Though I consider myself fairly knowledgeable about a wide range of classical music, I am not familiar with Korngold’s Der Rings de Polykrates. I’m very well-acquainted with his film scores and know other classical works (like his amazing piano sonatas which should be heard in an exquisite recording by Geoffrey Tozer) very well. Luckily when I spoke with tenor Alex Boyer in October about his joining The Verdi Chorus for their fall concerts I could also ask him about this one-act opera. He’ll be appearing in the two Numi Opera performances this week at Zipper Hall at The Colburn School.
Here are edited excerpts from that conversation.
What was your familiarity with the Korngold opera?
Honestly I wasn’t familiar with it. Like most people I’m familiar with Die tote Stadt and it begins and ends with that. When I got a copy and looked through it, I liked it. It’s a wonderful, intimate piece with five characters who all have clearly established wants and needs and are generally likable. The music seems really wonderful as well. It’s unique.
The opera only had its first performance in the United States earlier this year. What’s special about the opera? Why do you think it hasn’t been performed more?
I can address the second first. It’s an awareness problem. I know that Numi Opera is committed to presenting these forgotten works by Jewish composers who had been silenced during the Nazi regime. This is primarily why it is not performed very frequently. The popularity propelled by repeat performances is something Korngold and Alexandre von Zemlinsky (a prolific Austrian composer best known for Die Seejungfrau – The Mermaid) were denied.
Korngold’s musical voice is really really sublime. It’s a very interesting harmonic language which is obviously influenced by Wagner’s tonalities. But it is very much his own voice. It is a comedy. Most people familiar with Korngold are familiar with his work for film and Die tote Stadt – which is decidedly not a comedy. This is light-hearted. You wouldn’t expect his style to jive with comedy, but the comedy is very light but it still very much his language.
Alex Ross, writing in The New Yorker, called Der Ring des Polykrates “overflowing with effortlessly effective writing…Mozart’s youthful pieces lack comparable individuality.” What is so appealing about the vocal writing in this one-act opera?
The vocal writing is very modern in that it is a through-composed piece. There aren’t a whole lot of numbers like there are in Mozart pieces. It’s a writing that sort of captures the way people speak in a more musical way.
Numi Opera is a new company. What inspired your choice to join them for these two performances?
I mean, I have to pay my bills, too. There is a component of that. People offer me work I generally take it. But I think the mission is an important one. I think there are a lot of composers beyond Korngold and Zemlinsky who have written wonderful music that hasn’t been performed. It is interesting to me academically and if there is an audience we can cultivate, that’s wonderful.
Korngold said, “What differentiates artists from historians, whether in music, painting or any art form – that they create something beyond the more or less photographic image of their era, something that stands above and beyond time and environment.” What did Korngold create with this opera and what do you hope to create before your career is over?
Wow. That is an interesting question. I’m not sure what I can say about myself. I don’t know what I would want to leave behind. I don’t know if I even want to think about it. I suppose what I’d want to leave behind is an exuberance and enthusiasm for the work I do that inspires other people to have the same enthusiasm for music and for hearing something the makes you feel something.
As for Korngold, what did he leave behind with this piece? I think he left behind something very different from the rest of his output, but just as important and unique in that it’s fun. It’s fun to share and fun to watch.
Photo of Alex Boyer in “Carmen” at San Jose Opera (Photo by Bob Shomler/Courtesy of Vox International Artists)
This post has been updated with a new photo provided by Boyer’s management)