Publications
Interview with This Week In Germany
(This interview was published in This Week In Germany on March 18, 2005.)
Photo courtesy Gunter Kloetzer, "Germans in America." |
Jasmin B. Cowin, a trained German harpist, studied at the University of Karlsruhe and received a Fulbright scholarship to come to the United States for further music studies. She received her Masters in Teaching and her Doctorate in Education from Columbia University.
Cowin has been instrumental in uniting the fields of music and literature to develop groundbreaking multi-cultural programs for inner city youth. These days, Ms. Cowin is on the faculty of Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, where she teaches the history of German opera.
TWIG: What new trends have characterized German opera in the last decade?
Jasmin B. Cowin: I would say that in Germany, the trend is to produce very modern stagings, like the production of Wagner's "Ring" in Bayreuth. That of course has advantages and disadvantages. There are many minimalist sets these days. The composer's stage directions aren't necessarily followed any more — most of the time they try to translate the works to be relevant today. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't work so well. For example, with Weber's "Der Freischuetz," it was really important the audience be frightened, that you sense the demons, that you hear the fluttering of the bat's wings. In such instances, it doesn't always fit with the piece to do a modern adaptation. But it's always good to bring new ideas to opera.
TWIG: Are there some operas that are more popular than others on German stages?
Cowin: Definitely the "Zauberfloete" is really popular, as is Beethoven's "Fidelio," but also a lot of Italian operas, such as "La Bohéme." Operettas are also very popular. I think that German opera houses also have to pay attention to what brings in the biggest audiences. But they also make every effort to experiment with new works.
TWIG: How popular do you think German opera is in the United States?
Cowin: Mozart is monstrously popular. Like the "Zauberfloete" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. German romantic operas aren't quite as popular but that also might have to do with there being little understanding for those kinds of operas these days. It's very easy to listen to an Italian bel canto opera, for example. Newer operas such as "Lulu" and "Woyzeck," which is an adaptation of a play fragment by Georg Buechner, are also well-embraced. But nothing sells like "Die Zauberfloete." With Schoenberg… well, that doesn't happen too often. But I think it also has something to do with people not being familiar with the material.
TWIG: Berlin has three different opera houses — that's the same number that they have in Milan. But Berlin's houses live off of the support of the state. Is there a public large enough to support that many opera houses in one city?
Cowin: I think that if each of those houses — the Deutsche Oper, the Komische Oper and the Staatsoper — would develop a specialization that makes them unique it would work better, that's exactly how they did it in way back when in Vienna, when there were many competing houses. For example, if one would concentrate on only German operas, or one would stage only operettas, or Italian works, or if only one staged grand operas. If you could couple that with guest shows from visiting opera houses, I think that the whole three-opera-house system would work a lot better. There is an audience there. In Baden-Baden, for example, there was no opera. But the citizens got together and decided that they wanted one, and they brought that idea to life. I also think there would be a greater audience if parents would take their children to the opera with them, or if there were special matinees for performances for kids. If they don't go as young people, they're not going to go as adults.
TWIG: A film version of Bizet's opera "Carmen" just won the highest prize at the Berlinale film festival. Do you believe that it is time to attract a larger audience for opera through film?
Cowin: Yes. I actually use a lot of film versions of operas in my courses. There's a good film version of "Don Giovanni," for example. It was filmed in Italy with gorgeous sets. Some of these film versions are just wonderful, and the sound is sometimes even better than in the theater because it is perfected in the film studios. And I'm sure that Wagner, if he had lived in our time, would have made film versions of his operas. He experimented with everything — I don't think he would have said no to that.
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