‘Maren of Vardø’ by Vulcan Lyric

These brutal trials have sometimes been attributed to the 17th-century belief that the prince of darkness dwelled in the northern regions. Clergymen and philosophers alike claimed that evil and sorcery originated in the far north, where bitterly cold winds howled with a terrible roar. The English abandoned attempts to find a northeastern sea route to China after their encounters with packed ice and severe cold. Norway, wrote the Scottish poet John Barclay, “is a detestable nation where many are renowned for their sorcery.”

Records of the witch trials were written in the hand of the chief magistrate, and that manuscript is in Copenhagen's Royal Library.

That chronicle inspired the opera, Maren of Vardø: Satan’s Bride, which had its world premiere August 30 at the Prince Theater in Philadelphia. Vulcan Lyric, formerly Center City Opera Theatre, commissioned the piece from composer Jeff Myers. His music sets an appropriately grim mood, with the help of strong voices, particularly Paul Corujo's rich baritone, impressively projected as Satan. As Maren, Katherine Bell too revealed a lovely lyric voice; she also met the challenge of portraying an adolescent in Act I and an elderly woman in the finale. Yet the dramatization of such horrifyingly grotesque events — not to mention a title that refers to “Satan’s Bride”— is disappointingly tame.

Nonsexual favor

Instead of a lurid depiction of young girls ravished by a sinister devil, this production offers a heroine who willingly walks down a flight of steps, crosses a river, and meets a languid Satan on a peaceful shore. Colorful projections suggest the raging stream but, after that, the scene is surprisingly tranquil.

The devil wears suitably long black hair and appears naked to the waist, but otherwise he barely resembles his image as he was described by the villagers of Vardø, not to mention his image in contemporary comic books or movies. At one point he sings, “Do you want to touch me?” but it’s a nonsexual request. When Maren’s girlfriends arrive, one of them kisses Satan, but that’s as much sensuality as you’ll see in this show.

Maren’s real-life mother described a “great water” that boiled when Satan blew fire through a horn of iron, while onlookers cried like cats. Yet librettist Royce Vavrek seems to bend over backward to shelter us from orgiastic images, aside from a bit of dancing and drinking.

Female voice problem

The opera’s first half ends with Maren’s friends burned at the stake. The final act, set 30 years later, reveals a frail Maren who looks much older than her 40-some years. She ventures down below and is shocked to find that the three girls she betrayed, having been granted eternal life in hell, are about to marry Satan. Why, you wonder, did he wait so long? And what a coincidence that Maren arrives on their wedding day! Satan spurns Maren and sends her back “up,” sentencing her to an unpleasant future in heaven.

The 12-piece orchestra, led by Andrew Kurtz, presented a score of varied dramatic effects — sometimes propulsive, other times atmospheric, making especially fine use of the woodwinds. The score included a haunting closing duet in which the young Maren harmonized with the mature Maren.

Marcelle McGuirk, Robyn Muse, and Emily Byrne played Maren’s three girlfriends. Enunciation often is a problem with female voices in an upper register, and that was true again here. Even though they sang in English, it was hard to make out all their words. Projected titles would have helped.