Musical theater: “The Jewess of Toledo”: Opera and state morality

The beautiful Jewish woman Rahel and the Castilian King Alfonso, a couple in the midst of the religious wars on the Iberian Peninsula in the 12th century – this subject interested many artists. A highlight, but not the end point, of this series is the novel “The Jewess of Toledo” by Lion Feuchtwanger, in which the medieval religious fanatics stand for the reactionaries of the 20th century and the possibility of reason and progress is negotiated.

The same title is given to a tragedy written by the Austrian playwright Franz Grillparzer after the failure of the 1848 revolution. The main character is of course the king. From an early age, Alfonso has never known anything other than work for the state, is trapped in a loveless marriage and is easy prey for the seductive Rahel. But he soon returns to his duty in the state. He finally accepts that his loyal followers are a little too hasty in killing the Jewish woman. The monarch has become a whole person through the experience of love. In the end, official duty counts, and the death of the woman is ticked off as a necessary sacrifice in this morality.

Hans-Ulrich Treichel wrote a libretto for Detlev Glanert “loosely based on” Grillparzer’s drama. Actually very free: the plot structure remains intact, but the evaluations are reversed. To achieve this, Treichel brings the political to the fore. The Castilian grandees, including the spiteful queen, want a war against the Muslims. Alfonso doesn’t want that. Rahel – capricious like Grillparzer – represents a different world. Grillparzer is interested in how a king loses himself and how he disciplines himself again. He leaves out the sensual things in between. It occurs in Treichel and especially in Glanert’s composition. These are utopian passages of de-hardening, and director Robert Carsen stages an understanding between representatives of the three religions Christianity, Islam and Judaism in the background.

It just can’t last. The queen and nobility denounce Rahel as a spy in the service of the Muslims. Alfonso has to choose between giving up power and betraying his beloved. Unlike Grillparzer, he agrees to the murder of the Jewish woman. In the end he is a representative of the state again. While Rahel’s sister mourns the death in the foreground, the choir loudly prepares for war. With projections of weapons and then bombed-out buildings, as can be seen in Ukraine and Gaza, Carsen relates the final act to the present. The fact that the “FAZ” suspected anti-Israeli activities here does not necessarily speak against the production. In general, Carsen does not impose any idea on the work, but rather develops his ideas from the work, which is unfortunately not a given today. He is continuing a collaboration with Glanert that was already tried out in 2019 with the premiere of “Oceane” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

From a musical dramaturgical perspective, this all works exceptionally well. There are no lengths in the almost two hours of pure playing time. Glanert’s composition is based on traditional patterns in terms of expressive characters and form. It is an aesthetic that relies on communication with the audience. It’s about something today that needs to be conveyed, but not trivially and not without effort. You have to listen to see how Glanert renews choir and ensemble scenes.

At times (these would be possible objections) the music is so dense that the audibility suffers; and climaxes follow each other so quickly that they would be better appreciated with more quiet passages in between. However, this criticism weighs little compared to what has been achieved in this opera: the concise characterization of the main characters and the abundance of orchestral colors that carry the action and connect to familiar sound models without ever falling into cliché. The cheers from the premiere audience, especially for the composer, were huge and justified. Glanert’s musical aesthetic stands for what makes sense today: preserving opera as an art with an audience, not making this audience too comfortable, and setting tasks that can be solved by a sympathetic ear.

Jonathan Darlington’s conducting contributed to the success, as did the casting of the main roles. Among them, Christoph Pohl deserves particular mention as Alfonso, to whom the composition also allows the greatest variety of postures; The king remains the main character here too. At times he is showy as a ruler and tender as a lover – right down to the swap of clothes and gender roles with Rahel, an invention of Treichel. Alfonso proves to be helpless and weak compared to Queen Eleanor, who relies entirely on the logic of power politics and – even when she feels privately – thinks of little more than hatred and death. Tanja Ariane Baumgartner gives this character the violence and sarcasm that the score demands. At her side is Markus Marquardt as Manrique, once the king’s tutor and now representative of the reason of state.

As I said, Treichel escalates the political conflict compared to Grillparzer. There is extensive moralizing in the drama. In the opera, however, it is clear that Eleonore and Manrique are planning a coup against Alfonso and that they can only save themselves by turning against Rahel. They want war at any price. Grillparzer glorifies state morality, Treichel and Glanert criticize a state that destroys love and wages war. They enhance the private sphere. We are certainly more comfortable with this today. The question is whether – as long as there is a threat of war in the world and one state is a potential enemy of the other – both sides of the conflict between happiness and duty should not be emphasized in the work of art. That would be the step from the sad to the tragic.

Next performances: February 15th, February 18th, February 26th, March 1st, March 8th.