Król Roger

by Karol Szymanowski

seen at Covent Garden on 12 May 2015

The Royal Opera's first production of Szymanowski's 1918-1924 opera is directed by Kasper Holten (artistic director of the Royal Opera House) and conducted by Antonio Pappano, with designs by Steffen Aarfing. King Roger is sung by Mariusz Kwiecień, Queen Roxana by Georgia Jarman, the Shepherd by Saimir Pirgu, and Edrisi by Kim Begley. 

King Roger II of Sicily is an historical figure (reigned 1112-1154) but the opera is really a meditation on the conflicting Apollonian and Dionysian impulses within human experiences (derived from Nietzschean writings), as the Shepherd preaches a potentially subversive cult of abandonment. The 'people', led by an archbishop and an abbess, clamour for the Shepherd's execution, but Roger wavers on the pleas of his wife Roxana and an adviser and friend Edrisi. When the Shepherd arrives he sings almost exclusively to Roger, who orders the execution then once again relents and asks the Shepherd to present himself 'for trial' that evening in private.

During the evening interview the Shepherd unleashes his Dionysian forces, in which Roxana becomes involved. However, when he finally appeals to Roger to follow him, the king appears to resist and instead places his allegiance with the rising sun.

This production strips away any historical setting and instead emphasises the psychological battle for King Roger's own personality. The first act opens in darkness with a gradually swelling chorus of church worship; as the music grows louder light gradually reveals and plays over a gigantic head which takes up the central area of the stage, surrounded by four storeys of alcoves. The projections of light on the head give the impression of conflicting emotions passing across the face, but until the Shepherd arrives the eyes are always in shadow.

In the second act, the evening interview, the head is rotated to reveal three levels, the classic superego, ego and id of Roger's conscious and subconscious mind. Roger and Roxana, at cross purposes, begin on the upper two levels while a tangle of bodies lie on the lowest level, only aroused when the Shepherd declares himself and evokes the power of his god.

In the third act the stage is bare, except for the surrounding alcoves, with a fire glowing until it bursts into flame when books are thrown onto it. As dawn breaks and Roger declares his final allegiance, the sun glares blindingly into the auditorium for a moment before a blackout.

These powerful and intense visual impressions complement and underscore the intense music which is both highly structured and deeply sensuous, densely orchestrated to give overwhelmingly powerful effects. Nonetheless the singers are rarely at a loss, and of course the surtitles are invaluable as the piece is sung in Polish, of which only Mariusz Kwiecień is a native speaker. The Shepherd's bright and seductive tenor is a dangerous contrast to Roger's agitated but deeply felt baritone, while Roxana's coloratura flourishes bespeak her own confusions and longings.

The overall effect is at times intoxicating, but at times almost too extreme to take in properly - the ending in particular is so sudden that it seems all cannot have been said. However, that is a feature of the opera itself (the third act underwent extensive revisions), and this production emphasises the point with its stunning effect of the sun painfully dazzling the audience while the C-major chord assails the ears, before we are plunged into darkness and silence.