Which are your favourite recordings for this Wagner opera and why? I have listened to the Kubelik recording on Arts Archive, and for me it's the greatest Wagner recording I have heard so far (I'm not a big Wagner fan, though). The lyricism Kubelik brings out from the score is just what I look for, and the singers Thomas Stewart (Sachs), Janowitz (Eva), Sandor Konya (Walther) and Fassbaender (Magdalene) are top-notch. I also wonder if it's the work itself or the recording that is so great. I have listened to the Ring and part of Tristan earlier.
(http://www.jpc.de/image/w600/front/0/0600554302027.jpg)
And how is the Kempe recording? I'm generally a Kempe fan so this is interesting. His new Ring on Testament could maybe tempt me into buying my first complete Ring, but first I would like to see some reviews.
(http://i16.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/f1/cf/1087_1.JPG)
rubio, You happen to have hit on two of the best. The Kubelik is my own favourite. I discovered it by accident years ago in a second hand shop. How anyone could have parted with it is beyond me. It was recorded with the idea of issuing it under the DGG label. However, it was ultimately witheld as Deitrich Fischer-Dieskau signaled his desire to record the part of Sachs. The result was the Jochum version and Kubelik's recording languished in the vaults, as commercially the company could not issue the opera twice in a short period. Rumour suggests DFD insisted the recording should not be issued. I have no idea whether this is true. However, such a splendid performance did lie unlistened to for a long time while a lesser recording was aired.
I am not now clear whether the Kubelik was recorded live, but it was certainly recorded at least an act at a time, so you get the best of the reality of a live performance without the considerable drawback of stage noise that often occurs in this opera.
You have pointed out the excellence of the singers, it is pretty much a dream cast. Thomas Stewart was under appreciated, his is both a beautiful voice and a detailed portrail of the role.
Kubelik manages a warmth and a natural pacing plus detail and he supports the singers beautifully, sticks to them like glue. It is as good as it gets in my opinion.
The Kempe is much admired, Grummer especially is in beautiful voice. Kempe is similar in approach to Kubelik, lyrical, warm, no mauling of tempi. It is an excellent set, the sound is good and I would recommend it.
I have two Karajan recordings, one live from Bayreuth with all the galumphing stage noise, it has lots going for it including a very good cast, but the sound is dry and I can live without the set. It celebrates the opening of the opera house for staged opera after the war. Schwartzkopf is probably the greatest singing asset and Karajan never wallows. He however recorded the piece much later with the Dresden forces and that venerable orchestra provides the most beautiful playing imaginable. The singers Karajan chose are on the young side, Donath perhaps a little lightweight; but the whole performance has a glow to it a flow to it and it makes for a very satisfying listen.
I eventually got rid of the Jochum, there was nothing in it that was not better elsewhere, though I did very much enjoy DFD, however, ultimately, it is the wrong voice for Sachs; not enough natural weight, also the Eva was voiced by a curdled singer and was a considerable drawback.
Rest assured, you have the best.
Mike
Regarding the fine Kubelik, the mystery surrounding its origins has sparked intense speculation since it first burst on the scene in the early '90's.
We had a discussion on the subject awhile back and since it's still a fascinating tale I repost the discussion (http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,1499.msg56219.html#msg56219) for the benefit of any new members who might be interested.
Since the discussion is rather lengthy, the short of it is, even with the passage of time little is known as to just how such a fine recording came to be 'withheld'. About the only thing that is confirmed is that it was originally a Bavarian Radio production made to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the premiere of the work. Bavarian Radio then approached DG about releasing it commercially but were turned down. After that, things get...interesting...
Thanks for that.....I had forgotten the basic circumstances.
Mike
My favorite version is the one conducted by Kubelik, with very good soloists (Konya, Janowitz, Fassbänder and even Thomas Stewart), and a splendid direction, full of life and in some moments a beautiful poetry.
In second place, perhaps Jochum, but Placido Domingo is never a credible Walther.
Karajan in Dresde never convinced me. Slow, heavy, it seems he is conducting an oratorio. And Theo Adam has the same conception.
The old version of Furtwängler (I had it on LP, but not complete), has a fabulous Walther, the great Max Lorenz, a terrible sound and a mediocre Sachs (Prohaska)
I never heard the Jochum version of 1949, with Hotter.
The excerpts of Sachs role by Friedrich Schorr are very, very impressive.
Quote from: knight on May 25, 2008, 07:56:02 AM
rubio, You happen to have hit on two of the best. The Kubelik is my own favourite. I discovered it by accident years ago in a second hand shop. How anyone could have parted with it is beyond me. It was recorded with the idea of issuing it under the DGG label. However, it was ultimately witheld as Deitrich Fischer-Dieskau signaled his desire to record the part of Sachs. The result was the Jochum version and Kubelik's recording languished in the vaults, as commercially the company could not issue the opera twice in a short period. Rumour suggests DFD insisted the recording should not be issued. I have no idea whether this is true. However, such a splendid performance did lie unlistened to for a long time while a lesser recording was aired.
I am not now clear whether the Kubelik was recorded live, but it was certainly recorded at least an act at a time, so you get the best of the reality of a live performance without the considerable drawback of stage noise that often occurs in this opera.
You have pointed out the excellence of the singers, it is pretty much a dream cast. Thomas Stewart was under appreciated, his is both a beautiful voice and a detailed portrail of the role.
Kubelik manages a warmth and a natural pacing plus detail and he supports the singers beautifully, sticks to them like glue. It is as good as it gets in my opinion.
The Kempe is much admired, Grummer especially is in beautiful voice. Kempe is similar in approach to Kubelik, lyrical, warm, no mauling of tempi. It is an excellent set, the sound is good and I would recommend it.
I have two Karajan recordings, one live from Bayreuth with all the galumphing stage noise, it has lots going for it including a very good cast, but the sound is dry and I can live without the set. It celebrates the opening of the opera house for staged opera after the war. Schwartzkopf is probably the greatest singing asset and Karajan never wallows. He however recorded the piece much later with the Dresden forces and that venerable orchestra provides the most beautiful playing imaginable. The singers Karajan chose are on the young side, Donath perhaps a little lightweight; but the whole performance has a glow to it a flow to it and it makes for a very satisfying listen.
I eventually got rid of the Jochum, there was nothing in it that was not better elsewhere, though I did very much enjoy DFD, however, ultimately, it is the wrong voice for Sachs; not enough natural weight, also the Eva was voiced by a curdled singer and was a considerable drawback.
Rest assured, you have the best.
Mike
Thank you very much for your detailed comments, Mike!
Quote from: val on May 26, 2008, 01:13:22 AM
Karajan in Dresden never convinced me. Slow, heavy, it seems he is conducting an oratorio. And Theo Adam has the same conception.
Oh no! What's wrong with me! I just can't seem to reach an agreement with my Wagnerian friends and colleagues here on GMG.
PSmith08 and I prefer different Tristan und Isolde recordings.
Sarge and I prefer different Ring Cycles and now this post from
Val concerning the Karajan Die Meistersinger in Dresden on EMI. I love that Karajan recording of Die Meistersinger. Oh what am I to do :-\? what am I to do :(? I feel so alone in my opinions sometimes :'(....(sigh).......
Well at least we can all agree that we like Wagner's music dramas.
marvin
Quote from: marvinbrown on May 26, 2008, 02:28:53 PM
Oh no! What's wrong with me! I just can't seem to reach an agreement with my Wagnerian friends and colleagues here on GMG. PSmith08 and I prefer different Tristan und Isolde recordings. Sarge and I prefer different Ring Cycles and now this post from Val concerning the Karajan Die Meistersinger in Dresden on EMI. I love that Karajan recording of Die Meistersinger. Oh what am I to do :-\? what am I to do :(? I feel so alone in my opinions sometimes :'(....(sigh).......
Well at least we can all agree that we like Wagner's music dramas.
marvin
Marvin, I feel your pain, man. I'm the only person on earth who loves Klemperer's Mahler 7 ;D
Concerning
Meistersinger: Kubelik's my favorite too but the Karajans come in second and third.
Sarge
Quote from: marvinbrown on May 26, 2008, 02:28:53 PM
Oh no! What's wrong with me! I just can't seem to reach an agreement with my Wagnerian friends and colleagues here on GMG. PSmith08 and I prefer different Tristan und Isolde recordings. Sarge and I prefer different Ring Cycles and now this post from Val concerning the Karajan Die Meistersinger in Dresden on EMI. I love that Karajan recording of Die Meistersinger. Oh what am I to do :-\? what am I to do :(? I feel so alone in my opinions sometimes :'(....(sigh).......
Well at least we can all agree that we like Wagner's music dramas.
marvin
Well, don't feel too bad. I tend to prefer oddball choices out of left field. For example, I am really keen on Furtwängler's
Meistersinger from Bayreuth, 1943. I know it has some substantial
lacunae and the sound is awful (with some of the vocalists not far behind), but there is a heft and a shine to the recording - dimly seen, though clearly there - that no one else has matched. There is a fundamental dignity to Furtwängler's reading, even though the score is light-hearted much of the time, that matches the fundamental truths of the score.
After Furtwängler, I am partial to Fritz Reiner's 1955 Vienna recording on Orfeo, from the reopening of the Staatsoper. It has all of Reiner's trademark precision with a band that knows how to make some beautiful noise. I don't think it has quite the same internal self-awareness and dignity of the Furtwängler set, but it is an idiomatic and powerful account marking a very special occasion.
