Wagner's Valhalla

Started by Greta, April 07, 2007, 08:09:57 PM

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J.Z. Herrenberg

Quote from: Anne on August 05, 2008, 12:21:32 PM
I've been on the internet since 1994 (if I remember correctly - whenever the OJ civil trial was offered on the internet but not on TV - we could read the transcripts).

On one of the sites someone said it was very easy to get tickets from his country.  Apparently a lot of tickets are allotted to that country because it had helped Germany,or Wagner, in the past.  I cannot remember the country but maybe some of you might.

Switzerland perhaps, the country Wagner fled to after the failed revolution in Dresden, 1848.
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Anne

You may be correct; I don't know.  Maybe if people would start asking other people if it is easy to get tickets in the various countries, perhaps the ID will be discovered again.

Iago

#722
Anne is correct. I was at Bayreuth in 1968 or 1969 (I'm not sure which).
I suppose things have changed in the 40 years  that have passed since then but;...

I flew from NY to Paris. (spent one week there)
Then I took a student flight across the Channel to London. Such flights were also available to teachers. Spent a week in London
Then I took another student flight from London to Amsterdam, where I rented a car.
I drove through most of the European continent. From Amsterdam to Nuremberg, thence to Bayreuth. I arrived in Bayreuth the day prior to the opening of the festival, with NO opera tickets and NO hotel reservation. However, that didn't bother me since I could always sleep in the car if necessary. I did manage to get a room in the Bayreuth Hof, but was told by the Concierge that it would only be for one night as the rooms had been reserved for the entire length of the festival. But I took that room and spent the remainder of the day roaming the areas around the Opera house and visiting Wagners home and burial place.The next morning while reading the "Herald Tribune" in the lobby of the hotel and awaiting "checkout time", I overheard a patron asking the desk clerk, if her opera tickets had yet arrived?. The clerk said no, but I later learned that the mail was delivered two or three times a day in those years and that the hotels ticket allotment would probably be arriving in the 1 PM mail. I asked the clerk if there was a possibility of there being any "unaccounted for" tickets. She said to check back after they arrived. THERE WERE. I managed to purchase a ticket for the OPENING NIGHT - Der Fliegende Hollander under Silvio Varviso, with McIntyre, Talvela and Rysanek in major roles. Amazingly the clerk charged me EXACTLY the price on the face of the ticket. Imagine how much I would have to pay in "fees" if I tried to do the same thing for opening night at the Met?
The performance was stupefyingly awesome, and the opening music of the Overture still resounds in my memory. WHAT A SOUND!!!! Almost tactile.
Now I had no hotel room, but I tried some pensiones about 20 miles from Bayreuth. I managed to find one, where I was made to feel welcome, even though pictures of the landlords son in full Nazi Luftwaffe regalia hung on the walls.
The next day, I returned to the "hill" and managed to actually obtain a ticket for that nights performance of Parsifal, under Horst Stein. (Don't remember the cast- but I think Martha Modl was Kundry). I stayed in that pensione for two nights and then left for Munich.
From Munich, I drove to Salzburg, Austria, where I was able to attend a performance of Don Giovanni (under Von Karajan). Since I hate Mozart operas, that was a torture, but it was worthwhile to see HvK in Salzburg. Then across the Austrian and Italian Alps to Venice. Then to Pisa, Florence and finally Rome,  where I saw an Aida at the "Baths of Caracalla".   Spectacular production, but actually amateurishly sung, played and conducted.

Flew home from Rome. Trip lasted six weeks, and I never did have to sleep in the car.
"Good", is NOT good enough, when "better" is expected

J.Z. Herrenberg

Thanks for this epic account, Iago!!
Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything. -- Plato

Renfield

Quote from: Jezetha on August 05, 2008, 10:51:46 PM
Thanks for this epic account, Iago!!

Inspirational, even. Thank you from me as well, Iago.

marvinbrown

Quote from: Iago on August 05, 2008, 10:45:57 PM
Anne is correct. I was at Bayreuth in 1968 or 1969 (I'm not sure which).
I suppose things have changed in the 40 years  that have passed since then but;...

