 The
main reason Capriccio have re-released this recording from a radio broadcast
of 1999 is because of the current super-stardom of Jonas Kaufmann who
performs the lead role of Edgar Aubry. The Kaufmanniacs can rest assured
that their favourite guy gives full justification to his then-rising star
in, especially in his single aria “Wie ein schöner Frülingsmorgen” His
character has the central love-versus-duty predicament in the highly
contrived plot. Edgar Aubry is pledged to keep a secret by his friend, Lord
Ruthven, who is the vampyr (or “vampyre” as the word first appeared in John
Polidori’s story) of the title. Ruthven must murder three brides within 24
hours or else he will be taken back to the grave. He murders two and is set
to murder his own fiancée (Malwina, beloved also of Aubry) when, just at the
final moment...
Franz Hawlata sounds strained as Lord Ruthven - the
part seems rather high-lying for him. (Hawlata currently has a
well-established career in the lower bass-baritone fach.) Regina Klepper is
fine as Malwina, the maiden torn between two swains - as is the rest of the
cast. Helmuth Froschauer delivers a well-paced performance that never really
catches fire, although it might be unreasonable to expect a performance of
the work to do so. Marschner was a perfectly adept composer in the
mainstream romantic idiom. The work owes a lot to Weber’s Der Freischütz,
especially in the ominous opening moments when we find ourselves in a
near-recreation of the Wolf’s Glen scene.
Der Vampyr was premiered in
Leipzig in 1828. In the audience was the 15-year-old Richard Wagner, whose
first opera was just five years away. The work doesn’t reveal a key to what
Wagner eventually produced, but is of interest for what it shows us of the
musical environment of the day.
Here is yet another relatively
unknown work released without a libretto. Luckily, however, the internet
comes to the rescue. Several years ago Lyric Opera of Los Angeles staged the
work and the libretto was posted at this page where it still exists. It can
be found in German, English and Spanish, although not with side-by-side
translation.
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