Wednesday, June 13
Tonight we went to see Mozart’s opera, “The Marriage of Figaro” at the Estates Theater. We won’t keep you in suspense: it was fantastic!
The theater has had a long and interesting history since it’s opening in 1783. Mozart’s opera, “Don Giovanni” premiered in this very theater in 1787 with Mozart as the conductor. If you’ve seen the movie, “Amadeus” you might remember that this was the opera during which the emperor fell asleep. Another Mozart opera, “La Clemensa di Tito” also premiered in this theater in celebration of the coronation of Emperor Leopold II. It’s the only theater that Mozart performed in that’s still standing and it’s present day appearance is said to be almost identical to when it opened. Several scenes from the movie, “Amadeus” were filmed inside.
The theater is smaller than we expected but it has an intimate rather than small feel. There are only about 35 rows at the orchestra level but there are five balconies full of boxes. We sat in row seven center orchestra and had the feeling that we were watching from our living room rather than a large auditorium. The seats, made out of wood with velvet cushions, resembled ordinary chairs.
(A Beautiful Theater)
The story of Figaro is rather complex and there are a good many recitatives so we appreciated the subtitles that were in both Czech and English. Virtually everyone in attendance was a tourist and English was spoken everywhere during the intermission.
The production was part of the Czech National Theater. Every part of the performance was first rate. The singers effortlessly filled the hall and turned phrases that even Mozart would have been proud of. In lesser productions you will often hear ensembles performed as a group of individuals trying to outdo one another but this case the singers blended perfectly. The wonderful acoustics no doubt helped. The orchestra played skillfully and with impressive dynamics. The balance was excellent. The instruments never overpowered the singers. We were so engrossed by the performance that we hardly noticed the conductor. There was one basic set for the entire production with some interesting twists. During the garden scene, for example, prop peacocks were pulled across the stage by ropes and at the feast they were eaten by the wedding guests. Several times during scene changes performers would roam the audience performing small skits allowing the action to continue. It was all very lighthearted; the opera is a comedy after all – no one dies! All four leads did an outstanding job but special kudos to Marie Fajtová for her unbelievably fine portrayal of the Countess.
(View from the Balcony)
Two tickets costs us about $185.00 which is a lot more than we paid in other cities we’ve visited but since we enjoyed it so much we’ll probably wind up seeing more operas or concerts before we leave. Deborah’s talking about seeing this one again!
*** Extra credit to anyone who gets the reference to Rafaello in the title of this post (yes, we think we’re amusing).
Distance walked: 1.0 miles