It’s 30 years since Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer made an international reputation in films such as Out of Africa and Never Say Never Again. Now for the first time he’s about to play in a new opera at Covent Garden – though he’s not actually singing.
The work’s Austrian composer says it’s the story of a man’s life in which you see nothing of that life whatsoever.
“Do you know the origins of opera?” asks Georg Friedrich Haas. “Why do we have it even?”
He answers his own question: “It is because human beings sing a lot louder than they speak. So when performers sing the orchestra can play loud. That balance of sounds is one of the basic things you think about when you write.”
So it may seem odd that a central role in his new opera Morgen und Abend (Morning and Evening) at Covent Garden in London is a non-singing part for the Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer.
“Opera is a theatre of emotions: what you need is expressive melodies. But when I wrote Morgen und Abend I described a father waiting for his son to be born, so I decided this must be a job for an actor. It was a huge challenge for me as you lose the wonderful unity of the human voice singing while an orchestra plays.
“Even with an actor as fine as Klaus Maria, you have to keep the orchestra very quiet so the father’s lines can be heard. And I was aware that I was writing for two big houses – first the Royal Opera House and next at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin.”
The opera is adapted from a story by the Norwegian writer Jon Fosse, who is not widely read in the English-speaking world but has often been tipped as a possible Nobel laureate.
Haas explains what audiences will see: “The piece runs about 90 minutes and there are five performers on stage. It is about the life of a Norwegian fisherman but you don’t see a second of that life. Rather you see a father awaiting the birth of his son Johannes – and then you see Johannes after he has died, but he doesn’t know that he is dead. The story is about death and dying.”
The work was written in German but for the London production Brandauer’s lines will be in English.
At 72, the actor is no stranger to music theatre. In Germany and Austria he has often given his solo interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on stage, combining Shakespearean poetry with the music of Mendelssohn.
“I’ve done it with two pianos and sometimes I’ve done it with a full orchestra: it works either way,” he says. “This new work is very different, with contemporary music – but I am very happy with it. I’m fascinated by what in German we call a Gesamtkunstwerk. It means a total work of art, using every medium.
“It sounds complex but actually the best art is usually simple. As I am in England, I can say there’s a very good teacher for that – William Shakespeare.
“I played King Lear in Vienna when I think we had a cast of 70 on stage. So to be in London with a cast of only 5 is in some ways a joy. Though you always have to remember that the orchestra counts as a character in its own right.”
The opera’s director, Graham Vick, agrees there can be advantages to having only a few performers to work with.
“Sometimes as director you’ll have a huge chorus to throw around the stage but all the time they have to be able to see the conductor. Considerations can be very practical.
“But you learn over the years. For instance if a set is too rigid you’ve immediately hemmed yourself in. With La Boheme or Tosca it might not matter but this is a new piece which inevitably will change, so the set consists mainly of moveable elements. If suddenly I need the door or the bed stage left and not stage right it’s probably doable.”
Vick made his reputation co-founding and running the Birmingham Opera Company, which specialises in new work and radical interpretations. At 61 he’s in demand to direct internationally. But does it frustrate him that however well he does his job even the most attractive opera may have only a tiny number of performances? Morgen und Abend has five outings at Covent Garden and four next year in Berlin.
“Certainly if you work in opera you are aware of that – but I think the world is changed by very small steps. In Birmingham we’ve often had audience-members who are dubious about coming to something that’s not Puccini and not Verdi. And then they love the music. With Morgen und Abend if you listen you will realise here’s a composer who stands in a line with Johann Strauss and Richard Strauss and the other wonderful Viennese talents.”
In fact these days Haas lives in New York, where he teaches at Columbia University.
“I moved there in 2013 on my 60th birthday. It was after five years in Switzerland but in five days in Manhattan I became more of a New Yorker than I ever was Swiss.”
He admits that in the UK few people are familiar with his work. Discussion of his music tends to the technical – terms such as micropolyphony and microtonal are wielded frequently, which may put off those simply hoping to enjoy the music.
“I could tell you all about the harmonic systems I employ or about the sounds and how they relate to the words in the text. But I don’t want to do this: it’s not comfortable for most of the audience,” he says.
“But a lot of people will recall the first time they went into a Japanese restaurant and they ate raw fish. Maybe they thought they only liked grilled fish and they were nervous or even frightened about a new experience.
“I just ask that people should come and listen with their minds open and their hearts open. They may find they like raw fish. And in any case the grilled fish will still exist.”
Morgen und Abend is in repertoire at the Royal Opera House until 28 November. It will play at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin in April and May next year.
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