RICHARD Strauss’ Helen of Troy – a role that can launch a thousand slips – hasn’t tempted many sopranos. Luckily, its dangers didn’t discourage Deborah Voigt.
The commanding soprano, joined by a lustrous Diana Damrau, had a deserved triumph last week when “Die Agyptische Helena” (“The Egyptian Helen”) returned to the Metropolitan Opera after 79 years, its rich orchestral textures lovingly displayed by conductor Fabio Luisi.
It’s a difficult opera to stage. Here, British director David Fielding turns the clock back to the 1920s – and a Max Ernst-like surrealism – which tends to leave his singers on stage shipwrecked statically as if in an oratorio.
The theme is marriage and infidelity. Helena, with Paris dead and her Greek fling flung, finds she still loves her husband, the vengeful Menelas (Torsten Kerl), and wants him back. Menelas, agonized by jealousy, isn’t sure.
Aithra, consort of the sea god Poseidon, intervenes, and tries to persuade Menelas that Helena’s flight was just a flight of fancy and that the Paris affair was mere fantasy, with the real Helena still faithful.
When two other suitors for Helena’s hand, Altair (an impressively forceful Wolfgang Brendel) and his son Da-Ud (Garrett Sorenson) turn up, Menelas is even less certain. But Aithra and Helena finally win him over.
The opera isn’t Strauss’ finest – it’s possibly his worst. But it offers great chances to singers, and Voigt, with her hallmarked blend of lyricism and drama, was magnificent, matched by Damrau’s dazzling display as Aithra.
At this premiere, German tenor Kerl as Menelas, making his Met debut with an obvious cold, had vocal difficulties and left after the first act. He was replaced by his standby, Michael Hendrick, also in a debut, who, under the circumstances, did remarkably well.
DIE AGYPTISCHE HELENA
The Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center; (212) 362-6000. Performances through April 7.