Of the 'modern' sets, I prefer Barenboim's Bayreuth set. Only then does Karajan enter the equation. His set is beautifully played and reasonably sung (especially Peter Schreier's David), but it hasn't really ever settled as well as Furtwängler or Reiner for me.
I also love this DVD recording, I just felt like mentioning it:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KS2QACPPL._SS500_.jpg)
marvin
It appears that there is a "truth that must not be uttered" within this thread, so here goes:
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is not a particularly funny comedy, it is theatrically tedious in places but it does contain some magnificent musical ideas.
Wagner was not suited to write comedies; he should have stuck with dramatic works.
Quote from: bricon on May 27, 2008, 04:38:35 PM
It appears that there is a "truth that must not be uttered" within this thread, so here goes:
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is not a particularly funny comedy, it is theatrically tedious in places but it does contain some magnificent musical ideas.
Wagner was not suited to write comedies; he should have stuck with dramatic works.
Your unutterable truth is best understood in a more-classical definition of 'comedy,' i.e., a play with a happy ending, which
Meistersinger has, to be sure.
Quote from: PSmith08 on May 27, 2008, 06:46:25 PM
Your unutterable truth is best understood in a more-classical definition of 'comedy,' i.e., a play with a happy ending, which Meistersinger has, to be sure.
I am aware that the ("classical") term comedy doesn't necessarily mean that a work is funny but the term certainly CAN mean that. Wagner intended
Meistersinger to be a comical (ie "funny ha-ha") opera; in
Mein Leben, Wagner refers to his conception of individual scenes within the opera as being "comic" (ie humourous).
Quote from: bricon on May 27, 2008, 07:50:22 PM
I am aware that the ("classical") term comedy doesn't necessarily mean that a work is funny but the term certainly CAN mean that. Wagner intended Meistersinger to be a comical (ie "funny ha-ha") opera; in Mein Leben, Wagner refers to his conception of individual scenes within the opera as being "comic" (ie humourous).
Definitions of humor change with changing times and changing contexts. For all we know,
Meistersinger was hilarious to members of the original audiences. Things that were funny in the United States fifty or sixty years ago, i.e., within a couple of generations and certainly within living memory, wouldn't necessarily be funny to someone born in 1986.
Exactly, there is for instance Charlie Chaplin.....I have never cracked so much as a smile there: complete mystery. In Shakespeare's time his comedies made people laugh. Read through the gate keeper's speech in Macbeth, I defy you to laugh. As funny as a dead seal.
Mike
Whether Die Meistersinger is very funny or not is beside the point! I suppose it could depend on your sense of humour :-\?? However, what I find most intriguing about this opera is its sound world. It has that magical "feel good" quality to it coupled with some of the most beautiful light-hearted music Wagner ever wrote. The Prize Song and that quintet in ACT 3 along with the overture lift my spirits every time I hear them 0:).
EDIT: ACT 3 NOT ACT 4 (Sorry Karl!)
marvin
Quote from: knight on May 27, 2008, 09:26:25 PM
Exactly, there is for instance Charlie Chaplin.....I have never cracked so much as a smile there: complete mystery. In Shakespeare's time his comedies made people laugh. Read through the gate keeper's speech in Macbeth, I defy you to laugh. As funny as a dead seal.
Mike
However both Mozart's
Le Nozze di Figaro and Rossini's
Il Barbiere di Siviglia can still be very funny in performance. Ditto Verdi's
Falstaff, which brims with good humour and high spirits, both somewhat lacking in the much more lugubrious
Die Meistersinger. And many of Shakespeare's comedies
are still funny. I often find the mechanicals in
A Midsummer Night's Dream, for instance, rather tedious and unfunny, but the lovers' tiffs and misunderstandings can still be hilarious. Ditto the repartee between Beatrice and Benedick in
Much Ado About Nothing. Indeed it was a refreshing experience to hear people in the cinema laughing at the
dialogue in Kenneth Branagh's film version, rather than any extraneous added funny business.
Yes, I would not argue with any of that, but it is also true that what was funny a long time ago does not always tickle the funny bone now.
Mike
Has anyone heard the EMI 1993 recording with Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and Chor der Bayerischen Staatsoper?
I plan on listening to all of Act I today, as I only had a chance to listen to the Overture and Scene 1, but was already blown away! :) The choir Da zu dir der Heiland kam movement that follows the Overture gave me shivers.
:)
The EMI/Sawallsich version is very fine,and so is the live Solti/Chicago version on Decca. Many don't think much of the earlier VPO Solti recording, but it has its good qualities and the VPO plays beautifully,as you expect it would.
I also admire the DG Jochum recording,which actually came out only about a year after the live performances with Jochum at the Deutsche oper.
Unfortunately, a planned DG recording,also with the Deutsche Oper and under Thielemann with Bryn Terfel was cancelled,apparently for financial reasons.
There are those who admire the Decca recording with Knappertsbusch and the VPO,which has recently been reissued,but I haven't head it.
Quote from: knight on May 27, 2008, 09:26:25 PM
Exactly, there is for instance Charlie Chaplin.....I have never cracked so much as a smile there: complete mystery.
Not even Hinkel and the globe,
Mike?
Quote from: marvinbrown on May 28, 2008, 02:00:21 AM
. . . and that quintet in ACT 4 . . . .
You mean,
Marvin, that it was originally in
four acts, and the current 4-hour-plus version is . . .
the reduction? 8)
Actually, there is a considerable amount of humor in Die Meistersinger.
The way Beckmesser garbles the words of Walther's song which he has stolen during the 3rd act song contest is hilarious. It sounds like one of those surreal beatnik poems of the 60s!
Also,there is a lot of witty dialogue in the libretto, snide comments,put downs,etc. It helps if you follow a recording with an English translation.
Quote from: Superhorn on April 28, 2009, 02:56:08 PM
Also,there is a lot of witty dialogue in the libretto, snide comments,put downs,etc.
Yes, the librettist certainly had ample experience with snide comment and put-downs ;D
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 27, 2009, 11:20:44 AM
You mean, Marvin, that it was originally in four acts, and the current 4-hour-plus version is . . . the reduction? 8)
Sorry
Karl 8) that should have been ACT 3, all of Wagner's operas are in 3 Acts (it is on CD 4 of my Karajan recording on EMI of that opera, hence my mistake). Anyway joking aside, one of the most stunning moments in Die Meistersinger occurs in Act 3 $:) when Sachs/Eva/Walther/David and Magdalene (hence the quintet $:)) join forces in one breathtaking (no exaggeration here I assure you ;D) vocal experience. Check it out when you have the chance, it starts with " Die Selige Morgentraum-Deutweise".
PS: sorry for the delayed response I have been away for some time now!
marvin
A great opera/music drama to be sure! It seems to me at least that Meistersinger is rarely performed on stage. Is that your experience?
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Performances of Die Meistersinger are not all that rare, but it requires a very large cast and the roles of Hans Sachs and Walther are very long and strenuous, so it may not be as frequently heard as other Wagner operas.
Here are the two CD sets I have, both by Karajan ...
(http://www.mdt.co.uk/public/pictures/products/standard/8110872-75.jpg)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41CB1YGA6CL._SS500_.jpg)
I also have the stereo set on LP ...
Look, I don't actually know the Meistersinger as yet, but I just have to tell someone about how, after I managed to put off listening to Wagner for years, some SOB in the music shop was playing the last part of Die Walküre (the South Australian recording), and I was forced, forced, I tell you, to immediately buy six CDs of the man's opera music.
One of those CDs was the Eloquence disc of Lohengrin highlights conducted by Kubelik, with pretty much the same forces as his recording of Meistersinger. Amazing. Is his Bavarian recording of Parsifal also in this league?
Quote from: eyeresist on June 01, 2009, 10:31:24 PM
Look, I don't actually know the Meistersinger as yet, but I just have to tell someone about how, after I managed to put off listening to Wagner for years, some SOB in the music shop was playing the last part of Die Walküre (the South Australian recording), and I was forced, forced, I tell you, to immediately buy six CDs of the man's opera music.
One of those CDs was the Eloquence disc of Lohengrin highlights conducted by Kubelik, with pretty much the same forces as his recording of Meistersinger. Amazing. Is his Bavarian recording of Parsifal also in this league?
I have Kubelik's Parsifal. I think it is excellent.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31Y6CZETR3L._SL500_AA211_.jpg)
Kubelik's version of Meistersinger is as good as it gets. I have never read a negative word about it....except that I don't think it comes with a libretto, at least not with my Myto issue.
It seems to have been recorded in concert form, so you get basically a live organic experience, without the stage noise, especially bad in the first Karajan recording, lots of clodhopping there!
Mike
Quote from: knight on June 04, 2009, 01:48:02 PM
Kubelik's version of Meistersinger is as good as it gets. I have never read a negative word about it....except that I don't think it comes with a libretto, at least not with my Myto issue.
It seems to have been recorded in concert form, so you get basically a live organic experience, without the stage noise, especially bad in the first Karajan recording, lots of clodhopping there!
Mike
Kubelik was a fine Wagner conductor who has, unfortunately, not gotten all the credit he deserves. In addition to his well regarded
Parsifal and
Meistersinger sets, he did a
Lohengrin on DGG with the BRSO that is really nice.
