In 2014, the world premiere of The Rise of Spinoza by Theo Loevendie received an enthusiastic reception at the NTRZaterdagMatinee. Rightly so, as Markus Stenz steered the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Groot Omroepkoor, vocal soloists and recorder player Erik Bosgraaf aptly through the colourful one-act. The live recording was recently released on CD, allowing the opera to reach an international audience as well.
The now 87-year-old Loevendie has harboured an admiration for Baruch (aka Bento) Spinoza all his life. This actually goes without saying for him because, like him, Spinoza was born and raised in Amsterdam. As a boy, he saw many references to this 17e-century philosopher and scientist. For example, in the Spinozalyceum named after him. Loevendie's (step-)father sold butter, cheese and eggs on the Ten Katemarkt; Spinoza's father traded in Mediterranean products.
Laws of nature
Spinoza's views on God particularly appealed to the young Loevendie. 'As an agnostic, I am wary of religious dogma,' he told me before the premiere in 2014. 'His statement "Deus sive natura" (God or nature) is right up my alley. We are subject to the laws of nature and if you sin against them, things go wrong. You see that happening now too, but for his time these were revolutionary views, no wonder Spinoza was soon listed as an atheist.'
In 1656, the philosopher was expelled from the Jewish community and eventually even banished from Amsterdam by the city council. In the self-written English-language libretto, Loevendie zooms in on this tragic moment in Spinoza's life. He even quotes in full the unusually fierce curse that the Jewish church council pronounced on him. Because of his "abominable heresies" and "icy works", no one was allowed to stay near him or read his writings.
Recorder and countertenor
Loevendie deploys a recorder in addition to vocal soloists, in reference to Jacob van Eyck. As an objective observer, this contemporary of Spinoza weaves the four scenes together. The role of Spinoza is sung by a countertenor. Not so much out of a need to emphasise the contemporary atmosphere, says Loevendie, but to hit Spinoza's character. 'He was completely spiritualised and a countertenor is a bit indeterminate: it is neither man nor woman. That voice type sort of forced itself on me, as it were.' It simultaneously symbolises Spinoza's isolated position.
The Rise of Spinoza opens with dark, mysterious rumbling of the orchestra, from which a contrabass motif emerges. The scene is a marketplace where Spinoza is discussing his views with Rabbi Morteira. Gradually louder cries of market vendors can be heard from afar: 'butter, cheese and eggs' against a drily tinkling recorder. This refers to the cacophony of sounds Loevendie remembers from his youth. A vivid image, even if the singers are too classically trained to hit the raw sound of 'fishwives' and 'peddlers'.
Smuggled in romance
In four scenes, Loevendie takes us through the compact libretto. His treatment of orchestra and chorus is refined and varied. Dramatic moments are underlined with highly dissonant harmonies; when tempers calm, we hear subtle, almost romantic tones. Sung slogans and rhythmic clapping from the choir give the music pace and lightness. The soloists' vocal parts are remarkably melodic and singable.
Spinoza (an adequate Tim Mead) has moving, lyrical lines, especially when his budding love for Clara flares up. Katrien Baerts, with her pure soprano voice, is the ideal Clara. - By the way, their romance is not historical but smuggled into the story by Loevendie for the sake of drama. - As he also added Van Eyck.
Never the twain shall meet
Tenor Marcel Rijans is beautiful as the reflective François van den Enden, Spinoza's atheistic former teacher. Hubert Claessen impressively portrays his tormentor Morteira with his sonorous bass-baritone. Loevendie characterises both with a five-note motif, but in mirror image as it were. When Spinoza's line goes up, the rabbi's dives down and vice versa. This musically illustrates that the two will never be closer.
Erik Bosgraaf glories with virtuoso commentaries and interludes on every conceivable recorder, from the ultra-high garklein to a tenor recorder. In the final scene, he plays a wistful farewell song as Spinoza leaves Amsterdam by ship. With The Rise of Spinoza Loevendie has written an attractive opera that deserves a permanent place in the opera repertoire. The glowing recording on this CD is a nice stepping stone to this end.
English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Français 
See, in my own magazine The Red Lion I schref this about it:
Theo Loevendie's The Rise of Spinoza on CD
Gerard van der Leeuw
I was there when -with an attentively listening composer in the audience- Theo Loevendie's fifth opera, The Rise of Spinoza concertant premiered on 11 October 2014. It took a while, but a recording of this memorable concert was recently released on CD.
