Pass that peace pipe!
All right, class. Take a careful look at the costume sketch below. It’s for a major character in a standard repertory opera. (In other words, nobody is doing Natoma.) Look carefully at the sketch, and when you think you know who the character is, scroll down to find out the answer.
Think you know who this character is? All right then, scroll down the page….
keep scrolling….
scroll yet some more…
and once again…
The character depicted is . . . Erda in Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Yes, that right, the Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner. It’s a new production of the tetralogy for Washington National Opera, directed by Francesca Zambello. According to a press release from the WNO, this is to be an “American Ring,” a concept explicated by Zambello thus: “the designers and I are using American history, mythology, iconography, and landscape to set the operas. We are creating a world in some ways familiar to our audience but also one that will feel very mythic as we look to our country’s rich imagery.”
Wotan (Robert Hale) is depicted in another of designer Michael Yeargan’s sketches in a dapper frock coat, a la Horace Tabor. And so, you are surely asking yourself, how do the Niblelungs fit into this scheme. La Cieca is glad you asked.
OH NO THEY DIDN’T! Das Rheingold opens in March, and we’ll see how this goes from there.
Oops
My,
“…the ‘in’ crowd of the snobbish Wagnerian world….”
should have read:
“…the ‘in’ crowd of the snobbish and fashionable Wagnerian world….”
ACD
oh, how i hate them, those counter-progressive bayreuthian lemming-snobs!
cheers, acd, to wagner keeping us on edge.
I join you in your toast to Herr Wagner.
Pax.
ACD
I’ve been very entertained by this discussion (battle, perhaps?) between jfl and acd. I love hearing what other people have to share. I would like to respond to jfl’s response to my last entry.
I will firstly admit that I do not know the Chereau production of Der Ring. I know very little about productions (other than the ones at the Met) in general. As a singer, I guess my primary concern has always been with the composer and the ‘interpretation’ of his music by other musicians rather than the interpretation of the story and visual designs – unless, of course, I’m in the production – then I have to pay attention!!
I don’t lack interest in this field, but find that my time is better spent studying the music rather than directors and producers – for me personally – I’m not saying that other people’s times would be better spent in the same way – I think it’s wonderful that there are so many people who DO give a rat’s ass about other facets of the opera industry other than just what they see and hear.
At any rate, what I said before about performing a piece of music as though the composer was present…every composer, obviously, had his own personality and his own musical personality. Each composer grew up in a different world than the next and was taught music differently, at different ages, by different people who had different approaches and tastes.
For example, to truly understand how Mozart viewed the performance of music – one must familiarize themselves with his OWN writings on the subject – on other people’s music and on his own as well as his thoughts about conductors and singers and instrumentalists! One must also become aquainted with his fathers book on Violin playing – a very valuable book of mid-18th century performance practices…to understand the philosophies of Quantz and Padre Martini and J.C. Bach and Haydn who all had big influences on him and his musical education. Then one must explore the musical tastes and trends that developed through his compositional career – either started by him, or trends that he incorporated into his music (Mannheim, Paris, Milan, Vienna). THEN one has a greater understanding of how to successfully study and perform a work of his. As a vocalist, it is important for me to take the time to understand the proper way to read his ornamentations and discover ways to tasteful ornament his music in varitions and cadenze and nachschlagen.
Another example, if one is to learn Schubert, one MUST be well aquainted with Beethoven as Schubert modeled so much of himself after his idol.
The most functional and practical reason for taking the time to study these sorts of things is to know HOW to READ the little ink blots on the page set down by the composer (and of course, to use an honorable and well-constructed edition where the editor hasn’t changed or added things to his own liking!). a Marcato accent in Stravinsky is VERY different from one in Strauss…and Puccini’s “sostenuto” means something very different in Verdi; and “ritenuto” and “calando” mean very different things to different styles and different time periods and different composers; and descending eigth-notes in Brahms are actually meant to be ’swung’ instead of being exactly in time…but most people don’t KNOW that because most people (yes, even the “GREAT” conductors of the 20th century) rarely have taken the time to learn and understand it.
How does all of this relate to Wagner and producing one of his operas? Well, like I mentioned earlier, a valuable source of information is in the conversation he had with Rossini in 1860. Moreover, Wagner released many publications throughout his life and kept very detailed diaries that often had alot to do with music as they did with his personal life and his political life. Understanding the other components of his life outside of his music help define the man and sometimes help us to understand what he was feeling when he was writing a given passage. It is astonishing, particularly, in Beethoven when one looks at his musical output from a political and personal point of view – his inspirations for the Eroica and the 5th symphonies, for example. Also, there is a great legacy of documentation provided by various musicians and individuals who all encountered and worked with Wagner throughout his life and they have some astonishing pieces of knowledge to share about his genius, the way he worked, the way he ran his operas and his life!! Plenty of composers who were his contemporaries left memoirs describing the impacts his music made on them – Tchaikovsky had great respect for him, but hated his operatic subjects and hated the endlessness of his harmonic writing – “everlasting cadences that never resolve!” – also, Tchaikovsy attended the premiere of the complete Ring Cycle. His words on the subject are very intruiging.
I’m going on about this because I think these are very important things for musical people (yes, including intelligent, interested listeners) to know and understand – perhaps non-musician’s can gain a greater appreciation for their favorite pieces and composers by investigating these types of resources.