There is one drawback I see with that Lohengrin, Gweneth Jones as Outrud. She makes the second act a bit of a trial. That apart, it is an excellent set.
Mike
Quote from: PSmith08 on June 06, 2009, 09:44:53 PM
Kubelik was a fine Wagner conductor who has, unfortunately, not gotten all the credit he deserves. In addition to his well regarded Parsifal and Meistersinger sets, he did a Lohengrin on DGG with the BRSO that is really nice.
I have Kubelik's Lohengrin on LP.
Quote from: knight on June 07, 2009, 02:17:27 AM
There is one drawback I see with that Lohengrin, Gweneth Jones as Outrud. She makes the second act a bit of a trial. That apart, it is an excellent set.
Mike
To each his own. For my part, I find her Ortrud (and, for that matter, her Kundry -- on the 1970 Boulez) set infinitely more palatable than her Brünnhilde for Boulez. I think, however, that that meets the definition of "damning with faint praise."
I basically see her name and run for the hills. The wobble factor is painful in a lot of her recordings. I do know of an exception, but it moves the subject of the thread too far out of kilter.
Kempe and Kubelik both were experts in pacing Meistersingers.
Mike
Quote from: knight on June 07, 2009, 10:22:13 AM
I basically see her name and run for the hills. The wobble factor is painful in a lot of her recordings. I do know of an exception, but it moves the subject of the thread too far out of kilter.
Kempe and Kubelik both were experts in pacing Meistersingers.
Mike
On that topic, I would suggest adding to the list Fritz Reiner and Karl Böhm. Now, I should make my bias clear: while I am not usually a fan of fleet Wagner, I think that
Meistersinger benefits from a tempo on the quick side. If you look at Furtwängler's 1943 recording, you'll see that, if it weren't missing some parts, it would be over five hours long. That sort of length is generally insupportable. Furtwängler's orchestral contribution carries the day by creating an atmosphere of dignity and restraint, though. That does not, however, mean that the night isn't five hours long with second-rate singers. I have always viewed
Meistersinger, however, as a comic piece, and, as a result, I think that the brisk interpretations of Reiner and Böhm work.
I agree with that underlying idea, though I do not know either Reiner or Bohm in that opera. However, I like the textures light, sprung rhythms and a feeling of flow. Kubelik and Kempe both provide that lyrical approach.
I saw a concert version two years ago and, following the libretto, I could not wait for some passages to move forward, definitely a numb bum evening. I enjoyed Goodall's approach, though it is at the extreme stately end of the spectrum. But I have not heard more than extract of that performance for many years and I have not ordered the recently issues set. Perhaps now I would not respond to the leisurely approach.
Mike
Saw Meistersinger yesterday in the Finnish National Opera. Liked it a lot but I really need glasses, at times I couldn't see shit what was going on the stage. Lots of funny moments, particularly from Beckmesser. The real crowner was during the second act when Beckmesser tries to stop Sachs from interrupting Beckmesser's song by sitting on Sachs's lap and stopping the hammer strikes with his lute, all the while trying to play it. It needs to be seen to realize the extent of its hilariousness. Although most of the time I kind of had hard time seeing it.
I have listened to many versions of
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, but my favourite recording is Karajan/Staatskapelle Dresden; in my opinion, Karajan chose a perfect tempo, always well balanced, that made the performance full of beauty, refined, but also powerful and passionate in every scene, and he was able to extract from the orchestra a wonderful clear, melodious sound (the way he handled the brass was superb), great intensity, colour and harmonic richness. The solemnity and stateliness of Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk, merged with funny moments for his only 'comedy', are very well depicted by the music. The cast is terribly good, from Adam as Sachs to Kollo as Walther; but the singer who impressed me most was Evans, who excellently portrayed the pompous and peevish Beckmesser.
Quote from: marvinbrown on May 27, 2008, 05:42:19 AM
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KS2QACPPL._SS500_.jpg)
Schenk's production is unbeatable, what a joy for eyes is to see the Nuremberg of the 16th century!
Quote from: Lisztianwagner on March 18, 2015, 03:46:06 PM
I have listened to many versions of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, but my favourite recording is Karajan/Staatskapelle Dresden;
Is that the one he recorded in 1970? If so, I agree 100 %. Beckmesser sounds higher than usual, but IMO it fits the character perfectly, easily the best Beckmesser I've heard. Adam is a superb Sachs and rest of the cast are top-notch as well.
Quote from: Alberich on March 19, 2015, 04:06:22 AM
Is that the one he recorded in 1970? If so, I agree 100 %. Beckmesser sounds higher than usual, but IMO it fits the character perfectly, easily the best Beckmesser I've heard. Adam is a superb Sachs and rest of the cast are top-notch as well.
Sure, that one. Beckmesser doesn't sound higher than usual to me (maybe I would have said that about Sachs), anyway I agree about the rest, he wonderfully portrays the character; he and Adam are amazing in the Marker scene at the end of the second act.
Haveyou ever listened to Karajan's performance at the Bayreuth Festival 1951? It is beautiful, although the poor sound quality of the recording.
Quote from: Lisztianwagner on March 19, 2015, 06:22:05 AM
Haveyou ever listened to Karajan's performance at the Bayreuth Festival 1951? It is beautiful, although the poor sound quality of the recording.
I haven't but maybe I will some day.
Funny thing about Meistersinger with me is that even though I consider the work to be a masterpiece I actually think Walther's trial song in first act is far more beautiful than the actual Meisterlied he performs in 3rd act. The trial song just seems to have more feeling in it, more soul. Walther himself whom I consider mostly to be one of Wagner's less interesting main characters (although Sachs, far more humane creation, is probably the true main character of the opera) and pretty one-dimensional, gains much more vitality and genuineness in that scene. I'm not saying the meisterlied is a bad one, I merely prefer Walther's first song.
No offense to user Walther von Stolzing in this forum!
Quote from: Lisztianwagner on March 18, 2015, 03:46:06 PM
I have listened to many versions of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, but my favourite recording is Karajan/Staatskapelle Dresden; in my opinion, Karajan chose a perfect tempo, always well balanced, that made the performance full of beauty, refined, but also powerful and passionate in every scene, and he was able to extract from the orchestra a wonderful clear, melodious sound (the way he handled the brass was superb), great intensity, colour and harmonic richness. The solemnity and stateliness of Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk, merged with funny moments for his only 'comedy', are very well depicted by the music. The cast is terribly good, from Adam as Sachs to Kollo as Walther; but the singer who impressed me most was Evans, who excellently portrayed the pompous and peevish Beckmesser.
Schenk's production is unbeatable, what a joy for eyes is to see the Nuremberg of the 16th century!
Indeed! Schenk's production is a joy to behold. If you seek out the Levine operas (Verdi, Wagner etc.)from the 90s you will find that many of them have stunning stage productions. I believe that Schenk also produced the first Levine Ring which is very elaborately staged!
marvin
Quote from: marvinbrown on March 19, 2015, 12:46:36 PM
Indeed! Schenk's production is a joy to behold. If you seek out the Levine operas (Verdi, Wagner etc.)from the 90s you will find that many of them have stunning stage productions. I believe that Schenk also produced the first Levine Ring which is very elaborately staged!
marvin
The problem with Schenk's production is the huge and overweight Walther of Ben Heppner, a fine singer who looks as if he has stepped out of Falstaff. He also looks older than the Pogner. I saw the revival broadcast and the cast was slightly more believable even though the Walther was again overweight.
Quote from: marvinbrown on March 19, 2015, 12:46:36 PM
Indeed! Schenk's production is a joy to behold. If you seek out the Levine operas (Verdi, Wagner etc.)from the 90s you will find that many of them have stunning stage productions. I believe that Schenk also produced the first Levine Ring which is very elaborately staged!
marvin
Yes, he was the director! Schenk's production of Levine's Ring Cycle was outstanding, the best staging I have ever seen for Wagner's Tetralogy!
Quote from: DavidA on March 19, 2015, 02:02:43 PM
The problem with Schenk's production is the huge and overweight Walther of Ben Heppner, a fine singer who looks as if he has stepped out of Falstaff. He also looks older than the Pogner. I saw the revival broadcast and the cast was slightly more believable even though the Walther was again overweight.
Maybe Heppner doesn't look like a young and handsome knight from Franconia, but he fits the character and sings so well that those physical matters don't become a great problem and you can go beyond them.
Quote from: Alberich on March 19, 2015, 08:22:17 AM
Funny thing about Meistersinger with me is that even though I consider the work to be a masterpiece I actually think Walther's trial song in first act is far more beautiful than the actual Meisterlied he performs in 3rd act. The trial song just seems to have more feeling in it, more soul. Walther himself whom I consider mostly to be one of Wagner's less interesting main characters (although Sachs, far more humane creation, is probably the true main character of the opera) and pretty one-dimensional, gains much more vitality and genuineness in that scene. I'm not saying the meisterlied is a bad one, I merely prefer Walther's first song.
I understand. That's not so strange, I might say that I prefer Walther's trial song in the first act to his Meisterlied (which is definitely beautiful anyway) in the third act too. Actually, that song free-form tune he launches into, so passionate and lyrical that breaks all the Mastersingers' rules, sounds in some ways more spontaneous and lively since it doesn't have a precise, rigid scheme to follow, but the natural inspiration of the poet (as a matter of fact, Walther himself says that his teachers in music were the birds and the nature); and what does Sachs say about Walther's trial song?
