Finally saw Twilight of the Gods, the conclusion of the DC Ring. After being sick for the first performance of it.
And most of it was as powerful as the best of what had gone before. One of many stage pictures that stays with me: The Rhinemaidens, at the start of Act 3, trying to clean debris from what’s left of the river, picking up debris, discarded bottles and the like, putting it in garbage bags.
Or trying to do all that. Too much debris to cope with. Makes so much sense. If the world is despoiled, after Alberich renounces love (a creation myth, in effect, about the emergence of evil in the world) — if the world is despoiled, wouldn’t nature be desperately wounded?
Tbings that didn’t work so well
Francesca’s Zambello’s staging — which went to the heart of the piece whenever her deepest thinking could be enacted on stage — seemed to fall apart when there was no concept to animate the action. Siegmund and Sieglinde, Alberich and the Rhinemaidens…the staging seemed aimless.
And there were problems beyond that, problems I fear are endemic in opera. These were problems with physical action on stage. In Rhinegold, Fafner kills Fasolt. He swung his cudgel more or less obediently, as if that’s what he’d been told to do. And Fasolt obediently falls dead.
But there was no violence in that. No horror, no overpowering strenth.
Likewise when Hagen kills Siegfried. No horror, no violence. No anger, no rage.
Or when Siegmund, with the greatest effort of his life, pulls the sword from the tree. No surging strenth, no exaltation, none of that embodied in any way physically. Likewise when Siegfried forges his sword. Not nearly physical enough.
Alberich and the Rhinemaidens. He chases them in the river, loses his balance on the rocks. Or, anyway, that’s what he says is happening. His motions were serene, grounded. He pantomimed slipping on the rocks, just a bit, but didn’t make it seem remotely real.
Endemic problem
Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka and US tenor Franco Farina.
As I said, I think these problems are endemic in opera performances. Lack of real physicality, unconvincing action on stage.
More in my next post about why I think this is a huge problem, why it undermines any claim we make that opera is high art. It wasn’t bad enough to undermine the DC Ring, but…well, let me put it this way.
If we can’t in opera do what every flim, every good theater production, even the silliest sitcom on TV can pull off, making what we’re seeing look plausible, then how — in the world of 2016 — can we claim to be doing something great? Don’t we just look silly, incomplete, inept?
As I said, more coming. Including how we can fix this problem. Won’t be easy. But can be done!
As Wagner wrote, the action is in the music, not in some heavyweights throwing themselves around the stage. In that statement lies the whole message about staging Wagner. Possible to stage the music? Not possible without great musicians. Great directors won’t do it.
Sorry, not my opinion; merely Wagner’s.
Some singers are better actors than others, that’s true. But to me, the thing about opera is the music. Of course, I’m not a true opera lover; I’m just as happy listening to recordings or radio. (Which I’ve done many times with the Ring.) Actually, I can’t afford tickets to a staged Ring cycle, and I’d have to go to New York and put up in a hotel for days to go to one. So probably I’m not qualified to comment on this topic.
Greg, some may think of you as the fly in Opera’s ointment for posting this “A big opera problem” but I hail you as an outspoken truth-teller. And, of course I agree with you 100%, not on the subject of Washington Opera’s RING (which I have not seen and therefore cannot comment on) but on the state of the art. I go to opera performances quite frequently where I live and occasionally while on vacations, and I watch a great deal of it on the movie screens and on line, and I find most of the acting in opera these days pretty abysmal. That’s not to say that things were any better fifty-five years ago when I began to go to the opera. In fact they were worse, as anybody who is still around that witnessed some of the bad acting on the stages of American opera houses back then will testify. Are they better in Europe? I don’t think so based on some of the productions I have seen in Europe in the last few years. When a true singing actor comes along in a neat package that includes voice, musicianship, musicality, style, technique and acting chops, we sit up and listen. But I find myself not sitting up for much these days. And, sadly, some of the training that hopeful opera singers get these days leaves a great deal to be desired. Is there a solution in the horizon? Yes, I believe so. Start by training the singers of the future the way Walter Felsenstein did at the old Komische Oper almost half a century ago: as actors who are to command a full knowledge of the text and the dramaturgy behind the work before opening their mouths. Here’s hoping……
I’m looking forward to hearing your offerings on how this problem can be fixed. I’m also looking forward to discussing this and plenty more with you in person, in Sydney on June 14th at the Museum of Contemporary Art under the auspice of Music Australia. Can’t wait!
whoops- that’s June 12th.
I agree with you that certain stagings that I have seen over the years left me cold. I can still remember a Billy Budd where Billy is supposed to strike Claggert, causing his death. The thrown punch was no where near Claggert’s face. The two singers should have practiced some other physical action. Perhaps pushing Claggert violently, causing him to fall backwards, hitting his head. Greg, I enjoyed this article very much.
Interesting. This is what happens when the very confused operatic world focuses on “sexy”, “pretty”, not “too real” productions,