Prague Mozart at the Estates Theatre

The Estates Theatre in Prague is the original theatre where Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ and ‘La Clemenza di Tito’ were first performed, conducted by Mozart himself, as was the custom then. It’s a magic place for me. So, at the risk of repeating myself, I cannot help reliving my experiences in this theatre.

Prague’s buildings have been more lucky than their occupants. When Europe handed Czech and Slavakian lands to Hitler, it was saved the blitzkrieg it would have otherwise received. The only damage sustained by the city during the second world war was from a squadron of American bombers who mistook it for Dresden on the night of that awful conflagration. Luckily they did not drop their bombs on the theatres so the Estates Theatre is the original building which Mozart knew.

They make a big fuss of the fact that ‘Don Giovanni’ had its first performance in the Estates Theatre so that was the first opera I saw there. Having recently seen a production in the Vienna Staatsoper, I was surprised how well I felt the opera fitted into the smaller theatre. The acoustics are extremely dry so the orchestral playing, especially of the wind, seem more exposed than usual. Mozart’s operas and their orchestration was designed for THIS type of acoustic NOT the acoustic or scale of houses like the Met or La Scala. I must admit that I was amazed at how obvious this seemed in situ. It was also helped by the fact that the whole company was obviously well in tune with their speciality of performing Mozart, albeit usually with modern production techniques. However ‘Don Giovanni’ was performed in a very tradional way.

The second opera I saw at the Estates Theatre was ‘Cosi fan Tutte’ The production was minimal but excellent, despite taking place on a giant frisbie whose centre was a lift for entrances and changes. It moved swiftly and seamlessly through the scenes of each act, emphasizing the incredible richness of the music in this opera. All the performers handled their parts well and the orchestra again sounded so right in the dry acoustic of this small theatre. I LOVE ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’ !!!!! These melodic musical jewels arrive one after the other until I simply get overwhelmed by the time we reach those great finales.

Another opera I saw at the Estates Theatre was the ‘Magic Flute’. This is an opera which is definitely prejudiced against people who wear dark clothes, particularly if they sing very high notes. The men’s chorus all wore masonic aprons and regalia where appropriate and all the goings on seemed very authentic. We were not allowed to discover Mozart’s allusions to his masonic brothers. We had a whole lodge on the stage.

Mozart’s ”La Clemenza di Tito” was still receiving acclaim on the same night that ‘The Magic Flute’ received its first performance in Vienna. After his trip to Prague, Mozart had spent the last couple of weeks of September completing this singspiel, his last opera. Just over two months after this first night of ‘The Magic Flute’ Mozart was dead.

To call the production minimal would to exagerate the design of the ‘sets’. The opera opened with absolutely nothing on the stage. Eventually a huge parachute descended from the flys and this was the only object manipulated throughout the show. I liked it!!!

The cast spent a lot of time singing about things that never happened on stage but that’s no problem for me!!! The only weakness was the Queen of the Night while she was suspended by a tight wire and I definitely forgive her for that!!!! “The three ladies”, as they are termed, were great and I liked the way a ghostly Mozart appeared to play a real flute when Tamino waved his magic version in the air.

The opera opened with a stage full of monklike people sitting Taize style looking into the far distance. Then they started to do a slightly liturgical dance as Miriam, David and the early Christians must have done as part of their worship. They all wore flowing saffron robes and carried these dances throughout the opera. I particulaly enjoyed this because I have often felt that sections of this Mozart opera are great as dance music.

Yep!! It’s a fun opera!! But the music is divine! Do we really need to ‘understand’ the plot? In the small Estates Theatre, this opera really works, however much people mutilate the production. It’s all about the music? Once again, it was a delight to be present in this lovely theatre to hear such an enjoyable performance. (Interesting that I would prefer this Prague production to any of those in the videos below!)

My favourite evening at the Estates Theatre was for the performance of ‘La Clemenza di Tito’. This is because the history of this opera combines the story not only of Mozart in his last few months of life but also of Anton Stadler, whom we must thank for inspiring Mozart to write the clarinet concerto and the clarinet quintet.

This is the theatre where it was first performed. The production had an amazing set with an exagerated perspective tube, stage size at the front, ending about the size of a person with an opening like an camera lens adjustment at the back. The production was a very stylish performance in modern dress. There was a little difficulty with the castrati colatura passages but who cares? It was great!!

But heart missed a beat when I heard the clarinet playing in the two arias with those wonderful obligati sounding absolutely right in this acoustic. Even the low chalameau sections on the basset keys came out clearly and the wound ligature gave a feeling of the eighteenth century clarinet even though the clarinetist was using a modern instrument.

Listening to these great clarinet obligati made me realise that the only person who could have played these must have been Anton Stadler. These two obligati almost comprise a small concerto! In fact Anton Stadler travelled to Prague with Mozart and DID play these obligati at the first performance. It was not long after this that Mozart wrote the basset clarinet concerto for him. The time between when Mozart received the contract to write the opera and its first performance was less than two months!! The recitativo secco sections were probably written by Sussmayr but Mozart did the recitativo accompagnato music himself.

Less than three months later, Mozart died after having completed The Magic Flute, the aforementioned Clarinet Concerto and other music. To be in that beautiful old theatre where it all took place was a rare delight!!! I felt that the ghosts of Anton Stadler and Mozart were with us. But I am of a very romantic disposition and I was very moved by the experience!!!

Keith of Ninewells