It is with such fire of poetry and love that daughters are seduced to adventure. While the song for the prize contest, since it has to be molded, refined into a specific form and to follow the tradition more closely both in tone and words, sounds not as overwhelming and natural as the first song.
Count me as a fan of the Schenk Meistersinger and Ring as well. Absolutely beautiful. It is more and more rare to see traditional 16th century Nürnberg sets in Meistersinger productions nowadays. More and more futuristic/symbolic sets (not that it's a bad thing, the more interpretation the better).
I'm very sorry Schenk's production won't be used for the Meistersinger at the Met anymore, it will replaced with Herheim's production already staged at the Salzburg Festival; I have to read more about this particular interpretation, but I know the basic idea is that, since both Wagner and Sachs were great lovers of books and stories, and since Sachs wrote his songs and poems at a desk in his home, the music drama takes place on Sachs' desk. I have watched some scenes and it looks like you're in one of the Grimms' fairy tales : for example, in the Marker scene at the end of the 2nd act, there are the fairy tales' characters jumping and dancing around Beckmesser and Sachs, who holds in his hans a giant shoe, with Magdalena with a long pigtail in Rapunzel's style.
That's the finale of the first act, with Beckmesser marking Walther's song:
https://www.youtube.com/v/ORjbS-iE0Lk
Quote from: Lisztianwagner on March 20, 2015, 01:14:08 PM
I'm very sorry Schenk's production won't be used for the Meistersinger at the Met anymore, it will replaced with Herheim's production already staged at the Salzburg Festival; I have to read more about this particular interpretation,
https://www.youtube.com/v/ORjbS-iE0Lk
I saw it on Arte TV when it was aired live from Salzburg in 2013. A stunning and beautiful staging, full of very stimulating references to German culture. The quintet has one very, very special moment, and the transformation from Sach's workshop to the festival meadow is very cleverly handled. Herheim is a theatrical genius...his
Parsifal in Bayreuth was breathaking, and this
Meistersinger is another staging I'd love to experience in the theatre...
Quote from: Lisztianwagner on March 19, 2015, 02:58:03 PM
Yes, he was the director! Schenk's production of Levine's Ring Cycle was outstanding, the best staging I have ever seen for Wagner's Tetralogy!
Maybe Heppner doesn't look like a young and handsome knight from Franconia, but he fits the character and sings so well that those physical matters don't become a great problem and you can go beyond them.
Unfortunately those physical matters of a fat geriatric knight DO become a problem as does the fact that Eva looks older than her father. If this wasn't opera it would be laughed off the stage.
Quote from: DavidA on March 21, 2015, 02:42:03 PMIf this wasn't opera it would be laughed off the stage.
That's probably true of any opera production ever. 0:)
Quote from: DavidA on March 21, 2015, 02:42:03 PM
Unfortunately those physical matters of a fat geriatric knight DO become a problem. If this wasn't opera it would be laughed off the stage.
I understand this point of view; but unfortunately nowadays it's not very simple to portray Walther as a young knight, because there aren't many excellent wagnerian heldentenors who can sing the role (as well as excellent wagnerian heldentenors in general), and those ones still in activity start getting old. I think if Heppner or Botha sing very well and they can do fine performances, you could even close an eye about their physical aspect.
I happen to like the recent Glyndebourne production that's out on DVD, with Gerald Finley as a Sachs who is younger than is normally portrayed; hence the inner conflicts he has re: Eva are more telling and poignant. While some of the other singers (Eva, even Walther toward the end) are struggling a bit with voice fatigue or whatnot, the staging and overall approach I find very enjoyable.
Have the Kubelik, and agree that it's a gem. I really wish he had gotten the chance to perform/record more Wagner.
Among the older recordings, my reference point is the Kempe. I've also got the Abendroth, from the same year as the Furtwängler but better recorded (and complete), as well as the Jochum 1949 Munich performance, which is in pretty decent sound and has the added attraction a rare appearance by Hans Hotter as Sachs.
An interesting anecdote about Meistersinger: while composing act II Wagner asked Hans Richter for advice over the point in the finale of the second act where the horn takes up the melody of Beckmesser's serenade: was it possible to play it at that tempo? Richter answered yes, but it would sound very odd and nasal. Wagner was overjoyed: "Excellent, that's exactly what I wanted!"
Just since no one has mentioned it, I'll put in a plug for the live Bohm from Bayreuth 1968. Good stereo sound, some stage noise especially when riots and hordes of apprentices are running around but otherwise well recorded.
I prefer the Kubelik by a tiny amount (basically because of Janowitz over Jones, although Jones is also terrific), but it's pretty close.
[asin]B001E82GH2[/asin]
Quote from: howlingfantods on July 10, 2015, 08:55:11 AM
Just since no one has mentioned it, I'll put in a plug for the live Bohm from Bayreuth 1968. Good stereo sound, some stage noise especially when riots and hordes of apprentices are running around but otherwise well recorded.
The only other one I have is the Kubelik, which I prefer by a tiny amount (basically because of Janowitz over Jones, although Jones is also terrific), but it's pretty close.
[asin]B001E82GH2[/asin]
I must admit that as of late I've to a certain extent fallen out with Böhm's Wagner, as I think his search for theatrical momentum at times makes the music sound feverish and lacking in detail. This was particuarly the case for the
Lohengrin live from Vienna (also on Orfeo), which I only got to listen to for the first time a couple of years ago. But, I agree with you,
howlingfantods, these
Meistersinger are most enjoyable, and an excellent performance all around.
Ah, well, I do love the Bohm approach to Wagner. His Ring and Tristan are my favorites -- I guess I *like* my Wagner feverish :)
Nothing feverish about his Meistersinger, though. Just as warm and charming as the Kubelik, with maybe just a touch more drama.
Always wanted to hear Bohm's take on Parsifal since that's my favorite piece, but it doesn't seem like his performances were recorded or released. He led a performance at the Met in the early 60s with Vinay, Dalis, Hines and Uhde that I'd dearly love to hear, but unfortunately the Met didn't include any of their Parsifals for their historical Wagner release.
Quote from: howlingfantods on July 12, 2015, 08:30:03 AM
Always wanted to hear Bohm's take on Parsifal since that's my favorite piece, but it doesn't seem like his performances were recorded or released. He led a performance at the Met in the early 60s with Vinay, Dalis, Hines and Uhde that I'd dearly love to hear, but unfortunately the Met didn't include any of their Parsifals for their historical Wagner release.
Yeah, I wonder why there's no
Parsifal in that Met Wagner box. All the other Wagner operas the Met's broadcasted are included. In any case, the Met only did three
Parsifals that season, and none were broadcast.
Quote from: ritter on March 20, 2015, 01:28:19 PM
I saw it on Arte TV when it was aired live from Salzburg in 2013. A stunning and beautiful staging, full of very stimulating references to German culture. The quintet has one very, very special moment, and the transformation from Sach's workshop to the festival meadow is very cleverly handled. Herheim is a theatrical genius...his Parsifal in Bayreuth was breathaking, and this Meistersinger is another staging I'd love to experience in the theatre...
It will be that same staging which will be used in the upcoming production at the Paris Opera which I will attend.
https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-15-16/opera/die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg (https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-15-16/opera/die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg)
I will give you a full account and try too take some picture although its forbidden...
Quote from: Spineur on January 31, 2016, 11:41:22 AM
It will be that same staging which will be used in the upcoming production at the Paris Opera which I will attend.
https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-15-16/opera/die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg (https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-15-16/opera/die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg)
I will give you a full account and try too take some picture although its forbidden...
A Spanish friend of mine is off to Paris over Easter to wathch the prodcution at the Bastille. I hope you enjoy it.... Do let us know your impressions, please! :)
I was lucky enough to see
Herheim's staging of
Parsifal live in Bayreuth in 2012. One of the gretatest things I have ever experienced in a theatre. A pity the DVD release seems to have been vetoed by the festival management. >:(
Quote from: ritter on February 01, 2016, 07:53:50 AM
A Spanish friend of mine is off to Paris over Easter to wathch the prodcution at the Bastille. I hope you enjoy it.... Do let us know your impressions, please! :)
I was lucky enough to see Herheim's staging of Parsifal live in Bayreuth in 2012. One of the gretatest things I have ever experienced in a theatre. A pity the DVD release seems to have been vetoed by the festival management. >:(
I'm pretty sure the Herheim Parsifal was available on YouTube at one point, and I think I downloaded it but since I'm away from home I can't be sure. I know for a fact that the Herheim Meistersinger has been issued on DVD, as I remember produced in Vienna and conducted by Gatti. It seems very typical these days for opera houses to share new productions, doubtless as a way of curbing expenses.
Quote from: Lisztianwagner on March 22, 2015, 06:35:21 AM
I understand this point of view; but unfortunately nowadays it's not very simple to portray Walther as a young knight, because there aren't many excellent wagnerian heldentenors who can sing the role (as well as excellent wagnerian heldentenors in general), and those ones still in activity start getting old. I think if Heppner or Botha sing very well and they can do fine performances, you could even close an eye about their physical aspect.
There's also Jonas Kauffmann, who is splendid even if I may be misspelling his name. FWIW, I saw Heppner at the Met the same season they were making that DVD, and he was having considerable vocal trouble, cracking on the high A's in the Prize Song twice my night. Obviously they patched that up for the DVD. But much as I like the staging that's now being retired, I thought the Met's earlier staging was even better.
