Seattle Opera rediscovers the noble simplicity of Gluck

On Saturday, Oct. 13, Seattle Opera presented the premiere of its shared production with the Metropolitan Opera, Christoph Willibald Gluck's masterpiece Iphigenie en Tauride (1779). Thank you, Seattle Opera, for allowing lovers of this profound composer the opportunity to immerse ourselves in Gluck's unique sound world and to experience yet again the raw power of his musical theater.

The opera is rarely performed in America, and when it goes to the Met next month (with a different cast), it will be the first time it's been performed there in many decades. The Seattle production (running through Oct. 27) has many admirable features, though I was baffled by some key decisions that seem unfaithful to Gluck and his librettist. (More about this below.)

Fortunately, we are in the midst of a long overdue international Gluck revival. Productions are popping up everywhere, not only of the later "reform" operas that have earned him his place in the history books but also the earlier works in Italian – comic and serious operas in a more old-fashioned form but full of glorious music. The historical importance of Gluck has never been denied, and his operas meant much more to composers of the 19th century than those of Mozart. Composers as different as Berlioz and Wagner expended much energy in making practical, "updated" versions of Gluck. Berlioz's Orpheus is quite useful and still performed today, but Wagner made a total mess out of Iphigenia in Aulis.

The appropriate term "noble simplicity" became the watchword for Gluck and his disciples and they aimed for a tone which was elevated and at times elemental, with a "less is more" aesthetic. Traditional polyphony is rare, leading to Handel's famous gibe that "Gluck knows no more of counterpoint than my cook."

Late Gluck can be an acquired taste. It has little in common with the Mozart operas that define the late 18th century for most audiences. Gluck's arias are brief and relatively few, vocal display is kept to a bare minimum, as all focus is on the text and the dramaturgy. More importantly, the melodic and harmonic style is very different. The Viennese Classical style, as represented by Mozart, features melodies that immediately strike the ear, due to their regular phrasing and tunes that have their basis in a direct, folk-like idiom and make use of oft-repeated motives. Gluck's are much freer, less dependent on instrumental forms for their structure, and less repetitious.

Since French has no clear stress accent, much French music, from Rameau to Debussy, has a more flowing melodic style that can be elusive to those brought up on German music. How often was Berlioz told that he couldn't write a real melody! In truth, Berlioz is a key figure in appreciating Gluck. Anyone who knows the later composer's music will find that of the earlier quite familiar. Berlioz's Les Troyens is a true distillation of Gluck, and his Cassandra is completely modeled on Iphigenia.

Iphigenie en Tauride is Gluck's penultimate opera and his last great success. Like most of his later works, it uses whole hunks of music from earlier operas, but it nonetheless feels totally unified and is, in my opinion, his crowning achievement. It is a must for anyone with an interest in the marriage of music and theater, and a feast of beauty.

On the musical side, much praise goes to conductor Gary Thor Wedow, who has a keen sense of style and got the band to play with sweetness, clarity, and a minimum of vibrato. The lyrical elements were beautifully shaped. In the more dramatic passages (the opening storm, the Furies, the Scythian music, etc.) I felt a lack of rhythmic emphasis and an overall underplaying which made for a too genteel sound. This is, after all, an opera about the strongest passions of Greek tragedy: rage, fear, and despair.

Also first-rate were the hero Orestes (Brett Polegato) and his faithful companion Pylades (William Burden). In their scenes together, the music-making came closest to Gluck's language. The chorus was excellent and Michèle Losier was a superb Diana. Nuccia Focile, a Sicilian soprano in the title role, performed with sincerity and commitment, winning the audience over with a portrait of a vulnerable Iphigenia, if not a larger-than-life member of the House of Atreus. But she was simply miscast. This is a role for a dramatic mezzo who can dominate the stage with presence and vocal amplitude. While many sopranos attempt the role, few succeed. There was no way for Focile to project the many low passages or to suggest the indomitable character of Iphigenia. Her persistent vibrato had little to do with the overall style of the performance. As for the sinister King Thoas of Phillip Joll, only one word comes to mind: Why?