Last week I wrote on Anja Harteros' turn in La Traviata, which I'll likely see again tonight. Left out of the post: that in describing her Violetta -- long-breathed; rare, grand, balanced and without self-pity; and unforcedly expressive in sound through a nice top -- I've also described the ideal heroine of Strauss and Hofmannsthal. In "Der Rosenkavalier" this heroine learns (as in Traviata) that love, like life, is transient; in "Die Frau ohne Schatten" she finds that she must nevertheless engage and commit herself to each; in "Arabella" it is put upon her to regenerate her family (and her -- and the artists'! -- doomed society); and by "Capriccio" (not, of course, by Hofmannsthal, but as previously noted very much after him) she's given a sort of apotheosis as the mysterious eternal-feminine muse and origin of (their) art.
Of course, each of these parts has distinct vocal demands that Harteros' instrument may not, in any particular year, quite hit. But we can dream.
Actually, Harteros has already performed Arabella and is preparing her first Marschallin for San Diego Opera in 2011. She may have performed The Countess in Capriccio, I'm not sure.
ReplyDeleteShe has obviously sung neither role in Die Frau Ohne Schatten. However, I'm starting to believe that she might be capable of anything.