For recordings, I vote for Kempe and Kubelik, of those I've heard. I gave away Knappertbusch both because of the unpleasant sound and the unpleasant tenor.
Quote from: (poco) Sforzando on February 01, 2016, 09:32:51 AM
I'm pretty sure the Herheim Parsifal was available on YouTube at one point, and I think I downloaded it but since I'm away from home I can't be sure. I know for a fact that the Herheim Meistersinger has been issued on DVD, as I remember produced in Vienna and conducted by Gatti. It seems very typical these days for opera houses to share new productions, doubtless as a way of curbing expenses.
Yep, the
Parsifal was shown in cinemas a week after I saw it in the theatre, and then posted on YouTube, but I think it's been pulled down since then (last time I saw, one act was still to be seen).
The
Meistersinger from Salzburg is available on DVD...
[asin]B00KVOBZC2[/asin]
...and will travel to the MET next IIRC.
Bayreuth, on the other hand, does not share its productions with other theatres.
Quote from: ritter on February 01, 2016, 09:42:00 AM
Bayreuth, on the other hand, does not share its productions with other theatres.
Otherwise we might be faced with the Katharina Wagner . . . .
Recension "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg" Paris Opera / Herheim staging
It is the same Salzburg staging as for the 200th anniversary, with the same sets, the same costumes, and the same choreography for the danced sections. It will also be the staging used by The Scala and the Metropolitan Opera in some unknown time.
In spirit, it is quite close to the excellent Glyndebourne staging released in blu-ray, as it insist on the profoundly moral and humanist aspects of the work erasing any reference to National-Socialism (From their point of view, the election of a Meistersinger was that of a Führer - a total madness when you see these beautiful stagings).
Herheim staging oscillates from Wagner/Sachs to a fantasy world of puppet/leprechaun which enact the comedy. It also draws from 19th century popular culture in its references.
The differences are in the distribution. All performers (especially Gerald Finley/Sachs also in this role in the Glyndebourne version) were quite good, with perhaps a less convincing Walter (the american tenor Brandon Javanovich) compared to the warm and round voice of Marco Jentzsch in the Glynderbourne production. Toby Spence camps a David full of personality and Bo Skovhus assumes so perfectly Beckmesser ridicule, that he becomes almost adorable in this role. The direction by Philippe Jordan was luminous and dynamic, really wonderful.
During the prologue we see Sachs (aka Wagner) in his interior in a nightgown remembering the puppet theaters of his childhood
(http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/889794P1030316.jpg) (http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=889794P1030316.jpg)
Note that in the front there are a sculture of Beethoven and under a green rag one of Wagner. Sachs is in the photo between a cabinet and a dresser which will serve as sets in the second act.
At the extreme left of the photo is the desk where Sachs composes which is transformed after a clever morphing in the first act as Nurnberg Saint Catherine church.
(http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/276504hiresMeistersinger08.jpg) (http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=276504hiresMeistersinger08.jpg)
An interesting detail in the 1st act: As David (Sachs assistant) explains the rules for the competition, he opens a book (the one at the left on the photo) which title is "Des Knaben Wunderhorn".
Herheim is not aluding to Mahler lieders, bu the the popular poetry book collected by Brentano throughout germany and published in 1808. This book, publicised by Goethe became a reference for German popular culture in the 19th century.
At the second act the morphing uses the chest where Sachs the shoemaker lives and the dresser where Eva and her father live.
(http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/251929P1030312.jpg) (http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=251929P1030312.jpg)
Dont you think that Sachs/Finley has a Beethoven/Wagner look in this picture ? Again the book makes an explicit reference to German popular culture.
(http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/977055P1030313.jpg) (http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=977055P1030313.jpg)
In this scene Eva (Julia Kleiter) and Walter consider fleeing together as the Meistersinger competition seems inacessible.
The big brawl where Beckmesser gets trashed starts as a bunch of dwarfs and pupet-animals come out of book on stage.
(http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/593918P1030314.jpg) (http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=593918P1030314.jpg)
more and more people come on stage and the scene degenerates into a giant brawl.
In the third act, we are back in Wagner interior and after the composition lesson, we move to the quintet
(http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/652028P1030317.jpg) (http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=652028P1030317.jpg)
ten minutes of pure musical bliss.
The staging of the third act is complex: two giant puppets move the sets around, then during the dancing scene for St John, some dance with man sized puppets.
This profusion of means may be quite spectacular, but does not add much to the work meaning. The much simpler staging with a two-level gazebo in the glynbourne production is I find more effective.
(http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/421953hiresMeistersinger05.jpg) (http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=421953hiresMeistersinger05.jpg)
For Sachs pangermanic monolog, Herheim had a great idea: all lights come off except Sachs whis is lit up. Simultaneously the sets for his interior roll around him and ultimately closes around him to reconstitute Wagner interior.
Sachs fall backwards behinds other actor and re-emerges in a nightgown as his finishes his diatribe. The message is clear: this monolog only belongs to Wagner fieverish
mind and is not part of the humanist message of this beautiful work.
A significant difference with the Glyndebourne production is the way Sachs comes across (although it is sung by the same person). In Glyndebourne production, Sachs is a Faustian character full of doubts and interogation. With Herheim, Sachs is Wagner and the doubts are very close to madness.
One last picture for the Maestro Philippe Jordan
(http://img11.hostingpics.net/pics/200928P1030320.jpg) (http://www.hostingpics.net/viewer.php?id=200928P1030320.jpg)
With the intermission, this was a wonderful musical journey of six hours. I hope to convince the NewYorkers and the Milanese to buy their tickets for this production.
Quote from: Spineur on March 08, 2016, 03:11:45 AM
Recension "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg" Paris Opera / Herheim staging
It is the same Salzburg staging as for the 200th anniversary, with the same sets, the same costumes, and the same choreography for the danced sections. It will also be the staging used by the Metropolitan Opera in the spring.
The Met is not getting this Meistersinger until 2019-20. If I decide I cannot wait that long or am expiring of a dread disease, I have the DVD. But next year we get a new Tristan, the good news being that Simon Rattle will conduct. (At this stage, ABL, or Anyone But Levine, will make me happy.)
(I cannot see your images on my browser, BTW. I just get either little boxes, or a link to the NitroFlare site.)
Quote from: Spineur on March 08, 2016, 03:28:16 AM
OK, I'll try to fix this. Its a pain to add images on this site...
I think so long as they are genuine images with a JPG, BMP, PNG, or that sort of extension, they should work fine. But they have to exist on the Internet as image files with their own URL. How's this for you?
(https://frontrowberlin.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/meistr1.jpg)
ETA: I still cannot see yours. I can download the images from NitroFlare, but they don't show up here on GMG. If they're on your PC and not the Internet, you could try using Dropbox and then sharing the file; I have found this works well for files I have created on my local computer.
OK, its fixed. I find adding picture through internet link a pain...
Hopefully these pictures are worth it. I took most of them with a silent camera with double stabilization. Its actually kind of hard and a pain to do even with a good seat. I am not sure I will repeat the experience although after the show its kind of nice to have.
To complement the recension, this interview of Philippe Jordan discusses the musical writing of the work and puts it in perspective of the other Wagner operas. Its in french but there are english subtitle (and musical excerpts)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di438i7S4A4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di438i7S4A4)
Since we already have a Meistersinger thread going, I thought I'd just collect all the recent posts about this opera to have them in one tidy place.
Start from amw, listening to the Jochum recording:
I know and really like the prelude. Don't know anything else. Hopefully I'll survive DFD and Domingo in this.
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ritter replies:
IMHO Fi-Di is a rather unusual (too artistocratic?) Hans Sachs, but I do think his portarayel is ultimately rather succesful. Domingo is, well, Domingo ;), and if you get used to his poor German pronunciation (he improved signifcatly in this area later in his career), the singing as such is rather beautiful. For me, the best performance in this recroding is Horst Laubenthal's superb David.
I do not know if I understand you correctly, amw. You do not know anything apart from the prelude from this particular performance, or from Meistersinger as a work? If it's the latter, you're in for a wonderful voyage of musical discovery. This opera is something very special, and the last hour or so (from the quintet up to the end of Act III) is sublime! :)
Paderewski's famous dictum that Meistersinger is "'the greatest work of genius ever achieved by any artist in any field of human endeavour" might be exaggerated (but only slightly so ;D )
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amw:
I listened to the whole thing. Singers were ok, though I barely even noticed DFD (and Domingo was, yeah, could've done without)—he has a major role apparently, I'm not sure whether his music wasn't notable enough or he just didn't characterise it well enough. The other male singers who weren't DFD and Domingo were fine. Ladies I didn't care for much but they were also not terrible, like, I've heard way worse in Wagner.
I do not know the opera at all. The music was mostly nice, rising to good in a few parts. Prelude is still the best part, but the finales of the first two acts and the quintet are musical highlights for sure and there are probably others I wasn't paying enough attention to. But for the most part, it's nice. It's very civilised and straightforward and everything goes according to plan and it feels like half of it was written on autopilot. I might like it better on a subsequent listen, maybe once I know what's actually going on. (Highlight: the march motive, which still plays in my head a lot when I come home from work.)