I flew from NY to Paris. (spent one week there)
Then I took a student flight across the Channel to London. Such flights were also available to teachers. Spent a week in London
Then I took another student flight from London to Amsterdam, where I rented a car.
I drove through most of the European continent. From Amsterdam to Nuremberg, thence to Bayreuth. I arrived in Bayreuth the day prior to the opening of the festival, with NO opera tickets and NO hotel reservation. However, that didn't bother me since I could always sleep in the car if necessary. I did manage to get a room in the Bayreuth Hof, but was told by the Concierge that it would only be for one night as the rooms had been reserved for the entire length of the festival. But I took that room and spent the remainder of the day roaming the areas around the Opera house and visiting Wagners home and burial place.The next morning while reading the "Herald Tribune" in the lobby of the hotel and awaiting "checkout time", I overheard a patron asking the desk clerk, if her opera tickets had yet arrived?. The clerk said no, but I later learned that the mail was delivered two or three times a day in those years and that the hotels ticket allotment would probably be arriving in the 1 PM mail. I asked the clerk if there was a possibility of there being any "unaccounted for" tickets. She said to check back after they arrived. THERE WERE. I managed to purchase a ticket for the OPENING NIGHT - Der Fliegende Hollander under Silvio Varviso, with McIntyre, Talvela and Rysanek in major roles. Amazingly the clerk charged me EXACTLY the price on the face of the ticket. Imagine how much I would have to pay in "fees" if I tried to do the same thing for opening night at the Met?
The performance was stupefyingly awesome, and the opening music of the Overture still resounds in my memory. WHAT A SOUND!!!! Almost tactile.
Now I had no hotel room, but I tried some pensiones about 20 miles from Bayreuth. I managed to find one, where I was made to feel welcome, even though pictures of the landlords son in full Nazi Luftwaffe regalia hung on the walls.
The next day, I returned to the "hill" and managed to actually obtain a ticket for that nights performance of Parsifal, under Horst Stein. (Don't remember the cast- but I think Martha Modl was Kundry). I stayed in that pensione for two nights and then left for Munich.
From Munich, I drove to Salzburg, Austria, where I was able to attend a performance of Don Giovanni (under Von Karajan). Since I hate Mozart operas, that was a torture, but it was worthwhile to see HvK in Salzburg. Then across the Austrian and Italian Alps to Venice. Then to Pisa, Florence and finally Rome,  where I saw an Aida at the "Baths of Caracalla".   Spectacular production, but actually amateurishly sung, played and conducted.

Flew home from Rome. Trip lasted six weeks, and I never did have to sleep in the car.

  WOW Iago wonderful, absolutely wonderful thank you so much for contributing.  Now.....now,  if only I can be so lucky!

  marvin

zamyrabyrd

Cool.

Quote from: Iago on August 05, 2008, 10:45:57 PM
Then to Pisa, Florence and finally Rome,  where I saw an Aida at the "Baths of Caracalla".   Spectacular production, but actually amateurishly sung, played and conducted.

Apart from La Scala, isn't the above more the rule rather than the exception in Italy?

ZB
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

M forever

#727
Yes, it is. That is why, apart from the few people who work at La Scala, all musicians in Italy are amateurs. That is also why there are no professional conductors, singers, or instrumentalists from Italy who work elsewhere.  ::)


Seriously now, do you Americans all get dropped on your head right after you are born? What does it feel like to be so ............?

Edited by Knight

knight66

I agree with M, many of the provincial theatres have a good and long tradition. Abbado and Roberto Abbado, Muti and Chailly are just four good conductors who worked on a regular basis with provincial companies. Rome can often get its act together when the unions are not in dispute, Venice produces first class opera on a regular basis, Verona with its festival is neither entirely unknown or undistinguished.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

zamyrabyrd

Quote from: knight on August 09, 2008, 10:49:06 PM
I agree with M, many of the provincial theatres have a good and long tradition. Abbado and Roberto Abbado, Muti and Chailly are just four good conductors who worked on a regular basis with provincial companies. Rome can often get its act together when the unions are not in dispute, Venice produces first class opera on a regular basis, Verona with its festival is neither entirely unknown or undistinguished.
Mike

So you're all saying that first class opera is the rule rather than the exception in Italy, with all those homegrown contemporary great singers and conductors? Can you recommend any recent great DVD's apart from La Scala so I can run out and go buy them?

ZB
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

knight66

You are being sarcastic now....have a look through the catalogues for your self, but remember, there are masses of very good artists who never get recorded. What evidence have you that La Scala is the only company worth listening to?

I mentioned some and add to the list Naples, Palermo and Parma. Just as with other countries, they employ musicians from other countries. Opera Mag reviews them on occasion and often in the past I have noted favourably. Of course there can be variable standards.....rather like I have noticed at all the opera companies in the UK. Provincial opera companies in Italy is not my specialist subject. However, to suggest there is only one company worth listening to is absurd. 