'I have no attachment to any religion, did not have to wrestle my way out of a religion as a child and recognise myself he-all in his hollowed-out ideas about God. He is not a man with a beard floating somewhere above the clouds, but a force of nature that makes the stars and the moon move. His statement 'Deus sive natura' (God or nature) is right out of my heart. We are subject to the laws of nature, and if you sin against them, things go wrong. You see that happening now too, but for his time these were revolutionary views, so no wonder Spinoza was soon known as an atheist.'
said the composer, who had long dreamed of an opera about his hero and wrote his own libretto.
It became a short work of over three quarters of an hour in four scenes, of which the third, the cherem, the curse pronounced on Spinoza, he was 23 years old, on 27 July 1656, does constitute the highlight:
malditto seja de dia e malditto seja de noute, malditto seja em seu deytar, e malditto seja em seu leuantar, malditto elle em seu sayr, e malditto elle em seu entrar.... He be wicked by day and by night, he be wicked in his lying down and wicked in his getting up, he be wicked in his going out and wicked in his going in....
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In the first scene, Spinoza and his former teacher Rabbi Morteira meet at a market. Here, Theo Loevendie draws on memories of his childhood. His stepfather had a stall selling butter, cheese and eggs at Amsterdam's Ten Kate market.
The second scene is set in the house of Francois van den Enden, an ex-Jesuit who initially ran a print shop in Amsterdam's Nes but later opened a Latin school on the Singel. Something beautiful blossomed between Spinoza and his eldest daughter Clara, but of course there could be no question of marriage: after all, she was Catholic. And Spinoza was obviously all too familiar with the practices of the Inquisition. Later, Clara married another of her father's pupils, the ana-tome Dirck Kerckring, who did switch to Catho-licism for her. It is worth mentioning here that Kerckring practised his anatomical studies with a microscope crafted by Spinoza! Spinoza was not only a philosopher: he could also grind lenses. It was his livelihood. Indeed, his early death may have been due to prolonged inhalation of glass-grinding dust.
Then the blind bell player-flute composer Jacob van Eyck steps in, who entertains the company with one of the melodies from his Der fluyten lust-hof, the Prince Robberts march. An invention to have Jacob van Eyck's role interpreted not by a singer, but by the recorder player Erik Bosgraaf, who, as Joep Stapel so eloquently writes the CD booklet, 'wanders through the opera like a one-person Greek chorus, commenting on the action'.
The emotional climax of the opera is, of course, the already mentioned exile. But it ends differently than you might expect: Loevendie intervenes and gets the community to stand united behind Spinoza.
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The fourth scene acts as an epilogue. Spinoza tells that he has been asked to take up a professorship in Heidelburg and says goodbye to Clara and Francois Van den Enden and goes by train barge to Rijnsburg. Here he will work quietly on his later masterpieces such as the Tractatus theologico-politicus and the Ethica.
Interesting fact and food for thought: Loevendie provided his protagonists with a kind of Wagnerian 'Leitmotiv': a free 'curve' of a certain number of notes, corresponding to the number of syllables of their name. Loevendie rejects Wagner's romantic aesthetic, but respects his role as 'architect'.
Loevendie eventually wrote his opera in English. He motivates this as follows: 'Spinoza spoke Portuguese at home, but the official language was Spanish; in the streets he spoke Dutch; in the synagogue Hebrew was the language of instruction and his Bible study required knowledge of Latin. Therefore, in the end, I chose English, a language in which I can easily express myself and which has no connection with the situation, which gives a certain dis-tance.' I understand this distance, but also regret it. Also because neither the programme booklet of the premiere nor the booklet accompanying the CD prints the text of the libretto. Sometimes you really have to guess what is being sung. Moreover: subject and opera are so typically Dutch that the English is alienating, in my opinion. It reminds me of a film about Freud, who in that film does not speak Viennese, but American!
About the performance, I can be brief: it is great. Markus Stenz conducts with a steady hand and an eye and ear for all details. The Radio Philharmonic once again proves its world class and the Groot Omroepkoor led by Gijs Leenaars also rises to great heights. Countertenor Tim Mead sings the role of Spinoza in an over-convincing parlando style. The role of Clara van den Enden is sung masterfully by Belgian colouratura soprano Katrien Baerts, that of her father, Francois van der Enden by tenor Marcel Reijans. Bass-baritone Huub Claessens is the hot-tempered rabbi Morteira.
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The roles of the market vendors are nicely screamily interpreted by members of the Groot Omroepkoor. And the role of Jacob van Eyck is in very good hands with Erik Bosgraaf. Just listen to his moving epilogue!
The CD cover with a picture of Loevendie by Annelies van der Vegt
Attaca ATT 2018155 Tt 47:20.
http://www.attacaproductions.com
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