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(poco) Sforzando:
Boulez considered Meistersinger along with Boris Godunov to be the two most moving operas in his experience. Pity he never performed either. I don't know what you mean by "autopilot," as I consider the work uniquely inspired almost all the way through. So I think the opera deserves better than your casual assessment.
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amw:
Probably does. I am not a Wagner fan.
I will someday relisten properly giving it my full attention. The score did seem to be full of subtleties, and likely does not respond well to casual listening.
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Brian (who evidently saw a version with very slow tempi):
Not surprisingly, it would certainly help to see the opera unfold - my first encounter was a livestream from Glyndebourne, with Gerald Finley as Hans Sachs; thing was approx. 8523 hours long, but I never once thought to turn my back or turn it off. Seeing the opera and following the story, you do need to contend with the cringe-y ending sermon about Germanness and nationalistic purity, but I have very positive memories of the rest. That was 5 years ago this summer. Probably time to revisit. It looks like there are two Blu-Rays available: Bayreuth (Sebastian Weigle, cond. / Katharina Wagner, dir., costume on cover photo appears to be emulating the early 1970s), and the very same Glyndebourne performance I saw (Vladimir Jurowski, cond. / David McVicar, dir., set in 1800s).
I wonder why Boulez chose those two operas, and in particular why he used the word "moving".
I'll agree with amw that the prelude is still my favorite part. Maybe because of familiarity, or maybe cuz it's great 0:)
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ritter responds to (poco) Sfz:
Yep, that "autopilot" comment struck me as well. IMHO opinion, you may find things to criticise in Meistersinger (too long, some bombast here or there, etc.), but lack of inspriration is certainly not one of them (in my book, at least). I suppose listening to it without paying close attention to the text, the orchestration and, most particularly, the polyphony and counterpoint (the work is an almost non-stop "polyphonic feast", isn't it?) can lead to quick conlcusions.
As for Boulez, after the last run of the "centennial Ring" (in 1980) he did say publicly he would like to be invited back to Bayreuth precisely for Meistersinger. Unfortunatley, that never happened, and instead he was asked to do Parsifal again in 2004 (34 years after his last performance of that opera on the Green Hill).
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Andy D.:
From a purely dynamic level Meistersinger is like a miracle; the parts that might be challenging and pretty much require willed immersion always lead to a huge payoff. At least in my experience.
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(poco) Sforzando (in a characteristically long and pedantic post) responds to Brian:
The Katharina Wagner is an eccentric, controversial, and IMO Eurotrashy version from Bayreuth of an opera that deserves and receives a more traditional staging such as that provided by Glyndebourne or the Met (where Levine offers pretty solid conducting rather than the droopiness of his Ring cycles).
As for the ending of Act Three, I agree that this is where the opera most falters. For one thing, Walther's Prize Song is much more conventional and stodgy than his trial song at the end of Act One, and we're forced to listen to the darned thing some 3-4 times. But more important, Wagner's treatment of Beckmesser is decidedly unfunny, subjecting the Town Clerk to a degree of public humiliation uncalled for by the action, in that it is an extreme punishment for someone whose only real fault is being an old man lacking musical talent who is hopelessly in love with a young girl. Some would deny that anti-Semitism plays any role here, and no doubt Beckmesser is not literally depicted as a Jew. But his serenades, and the heavy-handed parody of the Prize Song he offers in the final scene, have been associated with synagogue music. And when you add all the elements - especially the need to get rid of the town's most undesirable citizen before the community achieves its final sugary apotheosis, and the warning against non-German art - I find it difficult to deny a covert message that would have appealed to the Nazis. Wolfgang Wagner in his staging brought Beckmesser back at the end to return to the happy community, but this bit of stage business is distinctly absent in the original text.
For a rough comparison, I like to compare the ending of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and the treatment of Malvolio. Malvolio is a self-important, puritanical ass who is tormented by Sir Toby and his friends, and by the end of the play he runs off in impotent anger. But Olivia insists that the others make peace with Malvolio, and thus the blow is softened. You do not get this at the end of Meistersinger, which is why the ending always leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
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And then (poco) Sfz to ritter:
Aye. One of my favorite sequences in the opera (and one that in the older days was often cut at the Met in NY) is David's recitation in Act One of the various Meistersinger "tones." There are a couple of dozen, and each is musically characterized in a highly detailed and individual way.
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Sergeant Rock:
All this talk of Meistersinger inspires, not a listening to the whole (way too late in the evening for that) but a listen to my favorite Act I prelude: Szell and the miraculous Cleveland (first heard in 1967 and not bettered since).
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Brian:
Know what? I think I'll join you. Listening to the same performance now.
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AndyD.:
The Szell and (older) Solti are my favorite renditions of that prelude. I also love the one that opens the Stein/Weigl dvd (really like that whole performance in fact).
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ritter:
The more the merrier... ;)
Richard Wagner: Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - The Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell (cond.)
From the big Korean box:
First listen ever (for me) to this performance IIRC...
EDIT:
The prelude to Act I won't suffice (an uncomfortable feeling of coitus interruptus ;)), so now I continue with the end of the opera (startiing at "Die selige Morgentraum-Deutweise", just before the quintet) from this classic performance (Keilberth).
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And now while we're all in various stages of Wagnerian ecstasy, I'll post this much and continue copying in some further discussion below.
Continuing:
Jeffrey Smith:
I once heard a story that some Munich opera patron stood in the foyer of the opera house the night of the first performance deriding Wagner's contrapuntal abilities to his companions while the prelude was playing.
Meistersinger has been my favorite opera since I first heard any of it. Beckmesser's music does not remind me of any synagogue music I have heard, and I have been synagogue going all my life. But given Wagner 's anti-Semitic writings, it probably is not much of a stretch to view the libretto in that light. But we should remember that Beckmesser is the defender of fuddy duddy tradition and an archconservative, supposedly modelled on Eduard Hanslick.
I agree that the last part, from the Quintet on, is among the greatest music written. And don't forget the riot which comes at the end of Act II--a fugue as complex and masterful as any written by Bach.
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(poco) Sforzando replies to JS:
http://tinyurl.com/h98kf77
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1993/06/10/wagners-anti-semitism/
The claim that Beckmesser's music recalls synagogue chant, whether true or not, has been made by the scholar Barry Millington, and the links above should summarize the main points of the controversy. Millington theorizes that "anti-semitism is woven into the ideological fabric of Die Meistersinger, and that the representation of Beckmesser incorporates unmistakable anti-semitic characteristics." As for Wagner's contrapuntal mastery in the Act II fugue, I think a case can be made that Wagner's abilities are comparatively clumsy in that regard, though the fugue certainly makes a fine effect and is dramatically a stroke of genius.
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ritter:
Very interesting, poco, many thanks! I must confess I haven't read Barry Millington's books (but see that his The Sorcerer of Bayreuth has had some success, and has even been translated into Spanish). Now, Charles Rosen (a pianist and scholar I hugely admire) does make some eloquent points in his counter-reply to Mr. Millington. I tend to believe that only antisemitic aspect in Meistersinger is the complete avoidance of "the Jewish question"; historically (not that Wagner was a historian, of course), from what I've read there was no significant Jewish community in Nuremberg during Hans Sach's lifetime (they were driven away in the late 15th century). The Hanslick angle is of course much more plausible (the character was to be called "Hanslich" in an early draft of the libretto). Then someone might argue that Hanslick was partly Jewish (form his matrenal family), and we're back to square one ::). But then we also have those saying that Mime is a caricature of a Jew, Klingsor as well, etc., etc.
There is no doubt that Wagner's socio-political Weltananschauung had some very, very nasty aspects, but the (recurring) efforts over the years by some scholars to find reflections of these ideas in his works for the stage are usually based IMHO on "purely speculative evidence" (to use the phrase that appears in the link you kindly provided, poco) , and tend to simply display their authors' agenda.
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(poco) Sforzando:
Millington doesn't claim, nor would I, that Beckmesser is literally Jewish. But there are overtones in that final scene that I find disquieting: the public humiliation and expulsion of a member of the society who is considered undesirable, the hymn to the holy German art, the final tableau of a gloriously unified community that can only be achieved once the undesirable member is expunged. The vindictiveness with which Beckmesser is depicted simply strains belief: if he were so musically inept, would he have been accepted as a member of the Masters' guild? in a hierarchical culture such as Nuremberg where the Masters are its most honored citizens, is it credible that the whole town including its lowest-ranking members would openly ridicule him at the opera's end? I don't see any "agenda" there, simply a recitation of the facts.
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ritter:
Fair enough, but what you are pointing out seems to be more a possible dramatic flaw in the work than anything else. But this is a work of fiction, one that at moments relies on exaggeration, and requires the inevitable suspension of disbelief from the audience. You recite the facts, but none of those facts point (even remotely, IMHO) to anything that can be viewed as antismeitism (in this, or any other of Wagner's works for the stage). Now it's me who speculates, but again the Hanslick angle is much more plausible in view of the facts that you mention, and (even if it may have been petty on the composer's part) Meistersinger is partly a way of getting even with that critic. Of course, it's much more than that.
And concerning Sach's final monologue, I would urge everyone to really read the words he says (and, as importantly, to whom he addresses them--Walter von Stolzing). Of course there is a nationalistic streak, but he only praises "German holy art, not an enlarged Reich or anything like that. Rather tame, given the year this was written...
