The cinecasts from the Metropolitan Opera have moved beyond the safer options into more daring repertoire, and I made sure to catch the transmission of their new production of Lulu. Lothar Koenigs from WNO replaced James Levine as conductor.
The defining feature of this production is the projection of continually changing line drawings as a backdrop, something which I saw in an abstract form in Berg’s other opera a few years ago. Mostly these were apparently depicting Lulu herself, which allowed for the composer’s instructions to be respected during the palindromic interlude in the middle of Act 2. Sometimes they were not figurative at all. But occasionally images of real people appeared: Berg himself (alongside the quote from Wozzeck in Act 1), Schoenberg and I think I spotted Mahler and Webern too.
Schoenberg seemed especially appropriate since I can’t get rid of the idea that at some level this opera is about Berg’s relationship with his former teacher. Lulu is discovered in adolescence by Schön who becomes a substitute father, brings her up, and expects to control her completely, but the relationship is fatally damaged because she takes too much of an interest in others. The parallels seem pretty clear, and I’d bring in two other pieces of evidence. The emblematic object in the opera is the portrait which is painted of Lulu; in real life Schoenberg cut out the middleman and painted Berg’s portrait himself. And Lulu’s aria in Act 2 has that most Bergian of attributes, its own dedication, which is to Webern; is this because it is somehow about the process of musical composition? Schön’s name (changed from Schöning in the original plays) differs from Schoenberg’s only by Berg’s own name.
It was a good performance with Marlis Petersen excellent in the title role. The camerawork is rather different from the Covent Garden cinecasts with less looking down the singers’ tonsils. But I made a bolt for the ice cream stall when the singers were interviewed as they came off stage, as I like to keep the dramatic illusion intact.
It’s a joint production with ENO so there should be a chance soon to catch it in London. [I did]