"Tristan und Isolde" at the Met

[whipped guy]

...it totally confuses those new to the art form.

 

I have posted this many time before, but I had "words" with a now retired escort who lives a few blocks away from the MET. He had a client who took him to the opera. He actually thought that Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1831) was a Twentieth Century composer because the MET's lunatic staging takes place in the Twentieth Century, and he told me that I the one who was off the wall for saying otherwise! I guess he did not read the program where the history of the work's composition was discussed and the directors concept was explained!

In terms of all these concept productions, I think directors will claim that audiences are bored with the traditional stagings - but I think what's probably much more true is that the directors are bored.

 

In one case, it's even documented that the star was bored - when the Met hired Natalie Dessay to star in a new production of La Sonnambula, directed by Mary Zimmerman, supposedly Dessay only agreed on the condition that the production wouldn't be "the same old tired Swiss village" setting. The result of that, however - a sort of "backstage musical" concept where the singers in a dress rehearsal of La Sonnambula found themselves identifying too closely with their characters - or something like that - was one of the most awful confusing messes the Met has staged in recent times.

 

When a playwright or composer updates a piece and creates something wholly new from an older story - Anouilh's Antigone, Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera, etc, it's one thing. We could certainly argue as well that Wagner was taking ancient stories and putting a contemporary spin on them, depending on how you want to read into his attraction to the stories to begin with. And occasionally I have seen productions - some Shakespeare, some opera, a handful of musicals - with updated concept direction, that have worked. But for the most part, updated settings always always always leave a huge something to be desired.

 

Boston recently got the controversial Calixto Bieto production of Carmen - controversial for its rethought, updated staging, and also for its raw sexuality. The latter was not nearly as shocking as I was led to believe it was going to be - and in terms of the concept itself, most of it didn't make a case for why it was any better than what we're more used to seeing. Some of it made no sense. Some of it was just terribly directed. And some of it was unintentionally comical (that is to say, the choices made in the direction provoked derisive audience laughter - not because Bieto found humor he wanted to explore.) Musically, it was a pretty good performance - it's a shame that it often seemed to be working against the story instead of illuminating it. Ultimately, a truly wasted opportunity - especially as this was a landmark production, the first opera staged in the Boston Opera House in 25 years. (Since its recent renovation, it's essentially been used as a Broadway touring house.)

 

And let's not forget that one of the "wunderkinder" of concept opera productions was Peter Sellars, who was updating Mozart and Handel operas back in the 1980's, before "regietheatre" was really even a trendy term. And maybe it's time to go look back at the video of his Marriage Of Figaro, set in trump Tower - with new eyes, lol.

 

Or not.

 

I saw that production at the Met. La Sonnambula is one of my favorite opera and I was never confused. Yes, Dessay and Florez are major opera stars, so I am not sure it would have work as well with unknowns.

 

Regarding the MET's La Sonnambula... Well I was totally confused and it did not work for me. At the time I described it as music by Bellini set to a libretto by Luigi Pirandello.

 

Yes, it was indeed Dessay who would only sing the piece if the original Swiss village concept were dropped. Would that she had sung the piece decently... The same for Damrau who last sang the production. Both were total amateurs in my book compared to those who have tackled the piece in the past. Don't send the hate mail to my inbox, but if one listens to their broadcasts and compares it to anything Callas or Sutherland did live with the piece I rest my case. Heck compare them to live recordings of June Anderson, Renata Scotto, and Patrizia Cioffi and I'll rest my case. I'm almost tempted to say Margarita Rinaldi...

 

What bothered me most about the production concerned the fact that when in the final scene it showed the actual rehearsal of the creators original Swiss village concept it was presented in a very condescending manner. At the performance that I attended the audience laughed. It was as though the director needed to pound an extra nail into the coffins of Bellini and his librettist Felice Romani.

 

In my book La Sonnambula is the quinessential Bellini opera with one gorgeous long melody after another. The 1955 La Scala production by Visconti proved that the opera can indeed but taken seriously as originally conceived. We need to return to that era.

 

And while on the subject of Bellini, if you want to be totally confused check out what they have been doing to poor Norma at Covent Garden! I shudder to think what David McVicar will do with the piece when it opens the MET's 2017-18 season. Well, it probably will be thought provoking...

 

Regarding Peter Sellers... The bad boy who helped start this lunacy... Let's not forget Despina's Dinner in Così fan Tutte!

[+ WilliamM]

Regarding the MET's La Sonnambula... Well I was totally confused and it did not work for me. At the time I described it as music by Bellini set to a libretto by Luigi Pirandello.

 

I became interested in opera a lot later in life than you. It's a huge issue in this discussion.

 

I have hated some of the new staging of opera, especially Wagner, in Germany But, I have been more pleased with productions of Wagner's and Strauss' operas I have seen elsewhere in Europe, especially Paris.

[whipped guy]

You have written a lot about opera, but I can not remember much about opera in Europe or Australia. I became interested in opera a lot later in life than you. I have hated some of the new staging of opera, especially Wagner, in Germany But, I have been more pleased with productions of Wagner's and Strauss' operas I have seen elsewhere in Europe, especially Paris.

