ICSM Online Journal > Reviews

Hartmann: Simplicius Simplicissimus
Bayreuth, 26 March 2006

Reviewed by Michael Eagleton
posted 14 Feb 2007

Better late than never, the new production of Simplicius Simplicissimus by Theater Hof opened on 27 January, missing the centenary year of Hartmann’s birth by a month. I caught up with it on 26 March when it visited the Stadthalle in out-of-season springtime Bayreuth . Unlike the next most recent production, in Stuttgart in May 2004, Hof opted for the more opulent but still caustic 1956 revision of the score – including the overture written in homage to Prokofiev – and it was clear that the intervening performances had enabled the orchestra to get the notes securely under its fingers: it was playing with confidence and verve under the baton of Michel Roberge.

The staging was by Heinz Lukas-Kindermann, until recently the long-standing Intendant at Trier , whose work always shows a clear simplicity and focus, and here was no exception. The action, such as it is (three self-contained scenes. lifted from Grimmelshausen’s iconic 17th century novel), was played out beneath, and in, the tree, which is the one constant in the young ‘simplest of the simple’ innocent’s experiences during the Thirty Years War. Placed centre-stage, the tree (deconstructed foliage, red trunk and branches of human form, designed by Thomas Mogendorf) shades Simplicius as he doses, and dreams, while tending his sheep in the first scene. Next, its central frame becomes the cross, below which Simplicius grows in awareness under the guidance of the Hermit. In the third, the Governor and his cronies debauch themselves in its branches, unconcerned with the fate of those millions below, and Simplicius now understands the significance of his dream, and is the sole survivor of the inevitable revolt.

Christine Merz was perfectly cast in the title role, a bright and secure soprano whose boyish looks were a bonus. Also impressive was the young tenor of Thilo Andersson as the (rather affluent looking) Hermit, and it was interesting to come across an old hand, the tenor Wolfgang Müller-Lorenz as the Governor. He it was who bravely replaced an ailing Tristan at Covent Garden in 2003; here in a smaller house he was much more at home. The speaker was Karsten Jesgarz, chilling and impassive in his introductory and concluding narrations – a stark warning against the horrors of war. This was a richly rewarding evening, allowing Hartmann’s brave voice from the wilderness of 1935 to speak directly and succinctly. It is probably just as well for the composer that a projected staging in Brussels in 1940 was abandoned.

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