Judgment at Nuremberg
Well, this is what La Cieca gathers from Katharina Wagner‘s production of Die Meistersinger (without, of course, having had the benefit of actually seeing it!)
KW’s basic idea is that Great-grandfather Richard presented an overly optimistic view of the dramatic action of the opera. Walther is taught by Hans Sachs to moderate his radical musical ideas by adopting traditional forms; that way his music can be understood by his audience. KW sees this compromise as a sellout, so she depicts the climactic singing contest satirically, as an “American Idol” hypefest.
Walther basically grows out of his rebellious phase (e.g., splashing white paint all over the church in Act 1) and becomes just another bourgeois mastersinger. Sachs is played as an aging hippie type who also cleans up his act for the sake of popularity and respectability.
Meanwhile, Beckmesser the pedantic marker is transformed radically by the experience of the Act 2 riot. Depending on your point of view, he is either driven mad or else he has a profound spiritual awakening. The text of Walther’s song that he filches for the competion is on a ripped-up sheet of paper, so his performance at the contest is nonsensical and the crowds laughs at him. And yet to him the song is the purest, most genuine music he has ever created — but nobody else will ever be able to appreciate it. In a way he has become the radical artist that Walther aspired to be.
[La Cieca's earlier remark about Beckmesser appearing nude in Act 3 was mistaken; she apologizes.]
Now, it is safe to say that this is probably not the meaning Wagner had in mind when he wrote Meistersinger, and it is even a reasonable bet that this meaning is at best extremely difficult to convey through this particular text and music. Now, La Cieca doesn’t know much about these things, but as she understand its, part of the current Regie philosophy is that a canonical work like Meistersinger is so utterly familiar to the audience that there is no point in performing it “straight,” that you have to try to find something new to say through the work. Whether you believe in this philosophy or not (your doyenne is on the fence), you can perhaps agree that it is meant to be a serious way of approaching the work, not a frivolous one.
At present, none of the ususal suspects (ARD, ZDF, arte, 3sat) seems to plan a broadcast. Unfortunately, I also missed the radio broadcast on Wednesday and Operacast does not list any repeats yet.
However, I found some other interesting stuff. 3sat will broadcast tonight a recent Tannhäuser from Zürich (with Peter Seiffert as the lead) and next Saturday a complete Ring from Stuttgart. Classica brings a repeat from a 1984 Bayreuth Meistersinger performance.
Dear Cieca,
if you are in Bayreuth so are so close to me at the moment, that I am starting to feel the urge of searching you on the streets of the Green Hill.
As far as I know, in general there is no telecast of new productions and if there are, they are filmed not during the Festival but before or after it. That means that most of Bayreuth DVDs have been recorded in the Festspielhaus without audience and allowing themselves to make some little cuts.
The Tannhauser from Zurich is just ok, I prefer the Munich one under Mehta.
As for the Stuttgart Ring I cannot say anything than it still hurts my eyes…
Now at the very end of the 1984 Bayreuth “Meistersinger” you can watch Wolfgang Wagner onstage accompanying Hans Sachs (a touching performance by Bernd Weikl). Its a nice production, I strongly recommend it.
Totally unrelated…
Just a heads-up, Dessay’s complete recording of La Sonnambula will be released in September. What glee!
That amazing preview of her Sonnambula at Volpe’s gala of Amina’s final scene was in a word, well, two words: jaw-dropping.
I can hardly wait. And you know, September marks the 30th death anniversary of La Divina. EMI is releasing a 70-CD set tribute, to be released in September, as well.
Imagine that.
Thank you, La Cieca, for that summary of Katharina’s konzept. I’m all for bringing something refreshing to the classics. And I don’t think that the sets and costumes have to always be realistic and traditional and of the period of the piece. I have seen a number productions that took a symbolic, “timeless” approach to a classic and with much success. However, I do object strongly to a director who willfully tries to go against the music and libretto because of an overwhelming need to present his/her own ideas. If Katharina doesn’t think that her great-grandfather got it right with Meistersinger, then she should bloody well stay away from it, rather than impose an “ironic” interpretation on the work. She should stage works that she feels work as the composer intended.
Eeek.
I certainly don’t think operas always have to be staged in a traditional, “realistic” manner with painted diorama sets and period costumes. There’s always more than one way to skin a cat, and controversy can be beneficial. There are worse things in the world to argue about than the aesthetics of Wagner’s operas. Why, that’s downright sophisticated! More, please!
But on the other hand, directors have a responsibility to base their vision of the opera on the opera itself. If they have so little faith in the work (and, it must be said, in their audience) that they have to twist and manipulate things in a vain attempt to make it “relevant,” then I would humbly suggest they direct something else — preferably they would write a libretto and find a composer and direct an opera that says what they want it so say, rather than hijacking someone else’s masterpiece and subverting it to their own agenda. If they’re not inspired by the opera at hand, they really ought to move on.
Wagner’s operas are almost limitlessly rich with interpretive possibility, so sirens and flashing lights should go off anytime someone says they are trying to find modern relevance. Good grief.
Meistersinger is a particularly interesting and relevant work. It is not, as some people seem to think, a hokey and schlocky paean to a romanticized bygone era that never was. It’s actually Wagner’s vision of the ideal society of the future, a socially progressive vision of a sustainable, self-governing community where everyone has a meaningful role to play. It’s the kind of place where people are accorded authority by virtue of their wisdom and talent, not their wealth, the kind of town that considers a song contest a worthy holiday, i.e., they value art. There’s no central government and no corporations, merely guild associations of skilled tradespeople. There are truly fascinating issues in Meistersinger that can be squarely leveled as sharp criticisms of our modern exploitative, consumerist corporatocracy — points that can be made simply by presenting the opera faithfully, if pointedly.
How sad that apparently Ms. Wagner feels that this noble, pensive and sentimental ode to a better way of living needs to be distorted almost beyond recognition in order to be relevant for the modern age.