Other than seeing a very tradition performance of Bellini's I Puritani at the Rome Opera, I have not experienced live Opera in Europe. Having lived close enough to NYC most of my operatic experiences have been at the old NYC Opera and the MET. I saw my first opera in NYC in 1968 as a teen. However, I have viewed many European productions on video and some are totally insane (and not just what is being produced in Germany!) and the insanity is now coming to the MET. If one just does a study of recent productions of Puccini's Manon Lescaut that alone would give enough fodder for a doctoral thesis on the subject! Among other things, there will not be much "trine morbide" (soft lace) seen, even though one of Manon's big aria's is "In quelle trine morbide"!!!!! Go figure!!!!!

[+ Charlie]

Sometimes new conceptions work, sometimes they don't. I saw a Rigoletto in Melbourne that was transposed to Italy in the 1950s , which I enjoyed very much. I particularly remember Rigoletto and Gilda arriving at Sparafucile's at night in a tiny Fiat, the only light on stage at the beginning coming from their headlights. Another one that stunned me at first (I knew nothing about the production ahead of time) was a Hamburg Oper Lohengrin set in a post-War German high school classroom, Elsa an adolescent in classic 1950s outfit (even the pink pop-beads in her hair), and Lohengrin the mysterious, attractive new kid in the class (Ortrud was the leader of the "mean girls" who did the best to screw up Elsa's relationship with him, and Telramund was the jealous leader of the other boys in the class). It was silly, but did open a new perspective on an old human pattern. On the whole, however, I much prefer traditional stagings that don't conflict with the libretto in jarring ways.

[+ Charlie]

I think, for a serious opera fan, the non-traditional new conceptions work best on an opera which is unfamiliar to us, so we are not comparing it to other productions that have already conditioned our expectations. I am thinking right now about the production I saw a couple of years ago at the ENO of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's 18th century opera Medee. Although I am of course familiar with the Greek legend, I did not know the opera at all. McVicar had transposed it to Europe in 1940 and did it in English translation. It got rave reviews and everyone I knew in London who had seen it urged me to go. I thought the revision was brilliantly appropriate to the subject matter, and undoubtedly I enjoyed it much more than I would a faithful reproduction of Charpentier's original.

[+ WilliamM]

I think, for a serious opera fan, the non-traditional new conceptions work best on an opera which is unfamiliar to us, so we are not comparing it to other productions that have already conditioned our expectations

 

I totally agree. With two exceptions, the operas I have seen in Europe and Australia were new experiences for me.

[bostonman]

Yes, it was indeed Dessay who would only sing the piece if the original Swiss village concept were dropped. Would that she had sung the piece decently... The same for Damrau who last sang the production. Both were total amateurs in my book compared to those who have tackled the piece in the past. Don't send the hate mail to my inbox, but if one listens to their broadcasts and compares it to anything Callas or Sutherland did live with the piece I rest my case. Heck compare them to live recordings of June Anderson, Renata Scotto, and Patrizia Cioffi and I'll rest my case. I'm almost tempted to say Margarita Rinaldi...

 

I agree with you in terms of past interpreters of the role, though I didn't hate either Dessay or Damrau was much as you may have, lol. I certainly feel I have heard a few very miscast singers at the Met in the last few seasons, but I wouldn't count either of these 2 ladies. (I will say I'm glad that it seems another Met star, Ms. Netrebko, is finally veering away from the bel canto rep that she is so totally unsuited for. I've enjoyed her in other operas, but her bel canto singing is just too messy.)

 

I feel it's tough to make the argument about dead/retired singers, though. Legacy is absolutely important, and also, it's human nature to tend to weigh our memories of the "golden" past with the feeling that what we have now is not as good. But in the meantime, if we don't find ways to honor our current singers, we do a disservice to them. Sometimes, yes, it's a question of the right singers in the right roles, etc - but I think it's nicer to hear a Sonnambula with the likes of a Dessay or a Damrau than to not hear it at all.

 

But that's an argument for a whole other thread, lol.

[body2body]

I have seen Tristan und Isolde on four occasions, twice in LA with David Hockney's brilliant ( yet very traditional decors) directed by Jonathan Miller, once at the Bavarian State Opera in a very unconventional updated production that had the saving grace of a stunning performance by Waltraud Meier. The Fourth and most satisfying was LA Philharmonic's semi staged production known as "The Tristan Project" which had largely invisible action devised by Peter Sellars, and the stunning and utterly fascinating Video Projections of the Artist Bill Viola. You attended one act each night. For me the greatest problem with Tristan is Wagner's Libretto. He has given us a story where over 4 1/2 hours very little really happens. People sing about what happened, and the consequences of what happens without doing much. A friend once said that Puccini would have covered the same material in 90 minutes with a much more enjoyable experience. Wagner gave us Philosophical tract derived from his admiration for Schopenhauer. The Tristan Project let you enjoy the music and gave you arresting visuals that underscored the thematic content in digestable amounts. The essential problem with this Music Drama is there is glorious music, and a very poorly conceived drama.

