, which was together with interest, Marschner’s music has shown its confident mediocre virtues during the overture. It is nicely familiar, the music of The Vampire is an opera with shallow depth, as it was written by Carl Maria von Weber not long after his death, and probably it is much more than the audience would have expected from it in advance.

For the pleasant disappointment, Zoltán Balázs’ performance offered further surprise, which stylized the plot into a Japanese fairy tale. Either it wanted to update the exoticism, which is necessary for the working of the story (for which Scotland from the end of the XVIII. century would hardly have been enough), or because he wanted to put into his performance in France, those world of picture, gesture register and illusion with puppets, which are liked by his hearth. Zoltán Balázs solution, according to our feelings is proved right and effective beyond all arguments. The opera, which does not have neither any strictly fixed tradition in connection with its performance, nor any intellectual content, which the staging could miss, could live happily in the banal Japanese surrounding. The ritualized movements, the moving of hands (choreographer: András Szőllősi), the pure colours and the unstressed, modest sets (set and costume designer: Judit Gombár) could help well the opera, with vulnerable tale. The ideas, which were put in the story, could raise the entertaining value of the performance. That way, the main, evil character and the tenor, who plays the good boy, so Lord Ruthven and Aubry’s figures can be introduced as the alter egos of one another. The showing of the relationship, which is “schizophrenic symbiosis” according to the director, could become so much didactic, that even those viewers could accept it without negative feelings, who are hypercritic against these kinds of ideas. And even if the reappearance of the choir in the boxes on the first floor and on the corridors downstairs, seems to be an overused idea, its effect on the viewers cannot be questioned. Similarly to it we have to accept that professional knowledge, with which the director could turn the too loud horrifying music with the usage of some bright tools, into a frivol scene in the pub. We also have to admire that artistic ability, with which, the choir, which is put on stage in the finale, can become similar to a Japanese collection of statues.

Those singers, who introduce the main characters of the opera, so those competitors, who have been patronised by the Mezzo television, all of them, have made a very good impression on the viewers. The Syrian Nabil Suliman, in the role of the vampire, who has formed into a bloody samurai, both with his mimics and performance on stage, and with his baritone voice, which is powerful and demonic enough, seems to be more than illusionary. The Irish Helen Kearns, with pale white skin tone, performs Lord Ruthven’s two victims, while the French Vanessa Le Charles sings Malwina, who finally married to her lover, with modest performance of an actor, with slowed down gestures but not ineffectively. Marc Haffner in Aubry’s role, performs in a balanced way with his tenor, which cannot be called wonderful, but the mezzo soprano of the Rennes troupe, Karine Audebert, must remain more memorable than him, who in her small role, as an oversized geisha and mischievous goddess of love in her underwear, has brought up loud amusement in our lines. The Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra, who played impetuously, was conducted by Olari Elts. Even if he sometimes found it hard to coordinate the sounding of the orchestra and the choir, which was placed here and there, his performance should have been appreciated. As well as the whole opera troupe of Rennes, the hard-working members of which could make entertaining in Szeged, the viewers’ first meeting with the not so first class but tempting performance of German opera industry.

Ferenc László, Magyar Narancs, 2008

(translated by: Veronika Fülöp)