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Spineur on the anti-Semitism issue:
Here I agree. The whole attitude of Beckmesser in the first act, is the defense of tradition, rejecting any form of innovation in the lyric approach "of the new contener". He represents the musical establishment Wagner has always fought. I do not think there is anything more, and nothing in him represent judaism.
True, Wagner turns him in ridicule to the point of humiliation: what would you expect ? It is a comedy "a l'allemande". Everything is explicit and first degree. In Moliere plays characters are also turned into ridicule. But humour helps taming the situations.
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Spineur on the final monologue:
No Ritter. It is much worse than that. It really is a pangermanic tirade. This is why in Herheim staging, Sachs disappears to become Wagner in nightgown and nightcap to erruct this last tirade that belongs to his fieverish mind.
This is a great stagging idea: it remove the tirade content from the wholly humanistic message of this masterpiece.
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(poco):
I thought I made clear that I wasn't literally finding anti-Semitism in the work (unlike Millington, though I have an anthology of Meistersinger criticism somewhere on my shelves and should read his essay in full, as I expect his piece to be in it). I was pointing instead to a pattern of dramatic construction where the "villain" is punished far beyond his deserts, and which is consistent with a mindset that suggests expunging the undesirable element is necessary to achieving a conflict-free, harmonious society. That's not anti-Semitism per se, but it's a view of the world that could well appeal to an anti-Semite, and Meistersinger was Hitler's favorite opera. Spineur tells us that "humor tames the situation," but my problem is that I don't find the treatment of Beckmesser remotely funny, and there is a loss of dramatic balance. If not, why did Wolfgang Wagner (see the Horst Stein-Bernd Weikl DVD) feel the need to go outside the text and have Sachs bring back Beckmesser into the company at the end? Again, I suggest Shakespeare's treatment of Malvolio as a more balanced, humane way of dealing with a similar situation.
As for the monologue, this is a section Wagner himself had doubts about including, and as the words suggest, it is much more than a paean to German art. Read the words - exactly - and to whom they are addressed: "Drum sag' ich euch" is a plural form being sung to the entire community, not just the tenor. This tirade, as Spineur puts it, is not just about art but represents a thoroughly gratuitous fear of the German state being overrun by foreign powers.
Any rate, fun talking with you guys about this.
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ritter:
Thanks for your thoughtful reply, poco! I think that our respective views are clear, and as you say, it's fun to talk about this. :)
Far from me to want to have the last word, but please note that Sachs adresses Walther in the second person plural ("euch") throughout the opera (actually, most character's talk to each other that way, an archaic usage); thus, for me at least it is clear (even more given the context) to whom the closing tirade is adressed. And the crucial (redeeming?) line--again, for me--of the whole monologue is "lebt's nicht in deutscher Meister Ehr'".
Yep, I know Wolfgang Wagner's second production on DVD. A nice touch bringing Beckmesser back into the fold, but one that he did not repeat IIRC in his third (and I believe better) production--also available on DVD conducted by Barenboim.
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(poco), concisely for once:
You're right of course, and I should have been more precise. But the Ihr/Euch form is used for plurals as well, and I take it to apply to the entire community at this point. At least since the whole chorus takes up "Ehrt eure deutschen Meister" at the final tableau, I can't quite see this as merely a private conversation between Sachs and Walther!
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karlhenning:
To risk an unsupported assertion: There are no private conversations in a Wagner opera 8)
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Jo498 replies to (poco):
I agree; the final oration is clearly addressed to everybody at the "Festwiese". But I do not think the interpretation is quite as straightforward. The fear that the German/Holy Roman Empire would fall apart was not at all unfounded. It actually was a fairly weak entity in Sachs' time and basically fell apart because of the reformation/counter-reformation and what happened only about 50 years after the historical Sachs' death with the 30 years war was precisely the devastation of central Germany with the participation of foreign powers (France and Sweden). Although the Empire kept existing on paper until 1806.
It could probably also be argued that the establishment of German as a language for literature and philosophy was also delayed for about a 100 years or more because of the turmoil of the 17th century and the French cultural dominance until the mid/late 18th century. (The earliest German "classical" author is Lessing 1729-81 although there are of course some in the 17th cent., the 250 year gap between Luther and Lessing is remarkable.)
And in Wagner's time the restoration was by no means achieved (Meistersinger Premiere 1868, establishment of the Prussian-led German Empire 1871, the Austrian Empire was not quite "wälsch" but it was multi-ethnic). So the idea that the cultural tradition and identity would form the basis of a national identity because there was no political unity (as e.g. in France, the mortal enemy from Napoleon until 1918) and that this cultural identity would eventually lead to such a political unity was current throughout the 19th century (in its more precise from that idea was probably born in the wars against Napoleon).
It's probably more complex still because Wagner had started out more like an anarchist than a nationalist, so how he conceived the role of "Holy German Art" and its relation to a German Empire is not so obvious. Maybe he cared more about the supremacy of the Art than about any stable Reich
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(poco) to Jo:
Where do you stand on the question of anti-Semitism (real or implied) in the opera?
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Jo:
Although I think that the issue is complicated, that last oration is probably the most nationalistic bit in any Wagner opera and it has clearly been perceived as such both by the Nazis and by critics.
I do not really have any formed opinion wrt the antisemitism. But I have to admit that I do not know the opera very well (I know the ouverture best, have listened to the whole thing a few times on disc but never seen it on stage and right now do not have Beckmesser's music "in my head"). It has also been claimed that Mime and Alberich (maybe also Klingsor and of course both Kundry and the Hollaender are variants of the "Wandering Jew" but as operatic figures they don't really fit antisemitic clichées) were antisemitic caricatures. I don't know (I don't know any synagogal music). The best case could probably made for Mime's whining as a caricature of a sly and supplicant Jewish character (cf. Shmuyle in Pictures of an exhibition).
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(poco):
I myself have seen it 4-5 times at the Metropolitan Opera over the years in two very good traditionalist productions, and they are bringing the Herheim in a year or two to replace their current one. Hopefully someone other than James Levine will conduct; though this is one of his better operas, time for some new blood.
First of all, many thanks to (poco) sforzando for bringing over all those posts form the WAYLTN thread to this one :) :) :). It must have been a real sforzo!!!
Now, I take the liberty to transcribe Walther's last lines and the beginning of Sach's final monologue (in the English translation found on www.rwagner.net):
WALTHER
Not Master! No!
(He looks tenderly at Eva)
I will be happy without Masterhood.
(All look disconcertedly towards Sachs)
SACHS
(going towards Walther and grasping
him meaningfully by the hand)
Scorn not the Masters, I bid you,
and honour their art!
What speaks high in their praise
fell richly in your favour.
Not to your ancestors, however worthy,
not to your coat-of-arms, spear, or sword...
I have highlighted one of the stage directions, at this is what leads me to insist that it's Walther this tirade is adressed to. Obviously, in a very public manner, but all that talk about lineage and coats of arms only applies to him (a nobleman, ein Juncker), and not to the crowd (made up 100% of townspeople and Bürger). Obviously, as the monolgue advances, it is clear that the target of Sach's words is widened the crowd and the audience. But here I find a twist that could reflect some of Wagner's earlier anarchist leanings: it could be that Wagner (through Sachs) is putting the responsibility of "real" and "big" politics (kingdoms that decay, foreign rule and all that) on the nobility (the class Walther comes from), while the good working people (from which the masters emerge, and who embrace Walther despite his origins) represent the true and the good, and are the repositories of "holy Art" (German, of course). So yes, this is a statement about the timelessness and superiority of art (yes, German, but Nuremberg is hardly in Andalusia or Finland, is it? :D ). Then again, this can be interpreted as having a sinister streak, and being a percursor (or added fuel) to the völkisch movement (and we all know how strong that was in Cosima's Bayreuth). But I think this would be an ex-post interpretation (whteher a plausible one or not can be argued). In any case, I agree with Jo498 very eloquent exposition of the socio-historical background of this final monologue. :)
poco, you mentioned Wolfgang Wagner's second Bayreuth staging of the piece (the one on DVD conducted by Horst Stein), with the famous "reconciliation" of the community with Beckmesser (thanks to Sachs). I expressed my preference for his third (the first one was never fimed), also on DVD. To a great degree, this is because in this last approach to he work, Wolfgang managed to turn Nuremberg into a microcosm, making it clear that this fasciniating work talks about universal themes, not something specifically German. That he managed to do this without taking the action away from the original time and place is quite a feat, IMHO. This can be seen rather clearly in the beautiful set of the finale:
(http://www.omm.de/veranstaltungen/festspiele/bilder/BAY-99die-meistersinger-von-nuernberg-.jpg)
Cheers,
Quote from: ritter on July 13, 2016, 12:13:18 PM
First of all, many thanks to (poco) sforzando for bringing over all those posts form the WAYLTN thread to this one :) :) :). It must have been a real sforzo!!!
Now, I take the liberty to transcribe Walther's last lines and the beginning of Sach's final monologue (in the English translation found on www.rwagner.net):
WALTHER
Not Master! No!
(He looks tenderly at Eva)
I will be happy without Masterhood.
(All look disconcertedly towards Sachs)
SACHS
(going towards Walther and grasping
him meaningfully by the hand)
Scorn not the Masters, I bid you,
and honour their art!
What speaks high in their praise
fell richly in your favour.
Not to your ancestors, however worthy,
not to your coat-of-arms, spear, or sword...
