Die Frau Ohne Schatten

Friday evening, I went to the opera “Die Frau Ohne Schatten,” or, “The Woman without a Shadow,” by Richard Strauss.  And by now you should know, that if I’m going to write a blog post specifically for one opera, it had to have been amazing.

I can’t even begin to tell you how mind-blowing “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” was.  There’s no way I can express what I felt in words.

The music was some of the most epic, grand, romantic, sweet, tender, intense, emotion-packed music I have ever heard.  Oh, those cello and violin solos!  The Vienna philharmonic probably did the best job that night, that I have ever heard them do at the opera.  Bravo to an amazing orchestra.

And the singers!  They were stellar.  Every single one of them.

The nurse’s technique was so stable, even when she jumped up and down from a contralto range to a soprano range.

The emperor had a lovely, sweet, but majestic tenor voice, and I could just hear the love that he had for the empress!  He was a really nice guy too, as I found out at the signing, after the concert (actually, they were all really nice).

The dyer played his part so well, that it broke my heart every time he sang!

The dyer’s wife……wow to her acting.  Her role truly became real, and everything seemed so natural……even the mad scenes.

And the empress, of course, was so beautiful.  She had such a lovely, sweet, but piercing soprano voice.  She could sing the sweetest love song or the saddest aria, and still carry herself over the orchestra.

Just.  Amazing.

The really astonishing thing about this performance was that I didn’t even like everything about it.  There were some things about the staging that disturbed me, like a fake naked man, or the creepy movie that they showed during an orchestral interlude, that I’m still trying to make sense of.

At the same time, I also saw some of the coolest things I have seen at the Staatsoper yet.  For example, for one of the scenes, the audience was given  a bird’s eye view to the scene, by a wall painted like a rug.  At the top of the wall, there was a bed hanging from the wall, with the empress “sleeping” in it (or rather, standing).

At the end of the opera, there was also a cool scene where the emperor and empress were standing at the edge of the stage, while half of the stage sunk down underneath the stage.  From where I stood, it looked like the emperor and empress were rising up into the sky, and it was such a lovely effect that added so much to music.

They also had cool things like fire spontaneously bursting up, and walls become suddenly see-through, a mysterious humongous door that must have been a virtual image, but still could be opened and closed, beds splitting into two, and such.  Just some really cool effects.

Bravo to the story as well.  Wherever Strauss got it from, it was an excellent idea to turn it into an opera.

I think a lot of people are turned away by the mysterious title, “The woman without a shadow,” but I learned in this opera never to judge an opera by its title.  Ok, it had some creepy scenes, sure.  But other operas have their share of weird scenes as well.

One of the things I appreciated about this opera, was that there was none of this, “I just saw you/met you, and I looooooove you, and I would die for you!”  No.  This opera emphasized relationships that strengthen over time, and I also felt like it emphasized the importance of family.

I was the only one from our study abroad program that went that night, which is such a pity, because I would have traded this opera for any other operas I have seen since coming here!

The ending was just so glorious and divine and beautiful……I had to keep myself from crying out loud.  There were more "bravo"s and "encore"s than I have ever heard at the Staatsoper that night.  They even got a standing ovation from part of the crowd, which, if you have ever been to Vienna, you know is a big deal (not like BYU, where everyone gets a standing ovation).

I know there is no way to express what I felt, but I hope I have been able to at least express what an amazing experience it was.

If you ever have the chance to see “Die Frau Ohne Schatten,” go see it.  Don’t be intimidated because it's a 4 hour opera.  It was the shortest 4 hours I have ever been through, and I was standing.

Just take my word for it and go.

Here are some pictures of the wonderful performers (no pictures during the performance, but these are some from the end of the performance).

The lady in front of me was standing up as I was taking the picture above.