Metropolitan Opera – Wagner’s Siegfried. May 2, 2019.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Balcony (Seat E115, $152.50).

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – Philippe Jordan; Mime – Gerhard Siegel, Siegfried – Andreas Schager, The Wanderer (Wotan) – Michael Wolfe, Alberich – Thomasz Konieczny, Fafner – Dmitry Belosselskyiy, A Woodbird – Erin Morley, Erda – Karen Cargill, Brunnhilde – Christine Goerke.

The story to Siegfried is simple.  The Playbill actually calls this the “comic opera of the Ring.”  The three acts can be summarized as follows.  Act 1.  Siegfried is raised by Mime, the latter is planning to steal the treasure after Siegfried kills Fafner.  Siegfried melts down Nothung and forces a new sword from it.  Act 2.  Siegfried kills the dragon, claims the treasure, and kills Mime before he could poison him.  Being able to hear the woodbird after having tasted Fafner’s blood, Siegfried proceeds to find Brunnhilde asleep on a mountain surrounded by fire.  Act 3.  Siegfried wakes Brunnhilde, and the two fall in love.

There are some side plots that took considerable time, such as how Wotan became the Wanderer and warned the dragon (why?) in Act 2, and how the sword forged by Siegfried broke Wotan’s staff, thus signifying the shift in the story from the gods to the humans.  And I was surprised in the Act 3 duet there was mention of “twilight of the gods.”  I assume that would be “Gotterdammerung” in German – indeed it is as a search of the web for the lyrics would confirm.

The Program Note quotes from what Wagner wrote Liszt “Only in the course of composing the music does the essential meaning of my poem dawn on me.  Secrets are continually being revealed to me that had previously been hidden from me …”  It wasn’t like the story came to Wagner in a dream so he didn’t know its full implications, but I will allow as the creator he could re-interpret the storyline as he wished.  What I have trouble with is how critics can see layers of meaning in the plot that I am sure Wagner didn’t think of as he was creating the work; some people take themselves too seriously.

One aspect of the opera I hadn’t realized before (don’t worry, I am not philosophizing) was how much it asked of Siegfried.  Other than some tender moments with Brunnhilde, he basicially had to belt out his lines.  A keen observer might notice some fading towards the end, but to me he sounded spectacular throughout the opera.  And he didn’t get to just stand/sit there and sing, I was particularly impressed with how much he moved around as he wasn’t reforging Nothung; that included pounding on the sword, in rhythm.  Siegfried has to be one of the most difficult tenor roles in the opera genre.

I was a bit disappointed at Goerke tonight.  For my last review I described her voice as having a sweet quality to it, unexpected but appreciated.  If she needed to be tender and wistful, it was during Act 3 where she struggled with falling in love with Siegfried.  Instead her voice was a bit on the harsh side.  If I remember the story correctly, Gotterdammerung calls for a range of emotions from Brunnhilde (blissfulness, jealously, regret, among others), I wonder which Goerke will show up.

 It is amazing that the singers can be heard above such a large orchestra.  Six harps!

 Curtain Call after Act 1.  Wotan, Mime, and Siegfried.

 Curtain Call Act 2.  Mime, Siegfried, Wotan, Woodbird (sung by Erin Morley), Fafner, and Alberich.

Curtain Call Act 3.  Wotan, Erda, Brunnhilde, Maestro, and Siegfried.

Perhaps I was influenced by the Playbill, I did find many aspects of Siegfried to be comical.  So did the audience, if the chuckles every now and then are any indication.

The set again worked quite well today.  CS said he was quite impressed.  Having seen this a few times, I must say it seemed a bit “old hat.”  I do wonder if they can “restructure” the scenery for future Ring cycles, or repurpose the planks for use in other operas.  It is still a mystery to me how they project the different images onto the planks.

My expectations of this opera weren’t very high, being biased somewhat by how I remembered the three that I had seen before tonight.  (In re-reading my entries, my view had improved considerably.)  While it didn’t take me on an emotional roller-coaster, it did make me appreciate more the genius of Wagner and his realization of this Gesamtkunstwerk mentality.

Today’s traffic into town was a bit busier, I parked the car at around 5 pm.  Dinner was again street food eaten at Richard Tucker Park.  It was close to 12:30 am when we got home.