Max Rudolf, whom I have always greatly admired and I am a descendant of his teachings…he claimed that the composers were giants and we are but dwarves who must serve them and respect them, for without them, we would have nothing for our careers as performers, conductors, or audience members. That is why I think it is imperative for anyone, a musician or a director or other to take a more invested interest in studying these great men and finding ways to present their masterpieces in such ways as though, were they to be standing present, they would be smiling and enjoying the performance – not rolling over in their graves!!
A last example (since it just came to me) of how ‘interpretation’ differs between composers…Tchaikovsky was a very indecisive composer, he would write and make notations, but he was never (until late in his life) in much of a position to give directions to other people exactly how he heard his own music in his head – he was deathly afraid of conducting and would have such violent nervous attacks all through his life everytime he stepped in front of an orchestra. But Tchaikovsky was also such an emotional and passive person, he was able to appreciate musicians who would ‘bring new meaning into his music’ through their individuality. He commented to Hans von Bulow at a performance of his piano concerto “You have brought things out in my music that I never knew existed!”
But were a performer to do something of that nature in front of Beethoven or Strauss…you’d be chastized and thrown out of his presence!! Beethoven, for all his deafness, knew when a person wasn’t playing his music the way he INTENDED it to be played. The man was SO specific in his notational details (much like Wagner and Mahler and Strauss) that to disobey them is a sin against God who gave this man a gift far greater than most – to create the most passionate, worldly, intense, intimate music and never be able to hear a note of it!!! Yes, that was a bit much, but it really is THAT serious! at least, it is, if one even cares.
There is a famous story about Strauss while conducting the rehearsals for the premiere of “Ein Heldenleben.” The opening passage is extremely difficult for all horn players – and the principle horn stood up and said “Maestro Strauss, you may be able to play this passage perfectly on the piano, but it is impossible to play on the horn!” and Strauss calmly turned to him and said “No, you’re wrong. I can’t play it on the piano.”
So, to bring this ALL back to Wagner and producing his operas…we know from various resources, Wagner was his own librettist, composer, designer, director. To want to direct and produce one of his operas in the theatre and to NOT take him and his legacy and his testaments seriously, with respect, and with love – I think it’s sinful and cowardly. But, that’s my take on it. Like I said, a truly creative and inventive director will take the tools that Wagner has left us and use them in a way to heighten and praise his work, not demolish it.
As for Chereau, I don’t know if he built upon Wagner’s foundation or if he destroyed it – I have not seen the production and no nothing more about it than what has been discussed of it in this forum – what I do know is that taken the Nibelungen mythology out of the Nibelungen cycle is a travesty and it says to me, that the person who is making it (and I mean them no disrespect) obviously doesn’t have much of an interest in Wagner and is intent only on doing something to expand their name, make publicity for themselves and the opera company and singers in the production, to do something out of the ordinary just for the sake of doing something that isn’t ‘traditonal’ and perhaps (I can’t say for sure because I don’t know the person and I don’t know what kind of work is going into the production), the individual might just be too lazy to worry about conveying to audiences around the world Wagner’s message and Wagner’s genius.
My last thought…Jfl, even though you may disagree with much of what I have just said…I do find your passion for the Chereau production refreshing and I have alot of respect for you having alot of knowledge to support yourself. May I ask, is that a photo of you?
il tenore:
thanks for those (many) words. i agree that if we know every detail about a composer, his ideas and his predecessor’s ideas, it can only add… especially if that knowledge liberates rather than confines.
in opera, i understand that singers may think of the music as the most important element – but as a critic i just think complete mastery of the music to be the sine qua non. in the end i demand both. otherwise a concert-opera would do… costumes and sets don’t make up for lack of acting.
if you want to understand why i am passionate about the chereau ring (despite fundamental economic misgivings – fortunately that part of the message does not much come through now, in 2005: this ring has gotten much better with age, not worse), just watch RHEINGOLD. borrow it, buy it, steal it. forget the controversy about it all and see if you can enjoy it. it would be difficult for me to understand that someone could not be impressed beyond believe by heinz zednik’s loge, for starters.
yes, i disagree with your idea that the (or certain ones) composer is necessarily sacrosant and i disagree with the idea that those who try to do new and radical things in opera do so “obviously” out of lack of respect, knowledge, or interest in their subject but instead only out of an interest in their own propagation. there are some black sheep, i am sure… but i don’t think there are even that many (you simply can’t stay in that business if that’s all you do/can); and i am sure there are some that are too focused on visual elements etc. – but most of them are extremely concerned with their subject, very knowledgable about it and want to make the work communicate anew or in better ways or in ways that we can perceive or have not thought of before. i’ll be the first one to admit that that often fails. in fact, i think if one out of three such performances succeeds, it is worth sitting through the rest. that is, in part, because i think that not trying to tease opera into our 21st ct. lifes (i.e. showing a Tosca as originally staged – the only thing added being the absence of any fresh idea in 100 years) is necessary failure.
yes, that is a picture of me… although it dates back to the last millenium.
jfl
WNO Rheingold reviewed and found to be a solid, enjoyable affair with plenty promise. Welcome out West here on our East coast, the City of Satan: Washington.
Preview of WNO’s Rheinold