I have highlighted one of the stage directions, at this is what leads me to insist that it's Walther this tirade is adressed to. Obviously, in a very public manner, but all that talk about lineage and coats of arms only applies to him (a nobleman, ein Juncker), and not to the crowd (made up 100% of townspeople and Bürger). Obviously, as the monolgue advances, it is clear that the target of Sach's words is widened the crowd and the audience. But here I find a twist that could reflect some of Wagner's earlier anarchist leanings: it could be that Wagner (through Sachs) is putting the responsibility of "real" and "big" politics (kingdoms that decay, foreign rule and all that) on the nobility (the class Walther comes from), while the good working people (from which the masters emerge, and who embrace Walther despite his origins) represent the true and the good, and are the repositories of "holy Art" (German, of course). So yes, this is a statement about the timelessness and superiority of art (yes, German, but Nuremberg is hardly in Andalusia or Finland, is it? :D ). Then again, this can be interpreted as having a sinister streak, and being a percursor (or added fuel) to the völkisch movement (and we all know how strong that was in Cosima's Bayreuth). But I think this would be an ex-post interpretation (whteher a plausible one or not can be argued). In any case, I agree with Jo498 very eloquent exposition of the socio-historical background of this final monologue. :)
poco, you mentioned Wolfgang Wagner's second Bayreuth staging of the piece (the one on DVD conducted by Horst Stein), with the famous "reconciliation" of the community with Beckmesser (thanks to Sachs). I expressed my preference for his third (the first one was never fimed), also on DVD. To a great degree, this is because in this last approach to he work, Wolfgang managed to turn Nuremberg into a microcosm, making it clear that this fasciniating work talks about universal themes, not something specifically German. That he managed to do this without taking the action away from the original time and place is quite a feat, IMHO. This can be seen rather clearly in the beautiful set of the finale:
Cheers,
I understand the stage direction. I'd have to check through various DVDs to see how the scene is handled, but I'm inclined to think that from Hab acht! forward, the address is made more generally to the community.
Where do I find the DVD with Wolfgang's third staging?
you are right, I had not looked up the complete context. The passage in a sense also takes up the dialectics from the first scene/act when Walther is taught the rules. A possible ending for Walther could have been just to take the girl and leave the contest, the masters and Nuremberg behind. But this would be scorning the masters and their (German) Art. Sachs cannot allow this, the whole point of teaching Walther the proper balance between freedom and rule following and the rejuvenation of the Art by the creative outsider would have been lost if he scorned the masters and their Art in such a fashion. So this closes an important topic of the opera.
The wider context is, as I said, that the cultural identity will prevail even if the political structures falter. Or in the 19th century it was the other way round: The cultural identity was supposed to give stability and clear the ground for a national unity. Of course they believed also that their art was superior to "wälscher Tand". This would not be surprising in any case but it was also kind of necessary to believe in superiority in that field to stress its importance for the cultural identity, after all, if your national art sucks why not adopt a superior foreign one - this had been fairly common in the 18th century: Frederick II. spoke French better than German and entertained Voltaire and other French intellectuals at his court in Potsdam.
Of course such ideas were later also used to argue that because German culture was superior the nation should also be politically dominant and not take second place to France or Britain. That's why after 1871 they were so eager to get a few colonies. They resented being late in global history. But while that kind of resentment proved disastrous in the 20th century it was actually quite understandable for most of the 19th.
Recall also that many, especially artists and intellectuals were frustrated by the restauration of the monarchies after Napoleon had finally been beaten and then again by the failed revolution of 1848. Their culture, both the relatively recent (like Goethe and Schiller), the contemporary Romantics, but also the past, like the medieval Minnesaenger (all those guys at the Wartburg contest in Tannhaeuser) and the Meistersinger of the early modern era, basically the first poets writing in (early modern) German, was their only straw, the main thing they could be proud of.
Quote from: (poco) Sforzando on July 13, 2016, 01:04:23 PM
Where do I find the DVD with Wolfgang's third staging?
It's this one:
[asin]B0012K53TK[/asin]
I suppose (hope ::)) it can be found cheaper out there...
Cross-posted from the "What Opera Are You Listening..." thread, as this might be more appropriate here.
On the year's new production of
Die Meistersinger in Bayreuth, staged by
Barrie Kosky and conducted by
Philippe Jordan:
Quote from: ritter on July 27, 2017, 01:30:26 AM
In general, the reviews I've read in the German and Spanish press are favourable. I am of those who think that Wagner's rabid antisemtism is not reflected in the plots, characters or music of his dramatic works, but rather that the issue is completely ignored by him (in that context, obviously). Still, I am open to interpretations that take a different angle, and Barrie Kosky apparently has made a very eloquent and intelligent use of this notion in his work, and has garnered a resounding success. I will apply (again ::)) for tickets next year, to see if I get lucky. ;)
Some stills from the staging:
(https://i1.wp.com/ximo.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/mei_100717_032_enriconawrath_presse.jpg?w=549&h=365&crop&ssl=1)
Act 1 (set in Villa Wahnfried - a device already used by Sttefan herheim in his brilliant Parsifal staging).
(https://i1.wp.com/ximo.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/mei_110717_161_enriconawrath_presse.jpg?w=262&h=174&crop&ssl=1)
The Festwiese in Act 3 is the hall in which the Nuremberg trials were held after WW2.
(https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/http%3A%2F%2Fcom.ft.imagepublish.prod.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fdf295d7e-71fc-11e7-93ff-99f383b09ff9?source=next&fit=scale-down&width=700)
Beckmesser turned into a caricature of the jew as supposedly seen by Wagner.
The review (https://www.ft.com/content/692196d8-71fb-11e7-93ff-99f383b09ff9) by
Shirley Apthorp for the Financial Times.
And an article (http://www.lefigaro.fr/musique/2017/07/26/03006-20170726ARTFIG00210-wagner-son-antisemitisme-mis-a-nu-au-festival-de-bayreuth.php) from Le Figaro (in French)
EDIT: A glowing review (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jul/27/die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg-bayreuth-wagner-antisemitism) by
Martin Kettle in The Guardian.
Last night at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade, I heard one of our area community orchestras play some Wagner, a suite condensing the entire opera (Die Meistersinger).
We might almost say, in hindsight, it was just the experience I have been waiting for – although I have what is likely a very fine recording of the full opera, I haven't yet sat down to listen to it . . . and an opportunity to hear the music live is almost invariably a plus, for me.
I suppose that an arranger might feel that it was musically too steep (at least in terms of orchestral size) for a community orchestra--I think there are close to a dozen vocal lines involved, with the chorus split ten ways to Sunday, so to speak, on top of the orchestra itself--but one wishes they could have included the riot which ends Act II, and which is, ironically (since it is portraying an utterly chaotic scene onstage), a gigantic fugue that Johann Sebastian could probably not have bettered.
http://imslp.nl/imglnks/usimg/a/a5/IMSLP63566-PMLP16799-Wagner_-_Die_Meistersinger_-_Act_II.pdf
(Once you have suffered through the download process, you can go directly to Scene 7.)
I've never found the opera to be antiSemitic per se, I think Wagner meant to draw on pan Germanic nationalism, one of whose strains was unfortunately antiSemitism. I know Beckmesser's tune is alleged to be a satire of synagogue music, but it doesn't remind me of anything I've ever heard in a synagogue.
Interesting, Jeffrey, thanks. I don't think that angle has been the 'interference' at all . . . I've mostly been positively inclined to the work, as we played a band transcription, not of the Prelude per se, but of a medley of the best-known tunes which might serve as a "poor man's Overture," back in my school days.
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 27, 2017, 09:10:21 AM
We might almost say, in hindsight, it was just the experience I have been waiting for – although I have what is likely a very fine recording of the full opera, I haven't yet sat down to listen to it . . . and an opportunity to hear the music live is almost invariably a plus, for me.
Wonderful :) ..... but, did you
like it,
cher ami?
Oh, yes, indeed. So I am one step closer to giving the full opera a whirl.
Perhaps I shall treat myself, once the ballet is utterly finished 0:)
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on July 27, 2017, 09:32:44 AM
Interesting, Jeffrey, thanks. I don't think that angle has been the 'interference' at all . . . I've mostly been positively inclined to the work, as we played a band transcription, not of the Prelude per se, but of a medley of the best-known tunes which might serve as a "poor man's Overture," back in my school days.
Personally, I think the half hour or so which starts with the Quintet and ends with Walther's prize song is the best half hour of opera ever written.
Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on July 27, 2017, 09:37:04 AM
Personally, I think the half hour or so which starts with the Quintet and ends with Walther's prize song is the best half hour of opera ever written.
That, I fully agree with :)...Simply sublime, from one height to the next. Just wonderful!!! But I extend this remark through the end of the opera... ;)
Opera Australia are doing this one next year. It's one of the many productions they import from overseas which is a bit of a shame considering the success of their original Ring they did in 2016 and a few years before that
The highly praised new Bayreuth production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Philippe Jordan will appear on DVD (Deutsche Grammophon) in July. No cover yet...
I've got tickets to see it on August 21. :)
Quote from: ritter on May 02, 2018, 12:30:15 AM
The highly praised new Bayreuth production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Philippe Jordan will appear on DVD (Deutsche Grammophon) in July. No cover yet...
I've got tickets to see it on August 21. :)
Looking forward to this!
Same here. Kosky's production of Saul was wonderful, I thought.