Wagner's Valhalla

[jlaurson]

Stop responding to it, for Chrissake. Ignoring works better than complaining... and all the post-discussion bickering only encourages it to come back for some sniping.

[karlhenning]

But, Jens, I did thoroughly enjoy the poetical snippet Sforz provided, both in itself, and in this context.

[jlaurson]

But, Jens, I did thoroughly enjoy the poetical snippet Sforz provided, both in itself, and in this context.

That, truly, was the exception to the rule. 

[karlhenning]

And a master psychologist, to boot.

[MishaK]

And a master psychologist, to boot.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Now there was a librettist.

As I've always said, I'd be a fool not to consider Parsifal a very great work, but if it comes to what I'd rather listen to, I'll take G+S any time. 

[jlaurson]

As I've always said, I'd be a fool not to consider Parsifal a very great work...

A very innocent fool, at that!

...but if it comes to what I'd rather listen to, I'll take G+S any time. 

Speaking of which: It was brought to my attention only earlier this month that, to my astonishment, Penzance is actually a real place.

[(poco) Sforzando]

It was brought to my attention only earlier this month that, to my astonishment, Penzance is actually a real place.

Indeed it is, though pirate-free.

[Florestan]

As I've always said, I'd be a fool not to consider Parsifal a very great work, but if it comes to what I'd rather listen to, I'll take G+S any time. 

"Parsifal - the kind of opera that starts at six o'clock and after it has been going three hours, you look at your watch and it says 6:20" ---  David Randolph

I have no idea who DR was, but he certainly made a cogent point. 

[karlhenning]

No, no! The Prelude is a nice little ten minutes of music, really it is!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Noël Coward about Camelot: "My God, it's as long as PARSIFAL, but without the jokes!"

[karlhenning]

Nice!

[Chaszz]

"Parsifal - the kind of opera that starts at six o'clock and after it has been going three hours, you look at your watch and it says 6:20" ---  David Randolph

I have no idea who DR was, but he certainly made a cogent point. 

To appreciate Parsifal, one must see it as well as hear it. It lends itself less to pure hearing than any other opera I know. And its creator did have this little tic about a unity of the arts, just saying.  At the Met production by Otto Schenk, with sets and projections by Gunther Schneider-Siemssen, which has been around since the early nineties and which I saw six or seven years ago conducted by Valery Gergiev, I was enthralled throughout. Not that the five hours didn't seem like five hours, but they were five quite magical hours.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I have never seen Parsifal performed. And I don't have any problems with its length, nor with the strict observance of the unities. But I am used to reading plays and using my imagination. The few stagings of Wagner I have seen, have never had the same impact as purely listening to them. Perhaps, as a literary guy, that says more about me than about the performances. I always forget about the existence of DVDs, too...

[karlhenning]

I have never seen Parsifal performed. And I don't have any problems with its length, nor with the strict observance of the unities. But I am used to reading plays and using my imagination. The few stagings of Wagner I have seen, have never had the same impact as purely listening to them.

I can sign on to all this. Seeing it performed only serves to emphasize the tattered psychology and dramaturgy ; )

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I can sign on to all this. Seeing it performed only serves to emphasize the tattered psychology and dramaturgy ; )

 What bothers me more is the slant imposed by the director. I'd rather do the interpreting myself, with my mind as stage or film set. Wagner himself wished he had invented the invisible stage, so I'm simply following in the Master's footsteps.

[jlaurson]

Wagner without the Wagner:

Review: Virginia Opera's Wagnerian shortcoming
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/20/AR2011022003440.html


"To be fair, there are defendable reasons for cutting a Wagner score -
limited rehearsal time, budgets that would burst at the seams from the
overtime costs to union musicians playing works that can run over five
hours, a desire to introduce Wagner-phobic patrons to some glorious
music in smaller doses, etc. But there's sensible trimming, and then
there's whole-scale butchery."

[MishaK]

I have never seen Parsifal performed. And I don't have any problems with its length, nor with the strict observance of the unities. But I am used to reading plays and using my imagination. The few stagings of Wagner I have seen, have never had the same impact as purely listening to them. Perhaps, as a literary guy, that says more about me than about the performances. I always forget about the existence of DVDs, too...

To appreciate Parsifal, one must see it as well as hear it. It lends itself less to pure hearing than any other opera I know. And its creator did have this little tic about a unity of the arts, just saying.  At the Met production by Otto Schenk, with sets and projections by Gunther Schneider-Siemssen, which has been around since the early nineties and which I saw six or seven years ago conducted by Valery Gergiev, I was enthralled throughout. Not that the five hours didn't seem like five hours, but they were five quite magical hours.

I can empathize with both perspectives. But I think it depends on the opera and on the staging. The Ring, Lohengrin and Meistersinger I would certainly want to see on stage. The visuals are simply part of the whole. Parsifal I can go either way. If the staging is good, it does add something meaningful. But it is not necessarily essential. Tristan, I can do without the stage. Apart from the first act, for the rest, all you need is to be able to see the faces of the lead singers. The rest is just a waste of real estate, because the vast majority of the space on stage simply isn't needed for any physical action.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I find kind of outrageous how top 20 most frequently performed operas in North America don't include single one from Wagner. True, most of his operas are not that simple to get on stage, but considering how grand opera like Aida is on the list...

About 1,5 months till Parsifal in National opera. It has been long time since my last live Parsifal, let's see if they are able to do a decent performance.

[karlhenning]

I find kind of outrageous how top 20 most frequently performed operas in North America don't include single one from Wagner.

Why outrageous, exactly?