[whipped guy]

I agree with you in terms of past interpreters of the role, though I didn't hate either Dessay or Damrau was much as you may have, lol. I certainly feel I have heard a few very miscast singers at the Met in the last few seasons, but I wouldn't count either of these 2 ladies. (I will say I'm glad that it seems another Met star, Ms. Netrebko, is finally veering away from the bel canto rep that she is so totally unsuited for. I've enjoyed her in other operas, but her bel canto singing is just too messy.)

 

I feel it's tough to make the argument about dead/retired singers, though. Legacy is absolutely important, and also, it's human nature to tend to weigh our memories of the "golden" past with the feeling that what we have now is not as good. But in the meantime, if we don't find ways to honor our current singers, we do a disservice to them. Sometimes, yes, it's a question of the right singers in the right roles, etc - but I think it's nicer to hear a Sonnambula with the likes of a Dessay or a Damrau than to not hear it at all.

 

But that's an argument for a whole other thread, lol.

I'll give Dessay a pass as she at least sang all the notes if not as well as some others, but Damrau was totally out of it at least based on the broadcast. What really puzzled me concerned the fact that the audience began applauding wildly well before the curtain falls during the short choral postlude at the conclusion of "Ah, non giunge", and to these ears she barely got through the piece. That sort of premature applause always happened when Callas sang the piece and the choral postlude was usually cut when Sutherland did it to avoid having the audience applaud prematurely.

 

It was only later that I learned that Damrau did a cartwheel ( not exactly in the libretto by the way! ) at that point and the audience was applauding in response to that as opposed to her singing. Personally I would have rather heard the piece sung properly.

 

Also, to illustrate that I am not totally living in the past , I probably should have mentioned some singers who are still active who I have heard as Amina (at least via recordings) such as Egliese Giutiérrez, Ana Durlovki, and most impressive of all Jessica Pratt. All have performed the role much more effectively in recent years than has Ms. Damrau who I find can be quite sloppy and inconsistent. She was fine in L'Elisir d'Amore, Pearl Fishers, and Le Comte Ory, but horrendous as Lucia, Rosina, and obviously Amina in my book.

[body2body]

In terms of all these concept productions, I think directors will claim that audiences are bored with the traditional stagings - but I think what's probably much more true is that the directors are bored.

 

In one case, it's even documented that the star was bored - when the Met hired Natalie Dessay to star in a new production of La Sonnambula, directed by Mary Zimmerman, supposedly Dessay only agreed on the condition that the production wouldn't be "the same old tired Swiss village" setting. The result of that, however - a sort of "backstage musical" concept where the singers in a dress rehearsal of La Sonnambula found themselves identifying too closely with their characters - or something like that - was one of the most awful confusing messes the Met has staged in recent times.

 

When a playwright or composer updates a piece and creates something wholly new from an older story - Anouilh's Antigone, Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera, etc, it's one thing. We could certainly argue as well that Wagner was taking ancient stories and putting a contemporary spin on them, depending on how you want to read into his attraction to the stories to begin with. And occasionally I have seen productions - some Shakespeare, some opera, a handful of musicals - with updated concept direction, that have worked. But for the most part, updated settings always always always leave a huge something to be desired.

 

Boston recently got the controversial Calixto Bieto production of Carmen - controversial for its rethought, updated staging, and also for its raw sexuality. The latter was not nearly as shocking as I was led to believe it was going to be - and in terms of the concept itself, most of it didn't make a case for why it was any better than what we're more used to seeing. Some of it made no sense. Some of it was just terribly directed. And some of it was unintentionally comical (that is to say, the choices made in the direction provoked derisive audience laughter - not because Bieto found humor he wanted to explore.) Musically, it was a pretty good performance - it's a shame that it often seemed to be working against the story instead of illuminating it. Ultimately, a truly wasted opportunity - especially as this was a landmark production, the first opera staged in the Boston Opera House in 25 years. (Since its recent renovation, it's essentially been used as a Broadway touring house.)

 

And let's not forget that one of the "wunderkinder" of concept opera productions was Peter Sellars, who was updating Mozart and Handel operas back in the 1980's, before "regietheatre" was really even a trendy term. And maybe it's time to go look back at the video of his Marriage Of Figaro, set in trump Tower - with new eyes, lol.

 

Or not.

Let's not forget that the whole idea of regietheatre is often credited to Wieland Wagner ( grandson of Richard Wagner, great grandson of Franz Liszt). http://www.wagneroperas.com/indexwielandwagner.html

A friend who had been an apprentice in Theatre Design at Bayreuth during the time of Wieland Wagner during the 50s always raved about the highly abstract, minimalist productions during this era when Astrid Varnay, and Inga Borkh were the reigning Brunhildes. He said they were motivated by the financial constraints of post war West Germany as much as any desire to take a revolutionary approach to theater.