Title: Too Forceful for Insipid Tastes
Product review: Not the performance but the work itself is the issue. Critical scruples that fail to recognize the true stature of this opera are grounded in a false, pseudo-sophisticated concept of music and drama. Acording to this mindset, the very virtues of Der Vampyr are cause for complaint. Instead of straining at an aesthetic gnat, the opera delivers a wallop. In some respects Weber's Der Freischutz is a better opera but not by a wide margin. The vampire subject calls for fierce, melodramatic treatment. Marschner expresses that sort of candor from the overture forward. The subject is not dainty. Instead of asking with Eliot's Prufrock, "Do I dare to eat a peach?" Marschner's Ruthven confesses his lust for blood with emphasis on the German word "Lust."
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