WNO Cunning Little Vixen

[verismissimo]

Off to WNO Cunning Little Vixen in Brum tomorrow evening.
One of my greatest favourites.
Anyone caught it?

[Mahler's3rd]

Hi Verismissimo, Its very good, saw it in Cardiff a couple of weeks or so ago along with Lulu (Which is A Superb Production, Incidentally). Vixen was teriffic, quite the contrast as well Lulu one day and Vixen the next

[LeMartinPecheur]

Lulu one day and Vixen the next

At least we get a day between them (a Butterfly??) when WNO reach Plymouth in early April. I'm down (up?) for both - not sure I'd cope without a 48hr interval!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I'm catching all three of WNO's productions on its current tour, but Vixen is something I'm especially looking forward to. Pountney's production was the first thing I ever saw at ENO (with Susan Gritton and Sarah Connolly) and was my first Janacek opera. Pleased to see Sophie Bevan in the title role.

[verismissimo]

Thanks for your responses. I enjoyed it a lot. Shed a tear or two in the final scene. Life-affirming.

I hadn't realised that Janacek asked for that to played at his memorial service, as Mackerras did too.

[kernelbogey]

Just back from Vixen at Southampton. Enjoyed it a lot, also a tear or two at the last scene. Want to digest it better before writing more. It's the first time I've seen it live, though I saw the HD transmission of the Glyndebourne production recently.

[Steerpike]

You're all wetting my appetite and I'm getting ready for a (quiet) sob or two. I'm seeing Lulu and Vixen at Milton Keynes next week (snow permitting!) No day in between in MK.

[kernelbogey]

I thought Sophie Bevan terrific in the title role, and I loved the use of dance. The children-animals were especially charming.

I haven't seen it often enough to know whether this production, and this translation of the libretto, are themselves responsible for the emphasis on one aspect of the opera - the interplay of love and sex. This seemed emphasised in many humorous ways in the acting. The libretto made it clear that there was a theme of raw passion and the drive to reproduce. The schoolmaster teased for his passion for the off-stage Terynka [?] who in the end is to marry the poacher. The Vixen and the Fox's first 'date' is quite sexual, and they soon have seven cubs (on stage, but she 'can't remember' how many they've produced altogether!).

The theme of life continuing which is such a feature of the last scene is often highlighted in narratives about the opera; I don't recall this erotic element being mentioned.

I haven't checked how late this work was and wonder how much of this is informed by the composer's late-life passion for a younger woman.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I haven't checked how late this work was and wonder how much of this is informed by the composer's late-life passion for a younger woman.

Yes, Vixen is a late opera and very much influence by his love for Kamila Stösslová.

Agreed that Sophie Bevan was splendid in the title role. I have a long-held affection for David Pountney's production and it was just as magical last night as I remembered. My review has just been published:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=893:the-cunning-little-vixen-welsh-national-opera-21st-march-2013-&catid=8:opera-reviews&Itemid=16

[kernelbogey]

Yes, Vixen is a late opera and very much influence by his love for Kamila Stösslová.

Agreed that Sophie Bevan was splendid in the title role. I have a long-held affection for David Pountney's production and it was just as magical last night as I remembered. My review has just been published:

http://www.opera-britannia.com/index...iews&Itemid=16

Lovely review, IGI, and agree with all of it. (My ears, though, were not as bothered as yours by orchestra/stage balance.)

I'd be interested in your views about love and sex in this production (see my post no 8). i think you were right to highlight Bevan's sexiness and her ease in moving over the tricky set. In fact in her gestures, rolling around, kicking her legs and so on she was quite like an older teenager on that cusp between innocence and knowingness - very foxy, indeed.

By the way all the stage business with the hens was also wonderful.

[kernelbogey]

I find Janacek's sound-world extraordinary and refreshing. Ever since a friend bought me an LP of the Glagolitic Mass for my twenty-first, I've been fascinated by it. To my ears it's unlike that of any contemporary of his, and comes up fresh and sparkling - remarkable for a centenarian! The pantheism of the Mass is echoed in the music and themes of Vixen, yet the orchestration of the Sinfonietta is present too in the both rhythms and harmonies.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Lovely review, IGI, and agree with all of it. (My ears, though, were not as bothered as yours by orchestra/stage balance.)

I'd be interested in your views about love and sex in this production (see my post no 8). i think you were right to highlight Bevan's sexiness and her ease in moving over the tricky set. In fact in her gestures, rolling around, kicking her legs and so on she was quite like an older teenager on that cusp between innocence and knowingness - very foxy, indeed.

By the way all the stage business with the hens was also wonderful.

Thanks, kb. I think that the interplay of love and sex comes across strongly in all the productions of Vixen I've seen (Pountney's, Bill Bryden's for the ROH, Melly Still's at Glyndebourne and André Engel's for the Paris Opéra). I think Janacek wants to contrast Vixen with Terynka - in the human world, the Schoolmaster is too timid to declare his love for her and ultimately loses her to Harasta; in the world of nature, the animals, well, just get on with it!

My review copy of the Glyndebourne production arrived in the post yesterday, so it seems an apt opportunity to compare and contrast over the next couple of days.

[meles]

One of my favourites. Ravishing. And the end never fails to move me to tears.