REVIEWS FEBRUARY 2011

Peter the Great or Tsar and Carpenter (Zar und Zimmermann) by Albert Lortzing

By Rupert Christiansen: 24 February 2011

"This opera doesn't emerge as a neglected masterpiece but it's certainly worth seeing once." Rating: * * *

Wagner casts such a long louring shadow over our idea of 19th-century German opera that British audiences have largely forgotten about that era’s repertory of lighter comic pieces. Yet although Flotow’s Martha, Nicolai’s Die Lustigen Weiben von Windsor, Cornelius’s Der Barbier von Bagdad and Lortzing’s Der Wildschütz have become rarities here, they remain popular in middle Europe and their qualities merit an occasional airing.

Over the last three decades, Opera South, an admirable Haslemere-based organization run by enthusiastic amateurs, has presented several of these pieces as its annual (professionally cast) production. This year it turns to another work by Lortzing, Zar und Zimmerman - strictly translated as Tsar and Carpenter, but here assigned the more comprehensible title of Peter the Great.

The plot is built on the historical fact that in 1697-8, the young Tsar spent some time working in a Dutch shipyard under the pseudonym of Peter Michaelov, gathering expert knowledge to feed into his strategy for modernizing the Russian navy. The libretto fantasises that there was another Russian Peter working there too bona fide, and that this latter Peter is having a hard time courting the Burgomaster’s niece. A homely and innocuous farce of mistaken identity ensues.

The score, composed in 1837, is frothy and unpretentious, trotting along nicely without ever gathering much impetus or delivering any instant hits.

There are echoes of Donizetti and Mendelssohn, with more distinctive numbers including a big melodramatic aria for Tsar Peter and a fine unaccompanied male sextet. Did Tchaikovsky think of the French ambassador’s courtly tribute to the heroine Marie when he created M. Triquet in Eugene Onegin? And was Berlioz inspired by the Burgomaster’s choral music lesson to write the scene for Somarone in Béatrice et Bénédict?

Opera South has concocted a colourful 'period’ production, directed in traditional style by Ian Gledhill. Marc Callahan, Tom Bullard, Rebecca Moon and Aidan Smith give pleasing performances in the leading roles, and Tom Higgins conducts the Guildford Philharmonic. Zar und Zimermann doesn’t emerge as a neglected masterpiece, but I’m not sorry to have heard it once.

Two footnotes. Fans of our own operetta repertory will be interested to know that Opera South plans to mark next year’s Diamond Jubilee with Edward German’s Merrie England. And did you know that, according to the programme, Peter the Great once stayed at the King’s Arms Hotel in neighbouring Godalming and left without paying the bill?

By Ann Pinhey: 2 March 2011

"Opera South performed work with great charm."

Opera South is renowned for staging lesser known operas and its promotion of young, professional singers who can gain valuable experience in operatic roles with the company.

This year’s production was Peter the Great by Lortzing, an engaging, light hearted work.

Lortzing(1801-1851) was a leading German comic opera composer of the 19th century.

Although he lacked the musical sophistication of Weber, he had a sure sense of theatre, and by writing his own libretto, he was able to achieve a successful fusion of music and text.

Peter the Great, written in 1837, is a tale of mistaken identities about two Russians called Peter, working in a Dutch shipyard in 1697.

There are stock characters and situations in the work, but familiar forms and set pieces are well integrated.

The music is anything but complicated, with its square cut choruses and straightforward rather unimaginative solos, but it has a simple charm, especially when it is performed with such warmth and care by Opera South.

The unaccompanied male sextet was particularly distinctive.

Lortzing has a fine sense of fluent melody and infectious rhythm. The harmonies, though unassuming, are pleasing and the orchestration is effective, but there are no memorable numbers in the work.

I did not come home singing any of the tunes!

All the leading roles were well sung and acted.

The truly comic role is for the pompous mayor, Van Bett, whose musical character is detailed with its comic interplay between voice and bassoon, doggerel Latin patter and grandiloquent vocal flourishes, all relished by Aidan Smith, who sang as to the manor born.

Marc Callahan, as Peter the Great, has a powerful, rich, baritone voice but he was a little too forthright for much of the time. His diction was admirable, however.

The other Peter was confidently sung by Tom Bullard with his well focused, light tenor voice and again, excellent diction.

The only female lead was Marie, the niece of Van Bett. Rebecca Moon’s bright, light voice was ideally suited to the part. Her singing and characterisation were superb, impish and subtly flirtatious, but always full of vivacity.

The other roles were all lovingly portrayed.

I particularly liked the high tenor of the French ambassador. Here is a voice ideal for the high tessitura of music by Charpentier and Rameau.

The small but alert chorus were confident and in good voice, dressed in their delightful costumes designed by Carol Stevenson.

The sets, by John Braithwaite, were simple yet effective.

Tom Higgins had cleverly rescored the work for 22 members of the Guildford Philharmonic orchestra.

He gave affectionate support to the singers, with lithe rhythms and plenty of energy.

Ian Gledhill, the producer, had master minded an enjoyable evening’s performance of a rarely heard work.