Oh, this was intellectual, and fun at the same time!
I wanted to see this comic opera by Albert Lortzing, for several reasons. After all, I haven't really heard much about Lortzing as a composer, so this was an opportunity. And even though I expected the music to be not necessarily the type that I consider as a favourite, I also heard that the stage director was a genius, and so I was looking forward to seeing how this piece has been adapted for the modern contemporary audience.
The story is set in Saardam (Zaandam), the Netherlands, circa 1698. The environment is a bustling Dutch shipyard, a hub of commerce, international laborers, and espionage. There is Peter I (Tsar of Russia), who is traveling incognito as a humble journeyman shipwright under the alias "Peter Michaelov" to study Western naval technology. There is also Peter Ivanov, a young Russian military deserter also working at the shipyard. He is deeply in love with Marie, a spirited, independent niece of the local mayor. Mayor Van Bett is spectacularly inept, and is the pompous Mayor of Saardam. Additionally, there are French and British ambassadors, who are looking for the Tsar.
Now, this was modernised in a way that I found fascinating. There was a complete rewrite of the spoken dialogue. Lortzing’s original 19th-century spoken dialogue was completely thrown out, and it was replaced with a brand-new, modern text version penned by the director. This stripped away the dated Biedermeier fluffiness and replaced it with contemporary linguistic pace and sharp socio-political edge. There was also the invention of Tschirikistan, an "Operetta State". Rather than staging a historical postcard of Holland, the setting has been reimagined as a fictional, highly unstable "operetta state" trapped geographically and politically between Russia and Latvia. Additionally, traditional productions paint the Tsar as a benevolent, charming ruler pulling a harmless prank. It was not the case here. The production explicitly reinstated an aria that is traditionally cut from the score, wherein the Tsar reflects directly on his brutal regime and politically sanctioned violence, exposing the terrifying undercurrent of a ruthless dictator masking himself as a common man of the people (a direct, chilling commentary on modern autocracy and populism).
So yes, if I were to look at this production purely from a musical perspective, I would not have enjoyed it at all. Given my deeply entrenched appreciation for structural complexity, timbral experimentation, and avant-garde music theatre, Lortzing’s score was musically unchallenging, if not entirely tedious. However, the staging at the Deutsche Oper Berlin delivered a cerebral, high-concept, Regietheater deconstruction. Even if Lortzing’s diatonic melodies did not satisfy my musical palate, watching a modern intellectual director dissect, subvert, and weaponize a conservative 1837 comedy into a sharp critique on modern authoritarianism definitely provided the exact type of stimulating, conceptual theatrical experience I look for.
