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Wagner Society in NSW Inc
Wagner Society member, Robert Thurling (who was on his way to Bayreuth) and I took a bus from Manhattan to Cooperstown, the nearest town to the Glimmerglass Opera Festival (www.glimmerglass.org). The bus trip was a kind of milkrun, setting down and picking up people through New Jersey and then back into New York state. The countryside was unprepossessing until after Kingston in New Jersey when we started to climb into the Catskill Mountains - very typical wooded landscape for New England, but no hint of Fall colour yet. One highlight was passing through Woodstock, which still clearly cherishes its hippy heritage with plenty of colourful art&craft on display. Robert and I were getting a little worried as we needed to be in our motel to change for Das Liebesverbot by about 7pm at the latest and we were still at Oneonta about 20 miles away at 6pm. We arrived at Cooperstown, the home of baseball (and not much else) at 6:30pm to discover that they had no taxis - we had to call one from Oneonta that arrived at about 6:50pm and, for $60, took us to the 6 miles to the motel where we changed and walked the 3/4 mile to the Alice Busch Opera Theater (and back again afterwards - in full moonlight). Next time we drive! The Festival’s press release quotes Michael MacLeod, General & Artistic Director, saying that “Das Liebesverbot actually inspired the concept for our 2008 season’. ‘This piece was not well-received upon its premiere in 1836 for several reasons, but not because the piece is not worthy of performance. It was poorly rehearsed, and backstage drama overwhelmed the production. I am thrilled Glimmerglass is producing this work, which has wonderful music that has Italianate characteristics along with a premonition of Wagner’s later, Germanic style.’’ The performance that we were discussing was a repeat of the Wagner work that I found even more interesting since I was now more familiar with the music and the production. I found myself following all sorts of impressions and ideas in response to the music and situations that lead to the later operas – in so many ways, Wagner stayed fascinated by a small number of dramatic motifs and situations through out his career. Particularly intriguing was the very clear appearance of the Elizabeth’s prayer motif from Tannhauser. Under the nice by-line, “Early Wagner: Splendor Soon to Come’, Steve Smith in his article for the New York Times on 11 August 2008, wrote: “Wagner’s mature operas have created an image of him as the high priest of a cult based on a severe sort of German aesthetic mysticism. But “Das Liebesverbot’ (“The Ban on Love’), from 1836, provides rare insight into a period when he was a young man searching for both style and substance.’ And continues: “It mixes elements of the Italian bel canto and French opera styles, with touches of Mozart, Beethoven and Weber. Yet despite those copious borrowings and an antic tone never again encountered in his work, “Liebesverbot’ unquestionably contains traces of the mature Wagner in embryonic form: in breathless string shimmers anticipating those of “Tannhauser’ and “Lohengrin’; in the simple melodic figure in the overture that serves as a leitmotif; and in the vocal heft of the principal female role. Portentousness lingers even in ribald scenes, auguring the grandiosity to come.’ He summarises the singing and playing as follows – with a bit of a put down with the last word in his review: “The singing…was serious business. Despite a vocally uneven first act, the soprano Claudia Waite was a bold, assertive Isabella, with blazing top notes and a presence to make you believe that a virginal nun could outfox a career politician. Her voice appreciably bloomed in the second act. Mark Schnaible, a bass-baritone, brought a robust sound and a genuine sense of inner turmoil to Friedrich. Richard Cox, a tenor, was eloquent and lyrical as Claudio. The charismatic tenor Ryan MacPherson played Luzio, Claudio’s randy friend and Isabella’s would-be suitor, like a pomade-slicked James Dean. Lauren Skuce, a soprano, played Dorella with spunk and brazen sex appeal. In the buffo role of Brighella, a power-hungry police chief, the bass Kevin Glavin was both wildly funny and surprisingly humane. Joseph Gaines, a tenor, was impressive as Pontio Pilato, by turns a flesh peddler and a jailer. Corrado Rovaris, the conductor, drew a stylish, mostly secure performance from the chorus and orchestra. If, in the end, the value of reviving “Liebesverbot’ more often remained dubious, there was no question that it was worth sampling once. From a local perspective, Geraldine Freedman in The Daily Gazette of Schenectady in New York state writes: “Wagner’s music for this opera is unlike any music people usually associate with him. The overture was pure Rossini, the lyricism was out of Bellini’s bel canto tradition and his use of the strings was all von Weber. Only a few hints of what would become his ecstatic use of the strings peeped out. At barely 22, who could blame him for writing in the styles current at the time? A genius has to begin somewhere. Yet the arias were quite wonderful.’ Wayne Myers, Dispatch Drama Critic of The Oneida Daily Dispatch (the town from which our cab was despatched) was more persuaded by the merits of the work: “The production makes a strong case for mounting this opera more often. But not for its fidelity to Shakespeare. Muni's 1950's Palermo, Sicily-set "Das Liebesverbot" tracks the "Measure for Measure" plot to a point. Wagner eliminates the character of the duke, and his Isabella, while also a nun, is certainly no virgin. When Luzio shows up at the convent, he finds himself sexually attracted to this "bride of Christ," convinced that if anyone can make Friedrich, a cold German, relent, it's her. She puts on lipstick, sunglasses and grabs a handbag and is off to see Friedrich.’ Alex Ross in The New Yorker was also more sympathetic to Wagner’s tyro work, especially after cuts had been made, calling the work “a flawed but diverting work that shows the master of music drama in an embryonic stage….Shakespearean elements recur throughout his mature operas—in the potion-laced, Romeo-and-Juliet-ish love of Tristan and Isolde; in the self-lacerating monologues of Wotan in “Die Walküre,’ redolent of “King Lear’; in the midsummer rituals of “Die Meistersinger.’ Yet only in this apprentice piece, from 1836, did Wagner take on Shakespeare directly—perhaps because, at the age of twenty-two, he was too young to know better.’ “At the time, Wagner was aligned with the Young Germany movement in literature, which agitated for freedom of expression both in politics and in private life. He chose “Measure for Measure’ mainly because it provided him with a juicy target in Angelo, the puritanical lawgiver whose hidden desires eventually precipitate his downfall. The scene is shifted from Vienna to Palermo, and Angelo is renamed Friedrich, so that he becomes a kind of oppressive Teutonic invader…Wagner didn’t remain such a libertine or a liberal, but this seemingly formulaic bel-canto score hints at several of his perennial obsessions. The overture begins with bubbly music in the style of Rossini, but the darkly meandering theme representing Friedrich’s “ban of love’ foreshadows the fateful leitmotifs of the “Ring.’ When the action moves to a cloister, the murmuring interplay of female voices and strings anticipates the Rhinemaidens in “Das Rheingold.’ The Dresden Amen appears, as in “Tannhauser’ and “Parsifal.’ Isabella, the novice who draws Friedrich to his doom, becomes a more significant character in Wagner’s libretto, absorbing plot functions that Shakespeare assigned to the cunning Duke, who is dropped altogether; in the end, she embodies worldly wisdom and the redeeming force of love, a Brünnhilde in training. By making some well-chosen cuts, Glimmerglass evaded the windier passages of Wagner’s score—the original version apparently sent the first-night audience into a stupor—and rendered the opera eminently stageworthy.’ Again, for a less convinced reaction, Heidi Waleson in the Wall Street Journal considered that “Wagner's seldom-performed 1836 opera "Das Liebesverbot" (Forbidden Love) is a travesty of "Measure for Measure," heavy on the sex and punishment, light on the moral questions of the play. It's also a bizarre German vision of Italian licentiousness and of Italian opera in general. Wagner kept the tub-thumping orchestral rhythms but missed the bel canto vocalism that the Italian opera composers favored, and he ended up with a pretty turgid piece of work.’ In contrast, perhaps predictably after that comment, she liked "I Capuleti e i Montecchi" (1830)…by Bellini, a real bel canto composer’. To give you an idea of the production, you can view some images on the Glimmerglass website at: http://www.glimmerglass.org/press/gallery3noflash.html. You can also read a selection of reviews on the Glimmerglass Festival website at www.glimmerglass.org/press/reviews08.html. Otherwise, the full articles of the reviews sampled in this report can be found at: Isabella, the heroine, had retired to the convent, not as a virgin novice to hide from life, but rather for a spell of quiet contemplation. When Luzio comes to ask her help in rescuing her brother, Claudio, from imminent death for having impregnated his girlfriend, Isabella moves rapidly but credibly from annoyance at being disturbed to being aroused by Luzio’s good looks and chutzpah, to deciding that she needed to leave the convent to take control of affairs in Palermo that have turned decidedly dangerous. Muni was able to bring out in this long scene the hints of Wagner’s later subtlety in characterisation and relationships. Muni’s direction was generally fast to match the fairly breathless pace with which scene followed scene, but without any sense of rushing simply to get through what is a fairly complicated story. I think it was fairly clear that Muni and his case sympathised strongly with Wagner’s Young Germany message of free-love and anti-authoritarianism and entered into embodying it on stage with lust and life. While the direction and the performance was energetic and convincing and the music was mostly entertaining and sometimes arresting with hints of the later Wagner, you should not listen to or, if you are able to catch a performance, to watch a performance of this early work with any expectation of achieving ecstasy or insight or transport or joy or tears, or whatever kind of response Wagner’s works usually elicits from you. Otherwise you will be disappointed. However, taken as an interesting, musically pleasant theatrical experience, Das Liebesverbot is well worth a visit should there be a production you can see. The Alice Busch Opera Theater in which the Glimmerglass Festival happens, opened in June 1987 on the shores of Lake Otsego, the Glimmerglass of James Fennimore Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales" on land donated by one of the wealthy Goodyear family (I guess of the rubber tyre makers). It seats about 987 very comfortably in a parterre level, a slightly raised second level and then in a small balcony level. No seat is more than 70 feet from the stage, so it is quite intimate. The acoustics are also impressive - with all voices being quite audible, even from the back of the quite large stage, and all sections of the orchestra easy to pick out. The Glimmerglass Opera Company apparently staged its first performances in the Cooperstown High School's auditorium from 1975 until 1987. The Company has commissioned a number of new works, given American premieres, some lesser known works of famous composers, and included staples of the repertoire as well. Each production each year is new - no revivals. You can see some photographs of the theatre at www.glimmerglass.org/about/alicebuschopera.html. The 2009 season is: Verdi's La traviata, Rossini's La Cenerentola, Menotti's The Consul and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. We also visited to the Fennimore Cooper Art Gallery (www.fenimoreartmuseum.org) in a beautiful old house from the Cooper family – beautiful views throughout the house to Lake Otsego and the woods around it. A fascinating exhibition was on display – from the Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel that explored the work of the Jewish artists and artisans who migrated to the US from the mid-19th century to early 20th Century who turned their hands from designing and carving portals and decorations for their synagogues to designing and carving the amazingly elaborate and beautiful animals for carousel rides – using the same lion, eagle, dragon and other decorations in both settings. You can see a full description of the exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum’s website (http://gildedlions.org/welcome.html). All in all a positive and rewarding experience – especially if you drive there!
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