Good humour, bad taste

L’Elisir d’amore; Das Wunder del Heliane

By contrast, the enormously hyped concert performance of Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane was an evening of disgust and revulsion. It is, of course, profoundly unfashionable to subject operas to moral judgment, but I find this corrupt, at the least decadent and fully meriting the description ‘degenerate’, which has had to be abandoned since the Nazis used it as a category. But they weren’t wrong that there is such a thing as degenerate art, and there is no more blatant example of it than Heliane. The plot is merely ludicrous, with the one named character married to the Ruler, who is unable to gain her love, so makes sure that everyone in his realm is as miserable as possible. The Stranger, a kind of Christ-figure with a high sex drive, tries to bring joy to the realm but is imprisoned for his pains, and when Heliane visits him in his cell he persuades her to undress and give him a taste of her ‘crystal feet’, and plenty of her other remarkable attributes too. She is tried, the Stranger kills himself, but is resurrected and, after Heliane dies too, he restores her to life with a kiss and they ascend to Heaven. This tale is couched in astonishing language, with the inevitable references to precious stones and all the other fin-de-siècle paraphernalia. Korngold had a taste for high-flown rubbish, but even this text hardly deserved the ghastly music he lavished on it, a brew of Richard Strauss cum Schreker, or more simply what we’d have had if Scriabin had composed an opera: unrelieved musical inflammation, with frequent burstings of the boil and deluges of musical pus before the next one starts accumulating. It’s in the nature of this kind of thing that it lasts a long time (though the Decca recording is heavily and mercifully cut). The only conceivable short stretch of enjoyment is Heliane’s Act II aria ‘Ich ging zu ihm,’ which should be sampled in Lotte Lehmann’s recording, but it is her genius, not Korngold’s, which makes it tolerable.

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Michael Haas

November 30th, 2007 7:13am Report this comment

As the producer of the recording of "Das Wunder der Heliane" I can confirm that it is NOT "heavily and mercifully cut". It is utterly UNCUT! I did not hear the performance as I was mounting a large exhibition on Korngold in Vienna at the Jewish Museum - the fact that the British public, with the rare exception of "Frau ohne Schatten" seems to have difficulty with symbolist opera in German is certainly a major problem with Heliane's reception today. To call the opera 'degenerate' is unbelievable since obviously - as your pucker-mouthed and puritanical critic knows, the opera was banned by the Third Reich for exactly this reason. Perhaps its banning was like "The Autobahn", a good thing to come from those terrible years? Seen in the context of Europe falling to tyrants, an opera from 1927 about a ruler who executes a man for bringing "joy and freedom" to his country should at the very least be evaluated in an historic context. I suggest your critic stick with Elisir. It's obviously more his 'thing' - having also produced the complete Decca recording with Gheorghiu, I certainly know which I consider the greater work. Decca, in the 'good old days' almost always held to the policy of 'uncut'. I suggest the critic retreat to the "darkened room" required by the Telegraph's Rupert Christianson following the performance, where together, they can listen instead to the latter's favourite hymns...apparently banned by today's top Anglican Puhbahs, rather than the more malevolent group of nutters who banned and exiled Korngold.

Jessica Duchen

December 1st, 2007 5:38pm Report this comment

Sorry - missed the third page before leaving previous comment. But not surprised to see that critic missed Act III.

neil shepherd

May 1st, 2011 11:40pm Report this comment

No wonder classical music is regarded by so many as stuffy and elitist. In your own words, the RFH was bursting with devoted Korngoldians, people who had waited years to hear a live performance of this remarkable opera, but of course this critic knows best, doesn't he? What is the reason for your bile against an admittedly imperfect opera which nevertheless consists entirely of incredibly beautiful and exciting romantic music? I agree the plot is rubbish but that applies to many operas. Is it that you want to look clever? Couldn't you get tickets for the pop concert at Wembley? Whatever the reason, it is "reviews" like this that give classical music a bad name.

You are entitled to your opinion that the Nazis were right about degenerate art, or about anything else for that matter, though I for one find that deeply offensive. And no, I am definitely not a member of the PC brigade.

You left before the third and best act. I trust your pay for the "review" was adjusted accordingly.

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