BWW Reviews: American Symphony Blows a Kiss to DER VAMPYR at Carnegie Hall

I've always been a sucker for a good vampire story--and Heinrich Marscher's opera DER VAMPYR fits the bill, though I don't expect it to turn up at the Metropolitan Opera any time soon. The American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein, at Carnegie Hall this past Sunday, provided an exhilarating introduction to this 1827 singspiel, sung in German with dialogue in English.

The title character, Lord Ruthven, nicely sung by baritone Nicholas Pallesen, is a first cousin to Mozart's Don Giovanni, as well as to Lord Byron, who was the official heartthrob of the day. This sex-as-death story is not Bram Stoker's vision of the Victorian era, Dracula, but was inspired by a tale purportedly concocted by John Polidori, Byron's doctor, the same weekend that Mary Wollstonecraft (soon-to-be-Shelley) created Frankenstein. This lakeside getaway was also attended by Byron and Percy Shelley.

Briefly, it tells of a vampire who must kill three virgins to stay alive and the "slave" who does his bidding, Edgar Aubrey (tenor Vale Rideout). When Aubrey falls for the third mark, Malwina (a breakout performance by soprano Tamara Wilson), and saves her, the vampire is doomed.

While Wilson's soaring, lyric voice nearly blew everyone else off the stage, soprano Jennifer Tiller certainly held her own, as Emmy, another of the vampire's marks. The Collegiate Chorale Singers and soloists, under James Bagwell, made fine contributions throughout the opera and the enthusiastic cast was rounded out by soprano Alison Buchanan, bass-baritones Justin Hopkins and Carsten Wittmoser, and tenor Glenn Seven Allen.

The opera was written during the period between Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner, with a lush, romantic score, good solos and some charming ensembles. (Indeed, one can hear echoes of Weber's OBERON and look ahead to THE FLYING DUTCHMAN.) It even boasts part of an aria by Richard Wagner.

Early in his career, Wagner was conducting a performance of the opera in which his brother, singing Aubrey, complained about the effectiveness of an aria, "Wie ein schoener Fruehlingsmorgen." The composer replaced the ending with an allegro of his own, which was well received in its time but not always performed subsequently. Botstein, who is known for his adventurous programming as well as for being a well-regarded music historian, chose to incorporate it into this rare performance of a worthy work that should be better known in this age of The Twilight Saga and True Blood.

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