Opera on the Move in the Nordic Countries during the Long 19th ...

262 Kristel Pappel
opinion because of the conductor’s excessive effort to bring out the leitmotifs
in the orchestral texture as much as possible (RZ, 24.12.1901).
The opera orchestra, and Tallinn in general, did not have all the instrumentalists
required for performing Wagner’s score. There were no secondpart
players in the woodwind section (indicating that there was only one
musician for each instrument group!), no third or fourth French horn and
only two trombones. The piano took the place of the harp, woodwind and
brass parts were re-written for different instruments – and so skilfully that
the audience noticed it only in the orchestral introductions and the Fliederzauber
scene in the second act (RZ, 24.12.1901).
The Tallinn press refers to the performance of Die Meistersinger von
Nürnberg as a task that had been close to the conductor’s heart for a long
time, and that he was very familiar with the Wagner tradition of Munich (RZ,
24.12.1901). Before coming to Tallinn he had conducted the so-called Vienna
opera and operetta company, which had given successful performances,
mostly of operettas, in Åbo and Wiborg (Åbo Underrättelser, 24.08.1900;
Wiipurin Sanomat 21.10.1900) 22 One can see why being a conductor in a
Tallinn theatre and conducting what was already a cult opera by Wagner was
a real challenge.
Performing Verdi’s operas in Tallinn City Theatre, 1860-1902
Italian opera was strongly represented in Tallinn during the first half of the
nineteenth century, Bellini and Donizetti being frequently in the repertoire.
Verdi arrived relatively late with a production of Ernani (as Hernani) in
1860. 23 It is likely that it was difficult to hire an acceptable spinto tenor at
the time, and furthermore, many of the talented members of the opera company
had gone elsewhere after the fire in 1855.
Ernani may not have been the most fortunate choice given the audience’s
cool reaction. The initial dramatization had been drastically changed.
The final, tragically ending fourth act was cut, but the terzetto (Elvira-Er-
22 According to Uusi Suometar, (30.08.1900), he arrived at the Kleinehn hotel in
Helsinki on 29 August 1900 “with his family from Lübeck” (“perheneen Lyypekistä”),
and the first performance was in Åbo on 6 September. The opera genre was represented
by German Spieloper and popular pieces such as Der Barbier von Sevilla (Il barbiere di
Siviglia), Bajazzo (Pagliacci) and Troubadour.
23 See also Pappel, Kristel 2003: “Verdi an einem deutschen Stadttheater im Baltikum;
Aufführungspraxis und Rezeption in Reval/Tallinn”, in: Žiuraityt, Audrone & Koch,
Klaus-Peter (eds.), Deutsch-Baltische Musikbeziehungen: Geschichte – Gegenwart
– Zukunft, Sinzig: Studio, pp. 209-221.