Wolfgang Rihm (1952-2024)
Jakob Lenz: one-act chamber opera (1977-8)
Lenz – Joachim Goltz (baritone)
Oberlin – Patrick Zielke (bass)
Kaumann – Raphael Wittmer (tenor)
Other cast listed after review
Nationaltheater-Orchester Mannheim/Franck Ollu
rec. live, 11 December 2021, Opera House, Mannheim, Germany
German text included
Oehms Classics OC981 [66]
Wolfgang Rihm is one of those composers who was highly regarded in his own country, Germany, but whose music does not seem to travel. In Britain, he seems hardly known. He was very prolific, with, for example, some ten operas, over a dozen each of orchestral works and concertos and so on through other musical forms. Among these, the one-act chamber opera Jakob Lenz seems to have been particularly successful. It has had several productions, including two in Britain, and this is its second recording, the first being on DVD. This new one is also taken from a stage production but is issued only as a CD.
The background to the story is complicated. The historical Jakob Lenz (1751-1792) scraped a living as a freelance writer and tutor, knew Goethe and was in love with Frederike Brion, who had briefly been the object of Goethe’s affections. However, Lenz suffered increasingly from mental illness and his early death may have been from suicide.
Lenz was the subject of a novella by Georg Büchner, best known in the musical world for his play Woyzeck, on which Berg’s opera Wozzeck is based. Büchner’s novella concentrates on Lenz’s visit to Pastor Oberlin, who tries to look after him. This was turned into a play by Waldfried Burggraf in 1923 and into an opera libretto for Rihm by Michael Fröhling. Like the play Woyzeck and the opera Wozzeck it is in a number of short scenes which flow into one another, with a few orchestral interludes. Over the course of thirteen scenes it shows the decline of Lenz, who is suffering from mental illness right from the beginning of the work. The illness is possibly schizophrenia, as the cast includes unnamed Voices, suggesting the voices which sufferers from this illness sometimes hear.
Not only the dramaturgy but also the musical idiom is very close to that of Berg in Wozzeck. It is atonal and expressionist, in a way which will not pose any difficulties for those who are familiar with Wozzeck. It also has snatches of earlier music, expressionistically distorted, occasional but short passages of driving rhythm and I caught the odd echo of Schoenberg’s Erwartung and even, at one point, of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex.
The three principal roles, Lenz himself, Pastor Oberlin, and Lenz’s friend, Christoph Kaufmann, are all male. However, four of the six offstage Voices are female and there is also a children’s choir which makes the occasional offstage appearance. The title role is demanding, appearing in every scene, and Joachim Goltz sustains it well. Patrick Zielke and Raphael Wittmer have smaller roles as Oberlin and Kaufmann, but they provide good support, as do the Voices and the children’s choir. The orchestra is a small one, mainly of wind, but it also includes a harpsichord, whose characteristic jangle suits the music well. Franck Ollu conducts with confidence and this is a live recording of the premiere of this production. The booklet contains an introduction, a synopsis and biographies all in both German and English but the libretto in German only, which is unfortunate. The recording, though taken direct from a stage performance, is fine.
I was not greatly taken with this work. Both the subject and the treatment, though certainly competent, owe so much to Wozzeck as to be practically parasitic. The fact that Lenz’s love interest, Frederike, does not appear, though historically accurate, means there is no major part for a woman, and I have to contrast that with the rounded and sympathetic portrait of Marie in Wozzeck. And it does not have any of the memorable writing which Berg offers in abundance. Still, Rihm remains a name to conjure with and enthusiasts may well disagree. However, we can all agree that this is a good performance.
Stephen Barber
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Other cast:
Voices: Josefin Feiler, Rebecca Blanz, Marie-Belle Sandis, Maria Polańska, Serhii Moskalchuk, Marcel Brunner
Children’s choir of the Nationaltheater
