Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. Balcony (Seat E115, $152.50).
Story. See
previous post.
Conductor – Philippe Jordan. Norns – Ronnita Miller, Elizabeth Bishop,
Wendy Bryn Harmer; Brunnhilde – Christine Goerke, Siegfried – Andreas Schager,
Gunther – Evgeny Nikitin, Hagen – Eric Owens, Gutrune – Edith Haller, Waltraute
– Michaela Schuster, Alberich – Tomasz Konieczny, Woglinde – Amanda Woodbury,
Wellgunde – Samantha Hankey, Flosshilde – Tamara Mumford.
Wagner first wrote the “poem” to this opera, calling it
“Siegfried’s Death.” He kept writing
prequels until he reached Das Rheingold.
Even though this was the longest of the four operas, and perhaps even
the most dramatic (we have deceit, jealousy, betrayal, death, self-immolation,
and – depends on how you want to look at it – annihilation or redemption, it’s
not the most popular of the four. We saw
for the four operas performances number 171, 541, 273, and 238; making Die
Walkure the most popular one, by far, and surprisingly Das Rheingold the least
performed one.
One can argue whether the story lines contain too many
holes (which different people will fill in differently), or too many
inconsistencies (in which case one has to suspend logic), but there are enough
dramatic elements to keep the audience engaged.
I am sure much more time has been spent on understanding
and appreciating Wagner’s music than his libretto, perhaps to Wagner’s chagrin,
but that’s how it should be. Wagner after
all has a lot more impact on music than on literature; I am sure that’s not a
controversial point.
The norms remain a mystery to me. They sounded like they were predicting the
future, and were busy weaving as they did so.
Neither Anne nor I caught how the ropes suddenly disappear; we both
claimed we lost our concentration only briefly.
The new characters introduced in this opera are Hagen,
Gunther, and Gutrune. These
half-siblings evidently have the same mother, since having the same father
would make even less sense. Owens voice
was among the weakest. His hatred
towards Siegfried was mostly because of his father Alberich’s influence, which
may explain why his heart didn’t seem to be in it. He was the last man standing at the end of
the opera; clearly a significant point, but I do not get it.
The synopsis’s description of how Gunther and Siegfried
deceive Brunnhilde is as confusing as ever, although things were clearer when
the plot got acted out on stage.
For this Ring cycle, the machine worked well nearly all
of the time. Of course, I do not know if
there was a lot of manual override to get the planks aligned properly, The only time it hit a real glitch was when
Erda came out from earth in Das Rheingold.
Other complaints would be the creaks when the planks were turning, they
were not bad as I remember from prior Ring performances. And I wonder if the singers needed to be
extra careful around them. Having seen
it a few times, it no longer amazes.
The synopsis in the playbill continue to say Brunnhilde
rides Grane into the fire. For tonight
she led it into the fire. CS mentioned
that the immolation scene was so “lame” that he didn’t know what it was until
he read the program notes.
The Three Norns and Waltrute after Act 1.
The Rheinmaidens, Hagen, Siegfried, Maestro Jordan, Brunnhilde, Gunther and Gutrune at the conclusion of the opera, and the Ring.
So, this was it. A
5 ½ hour event to conclude the Ring Cycle.
It was a great one, I am glad we went. I still remember remarking after
Seattle that I wasn’t sure I would go see another one; now I am quite sure I
will if the timing works out. To put
together something as complex as the ring takes a lot of talent and effort, and
to do it well – as was the case here – is a feat only few organizations can
pull off. Perhaps my recollected has
dulled over the passage of time, but this was the best overall Ring cycle I
have seen.
I had my doubts that – after seeing her performance as
Elecktra - that Goerke could pull this off.
She did, although I am a bit disappointed that her multi-faceted portrayal
of Brunnhilde in Die Walkure did not carry through to Siegfried and
Gotterdammerung. Schager as Siegfried
was impressive. We saw Jordan at the Paris
Opera (Bastille) a couple of years back, that didn’t leave much impression on
me. He was great this past week.
For the record, I copy the durations of the four operas as
listed in the Playbills below:
- Das Rheingold [150 mins] Total 2 hrs 30 mins
- Die Walkure [Act 1 65 mins][Intermission 39 mins][Act 2 90 mins][Intermission 35 mins][Act 3 66 mins] Total 4 hrs 55 mins
- Siegfried [Act 1 82 mins][Intermission 37 mins][Act 2 73 mins][Intermission 35 mins][Act 3 79 mins] 5 hrs 6 mins
- Gotterdammerung [Prologe&Act 1 119 mins][Intermission 40 mins][Act 2 60 min][Intermission 31 mins][Act 3 76 mins] Total 5 hrs 32 mins
There are many reviews in the New York Times about this
Ring cycle. This one discusses Wotan as sung
by Michael Volle, the three critics had nothing but praise for him. I could not find a review of Goerke as
Brunnhilde, but here is an NPR article on her.
We got into town quite early, and stopped by to have
Ramen before the concert. The concert
ended at 11:45 pm (time stamp on my iPhone photos), and it was close to 1 am
when we got home.
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