NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Finally recovered from a string of illness, tenor Jonas Kaufmann rose from one of 62 neatly ordered hospital beds at the Park Avenue Armory to perform a collection of Schubert songs in 鈥淒oppleganger.鈥�
For 80 solid minutes, the spotlight shone on Kaufmann, whose voice was in fine form as he portrayed a wounded World War I soldier. Surrounded by beds sat Helmut Deutsch鈥檚 Steinway in director Claus Guth鈥檚 New York debut.
After a string of cancellations, Kaufmann said in early July he had a multi-drug resistant germ infection that caused congested lungs. He was prescribed a high dosage of antibiotics, recuperated at his home in Salzburg, Austria, and returned for performances last month in Australia and Italy.
鈥淢y physical strength is maybe at 98% or something, but almost there,鈥� he said before the New York run that began last week and ends Friday. 鈥淭he side effects of the antibiotics were really, really strong. I had lots of problems with the joints and muscles and really aching.鈥�
The infection came after Kaufmann said he had his fourth bout of COVID-19.
Kaufmann has known Guth since they both attended Munich鈥檚 Hochschule f眉r Musik und Theatre. Guth directed Kaufmann in Schubert鈥檚 鈥淔ierrabras鈥� at the Zurich Opera in 2002 and staged Schubert鈥檚 unfinished 鈥淟azarus鈥� at Austria鈥檚 Theatre an der Wien in 2013.
Pierre Audi, the armory鈥檚 artistic director since 2015, asked Guth to create a project with Kaufmann. Working with designer Michael Levine, Guth scheduled 鈥淒oppleganger鈥� for October 2020 only for the coronavirus pandemic to force a postponement.
鈥淪chubert is like a friend of mine in the heart since very early,鈥� Guth said. 鈥淭his kind of Schubert bell was ringing again.鈥� 鈥淒oppelganger鈥� presented challenges with performing in a 100-meter long space, but he was attracted to 鈥渢he theme of loneliness and being lost in the world and not being able to hook to the things he鈥檚 actually desiring.鈥�
Schubert鈥檚 mournful final songs, to texts by Ludwig Rellstab and Heinrich Heine, were published after the composer鈥檚 death in 1828.
Performing before an audience of about 1,200, fellow soldiers and six nurses with IV poles scurried across the 170-by-70-foot rectangle formed by the beds. The props are moved, leaves fall and projections by rocafilm transform the set into a giant ward and battle trenches. Deutsch played a Schubert sonata portion between the Rellstab and Heine texts.
Red light signified the splattered blood at the end of 鈥淒as Fischerm盲dchen (The Fisher Girls).鈥� Kaufmann was carried on a bed by six pallbearers in a funeral procession in 鈥淎m Meer (By the Sea),鈥� followed by a stroll onto the Lexington Ave. sidewalk as he was silhouetted by lighting designer Urs Sch枚nebaum with a brilliant 18k Ari Fresnel fixture in 鈥淒ie Stadt (The City).鈥� Kaufmann fittingly returned with a double in the concluding number, 鈥淒er Doppelg盲nger.鈥�
The armory, a landmark building dedicated in 1880 and turned over to a conservancy in 2006, presents ambitious projects. David Pountney鈥檚 2008 production of Bernd Alois Zimmermann鈥檚 鈥淒ie Soldaten鈥� included a 974-seat bleacher containing the over a football field-length runway. Heiner Goebbels鈥� 2017 staging of Louis Andriessen鈥檚 鈥淒e Materie (Matter)鈥� .
鈥淭hose things unfortunately will never happen again in New York,鈥� Audi said. 鈥淭he money that used to be there in those years is not there anymore. So at best we can do something with one singer and a piano. But to do a whole opera with a moving orchestra and chorus and sheep on stage, I don鈥檛 think that that鈥檚 ever going to come back.鈥�
Given the size of the venue, Kaufmann was miked. Schubert鈥檚 music was spliced with Mathis Nitschke鈥檚 original composition that included electronics.
Kaufmann鈥檚 concerts took place just after the release of his latest Sony Classical recording, 鈥淭he Sound of Movies.鈥� His appearance was part of an armory schedule of 80-130 events annually, including drama and dance.
鈥淲e had sort of built up a beautiful line in our programing of working with major directors in this space where there was no competition in New York for that to happen with theater,鈥� Audi said. 鈥淲e have to rethink a little bit of programing. We won鈥檛 be able to risk on long runs of plays. That鈥檚 where the risk-taking is difficult because we can鈥檛 rely on the audience, and even a good review in The New York Times today does not work the way it did four years ago, five years ago.
鈥淭he machine is broken and it needs to slowly repair itself.鈥�
Ronald Blum, The Associated Press
