June 30, 1957

German Opera on Spanish Theme

Cologne--Wolfgang Fortner's "Blood Wedding," based on the play of Federico Garcia Lorca, had its world premiere on June 8 in the three-week-old Cologne Opera House. The work originally was scheduled for an earlier date, immediately following the official opening of the new house with "Oberon," but had to be postponed when the conductor, Guenter Wand, became ill.

Lorca's play, one of the masterpieces of the modern stage, is a remarkable combination of dramatic and lyrical elements, of realism and allegory, of folklore and stylistic sophistication. It presents at the same time many opportunities and many pitfalls for the composer; its poetical prose is anything but a "vehicle for music" in the sense of many opera librettos.

To Fortner's credit it must be said that he took advantage of the possibilities and avoided the pitfalls presented by the text. His music contains an entire gamut of expressive and technical devices and is as nonschematic and freely moving as the play itself. It does not attempt, fortunately, to bring in "local color" at any price but succeeds in capturing the atmosphere, which is typically Spanish in its setting but universal in its implications.


Fortner makes sparing but telling use of Andalusian folksong in the choruses of the wedding celebration and elsewhere; the dance episodes are less convincing and somewhat dragged in by the heels. For the rest, he employs a harmonic and melodic palette that ranges from tonality through bitonality and polytonality to atonality. The music is alternately direct--almost expressionistic--and abstract, corresponding to the realistic and allegorical passages of the text. In the mother's opening apostrophe of the knife (and again in the closing scene), Fortner employs serial technique most effectively, as he does in other passages as well.

The frequent changes in harmonic idiom are anything but disturbing. On the contrary, they represent a convincing translation of the changing events and moods on-stage. The entire score, like Lorca's play, is bathed in a poetical lyricism that avoids every hint of pathos or sentimentality. The vocal writing, although frequently quite difficult, is expert and effective, preserving a cantabile quality throughout. Sung portions alternate, sometimes in rapid succession, with spoken lines. Occasionally the music stops entirely, interrupted by a short passage in dialogue.

Rondo and Variation

There are few "numbers" in this opera; the closest approximation is the touching lullaby in the second scene. Continuity of form is achieved through the free application of rondo and variation principles: previously heard material returns but is newly formulated to reflect the changing dramatic situation. The seven scenes that constitute the two acts are connected by short orchestral interludes that provide effective transitions and have musical significance in themselves as well.

The performance did the work full justice. Natalie Hinsch-Groendahl was splendid, both vocally and histrionically, in the difficult role of the mother. Anny Schlemm and Wilhelm Otto were excellent as the bride and bridegroom, and Ernst Grathwol was an impressive Leonardo. The stage sets by Walter Gondolf were simple and appropriate. Erich Bormann's mise-en-scene succeeded in combining the realistic and allegorical qualities of the work convincingly. Much credit is due Herr Wand, who conducted with authority and sensitivity, preserving the flow and molding the musical form into an integrated whole.

The Cologne Opera is the newest of a series of new German houses, and like most of its predecessors it is highly modern in style and in equipment. The outward appearance of the building is at first acquaintance strange and has caused much controversy. It combines a certain massive squareness with curiously sloping walls and jutting balconies. The foyer is impressive in its blue and white simplicity, entirely devoid of ornament. The auditorium is completely paneled in dark wood; the blue curtain and the turquoise-green upholstery of the seats produce a rather upsetting color combination. Even more surprising at first sight is the aspect of the "flying loges" at the back and at both sides of the hall. Patterned after London's Festival Hall, they go several steps farther and give the impression of roller-coaster cars that might take off at any minute.

The technical equipment of the new opera is superb. The stage is equipped with all the latest devices, and the building houses workshops, rehearsal rooms, studios, storehouses and administrative offices. The acoustics are excellent, and in the fan-shaped hall the stage can be seen well from every seat in the house. The opera seats 1,400; plans are already drawn up for the construction of a smaller hall, principally for theatrical productions, which will form part of the same complex of buildings.

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