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

zamyrabyrd

#731
Quote from: knight on August 10, 2008, 04:29:59 AM
You are being sarcastic now....have a look through the catalogues for yourself, but remember, there are masses of very good artists who never get recorded. What evidence have you that La Scala is the only company worth listening to?

I mentioned some and add to the list Naples, Palermo and Parma. Just as with other countries, they employ musicians from other countries. Opera Mag reviews them on occasion and often in the past I have noted favourably. Of course there can be variable standards.....rather like I have noticed at all the opera companies in the UK. Provincial opera companies in Italy is not my specialist subject. However, to suggest there is only one company worth listening to is absurd. 

Mike

Mike, sweetheart, first of all, a QUESTION does not deserve an insult. I don't know what sharkface wrote and I don't appreciate either of you twisting what I said. I didn't say there was NO opera outside La Scala. I was just questioning whether outside its hallowed halls in Italy the rule is top quality. I have seen on many occasions Italian opera productions that were downright silly, in particular, Aida, that seems to be popular. Actually both of you can answer without being insulting. And it is a good question.

Because Opera may have originated in Italy back in 1600 and because so much development happened there, there is a lingering impression that it is still the cutting edge of vocal music. From what I read and heard that doesn't seems to be true. And Italians I have spoken to seem to think that opera ended with Puccini. But I MAY be wrong.

Instead, the focus on the HIGHEST levels SEEMS to have shifted to places like Berlin, Bayreuth, Vienna, London, Paris, Milan (of course) and the main companies of the US.

If any of you can't bother to be civil, don't bother to answer.

ZB

"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Wendell_E

Quote from: zamyrabyrd on August 10, 2008, 03:54:02 AM
Can you recommend any recent great DVD's apart from La Scala so I can run out and go buy them?


I've enjoyed the DVDs of Strauss' Daphne and Massenet's Thaïs from Venice's Teatro la Fenice, and Vivaldi's Ercole su'l Termodonte from the Spoleto Fetival.  I haven't actually seen them, but I've heard good things an Ariodante (also from Spoleto) and an Abbado-led Simon Boccanegra from the Florence May Festival.

Not on DVD but the CD recording of Le Comte Ory with Flórez from the Rossini Festival in Pesaro is pretty good, and I've heard good things about a live recording of Die Zauberflöte from Modena with Abbado conduting.

"Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience." ― Mark Twain

uffeviking

You won't believe what my favorite Aida on DVD is: A 2001 production at the Teatro Giuseppe Verdi, directed by Franco Zefferelli, and staring students and recent graduates of that Busseto school. No big stars, a conductor I never heard of, and Zefferelli is definitely not my favourite director.

The enthusiasm and dedication to the opera displayed by everybody involved proved to me there is hope for the future of opera. Scott Piper a young black American, was moved to the brink of tears by the thundering applause he received not only for the big hit beginning aria, but at the end of the performance. There is not one bad voice in the entire cast, I love it!

Sarastro

As an Italian-oriented opera lover just started with Wagner. Nothing very special, "Tristan und Isolde" with Nilsson and Windgassen. Stunning!!! Re-listened several times. Definitely, I must hear some more Wagner.

marvinbrown

Quote from: Sarastro on August 11, 2008, 05:39:08 PM
As an Italian-oriented opera lover just started with Wagner. Nothing very special, "Tristan und Isolde" with Nilsson and Windgassen. Stunning!!! Re-listened several times. Definitely, I must hear some more Wagner.

  Be prepared to be blown away by the Ring  0:)!

  marvin

Sarastro

Quote from: marvinbrown on August 12, 2008, 02:59:56 AM
  Be prepared to be blown away by the Ring  0:)!

I am already blown away by Salome! What is left of me for the Ring? ;D

PerfectWagnerite

Quote from: Sarastro on August 12, 2008, 11:27:20 AM
I am already blown away by Salome! What is left of me for the Ring? ;D
Salome? Salome ain't a pimple compared to the Ring.

uffeviking

No, next post is not about Wagner, but you mentioned Salome and I wonder which performance it was that blew you away. Not this one, it's not released yet, but here is little taste of it:

http://www.opusarte.com/pages/product.asp?ProductID=253


Sarastro

Quote from: uffeviking on August 12, 2008, 11:41:02 AM
No, next post is not about Wagner, but you mentioned Salome and I wonder which performance it was that blew you away. Not this one, it's not released yet, but here is little taste of it:

http://www.opusarte.com/pages/product.asp?ProductID=253

Scary pictures, indeed. I'd better stay with the music only. ;D Salome is so electrifying, I must hear some more Strauss either!