Der weltberühmte 83jährige Dirigent (und Komponist) Lorin Maazel, seit über einem halben Jahrhundert Leiter zahlloser Spitzenorchester und derzeit Chefdirigent der Münchner Philharmoniker, hat kürzlich den Wahnsinn der heutzutage gängigen Opernregie heftig angekreidet. Seiner Meinung nach ist es die Aufgabe der Regisseure und Dirigenten, die Intentionen von Librettist und Komponist umzusetzen und diese zu respektieren. Das Gegenteil sei pervers und eine Ausbeutung der Meisterwerke. Die Regisseure und auch Dirigenten sollten das eigene Ego zurückstellen. Eine Opernbühne sei nicht das Sofa eines Psychiaters.
Hier der bei Facebook veröffentlichte Text im Originalwortlaut (englisch):
ZitatAlles anzeigenOpera Staging Madness (Part One)
A great number of opera lovers are becoming increasingly alienated from an art form that has nourished the spirits and minds generations of people...
opera: the ultimate fusion of song and sound, of word and fancy, a visceral corporal soul language second to none in breadth and depth of thought and emotion.
At the risk of stating the obvious, of postulating the pedestrian, may I approach the subject of the staging and musical interpretation of an opera applying logic and common sense?
An opera is a Gesamtkunstwerk, i.e. a " total art work; an artistic creation, that synthesizes the elements of music, drama, spectacle, dance, language, social mores, dress, body language " and all other aspects at any given moment of the recounted story as it is set to music.
The librettist tells the story, sets it in a time period, in a cultural and social context. The composer finds the appropriate sounds, turn of phrase, thematic material to project his/her interpretation of the emotions engendered by the story. The stage director's task to flesh out in a convincing manner the essential thrust of the story
as interpreted by the composer. The conductor's task is to bring to life the implications of the music in a meaningful and vibrant way.
The roles of both stage director and conductor are essentially custodial, bringing into play only those actions which heighten and make clearer the intentions of librettist and composer, actions which at every turn must respect and honor the librettist and the composer. To do otherwise is to pervert and despoil the work of masters. The egos of stage director and conductor (and his/her psychological problems) are never ever to come into play.
An opera stage is not a psychiatrist's couch.
- Lorin Maazel
Dazu kann ich nur sagen: Bravo, Maestro!