Wagner Society of Washington, DC: “Bringing Wagner’s Vision to Life” seminar
Underground Wagner
“Full frontal nudity in Wagnerian productions started in Scandinavia in the 1990s, in productions in Helsinki and Denmark”, musicologist and Wagner expert Dr. Daniel Freeman said during a day-long “Bringing Wagner’s Vision to Life” seminar, on November 20 in Washington, DC.
Dr. Daniel Freeman is a musicologist and Wagner expert.
Held underground, in the Smithsonian Institution’s S. Dillon Ripley Center, three floors below Washington’s Mall, the Wagner seminar was presented by the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program and the Wagner Society of Washington, DC.
Freeman hosted an educational, witty discussion of Wagner scenography, instrumentation, and singing for 150 attendees. There was also live singing, including solo non-Wagner arias by soprano Jennifer Wilson and tenor Jeffrey Springer. The two artists also performed part of the “O sink hernieder, Nacht der liebe” duet from Tristan und Isolde to Freeman’s evocative accompaniment.
(Wilson sings Brünnhilde in the Valencia Ring, shown in its entirety the Wagner Society of Washington recently on April 3, 2010)
Though Freeman’s presentation didn’t include any photos of Scandinavian Wagner nudity, there were lots of other production images in the Scenography part of the seminar, ranging from the early Wagnerian sets designed by Gotthold and Max Brückner, crafted in the romantic naturalism style of the nineteenth century, to images from and video excerpts of more recent productions.
Jennifer Wilson as Brünnhilde in the Valencia Ring.
Photo:
Palau de les Arts "Reina Sofia" Tato
Baeza ©
Among these, were the conclusion of Act I of Patrice Chéreau’s famous, 1976 Bayreuth Die Walküre and the Act II finale of the 2002 Stuttgart production of Siegfried, set in a junkyard.
In the latter production, Freeman compared Siegfried and Mime to a gay couple. “Mime is clearly a homosexual and he and Siegfried share a cluttered apartment. They are like Oscar and Felix in The Odd Couple,” Freeman explained.
Though admiring of Chereau’s directoral talents, Freeman questioned why the first act of Walküre “is set in a neo-classical mansion. Where are Sieglinde’s servants? Why does she have to prepare dinner? And why is Siegmund dressed liked Rodolfo in La bohème?”
As for the long, flowing dress Brünnhilde wears in Chéreau’s Siegfried and Götterdämmerung, Freeman wondered why “the character is dressed like Lucia di Lammermoor just before she goes mad.”
Withal, Freeman admires Chéreau’s Ring, noting after the seminar that “there are many very effective scenes. I could have spent the whole day going over what’s good, bad, and indifferent in that production. It was a very rich theater piece.”
Jeannine Altmeyer and Peter Hofmann in Die Walküre (Pierre Boulez / Patrice Chéreau's production at the Bayreuth Festival).
A professor at the University of Minnesota, Freeman also recently discussed Das Rheingold with the Wagner Society of the Upper Midwest.
Although Freeman said he enjoyed the singing in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Das Rheingold, he thought the set, which he dubs “the colossus”, intimidated the singers (he contrasted Stephanie Blythe’s vibrant Fricka in Seattle in 2009 to her more tentative 2010 Met appearance). Freeman also faulted the supertitles, especially when Freia is placed in a hammock and is clearly visible as the Nibelungen gold is piled up to ransom her.
Rhinemaidens in the new Rheingold at the Metropolitan Opera.
“The giants are only supposed to see a wisp of her hair and the gleam of her eye, but this makes no sense when she’s lying in full view of the audience. To deflect attention from this inconsistency, the Met selectively suppressed some of the translations,” Freeman pointed out.
Freeman showed the DVD version of the same scene from the previous, 1986, Met production of Das Rheingold, which he admires because it faithfully adheres to Wagner’s text. (Some Wagnerites thought the previous Met Ring production was too literal.)
Instrumentation and Orchestration
In his Instrumentation and Orchestration discussion, Freeman explained how Wagner’s complex musical scores “needed more than the usual rehearsal time and specially trained conductors. His compositions required special instruments and an immense orchestra—which Wagner eventually hid from the audience, creating the illusion the music came out of the air.”
“Nineteenth century opera orchestras rarely played in tune,” Freeman noted. “And before Wagner’s reforms, the orchestra pit was at the same level as the front of the auditorium and the tops of string basses sometimes projected above the stage floor. Wagner lowered the orchestra pit, especially in Bayreuth where the musicians are practically invisible.”
Singing Wagner
Decades ago, Jaro Prohaska, A Bayreuth Wotan, wore a wig covering his right eye, as Bryn Terfel does in the Metropolitan Opera's new Ring.
In the seminar’s Singing Wagner section, Freeman explained how Wagner selected and trained his own singers to project over the volume of the orchestra. “The Wagnerian vocal style was intended to more closely resemble human speech and Wagner wanted vocal declamation to sound natural and powerful—a style cultivated by shifting the musical interest and evocative effects from the singer to the orchestra,” Freeman explained.
Anna Konetzni, a Brünnhilde, with her art deco helmet and shield.
As contrast, he played “Ah! tardi troppo…O luce di quest’anima” from Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix, where coloratura soprano Joan Sutherland relies on a lot of old-fashioned portamento to slide through parts of the aria, then trills to its conclusion.
Freeman included historical images of Wagnerian singers, including a Wotan, Jaro Prohaska, whose hair covered his right eye decades before Bryn Terfel sported a similar look in the Met's Das Rheingold. Another singer of the past, Anna Konetzni, was shown with Brünnhilde's helmet and shield, fashioned in the art deco style.
Before Wilson sang her solo aria, Fidelio’s “Abescheulicher!”, Freeman emphasized an important difference between Beethoven and Wagner: “With Beethoven, there is a always a sense of structure. With Wagner, you never know what is coming next.”
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