Tannhauser - Wagner
Sep. 19th, 2007 08:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theatokosLast I night I attended the opening night of Tannhauser at the San Francisco Opera. I could tell it wasn't as popular as other operas since standing room was mostly empty. Wagnernerian opera has a reputation for being heavy, dense, with fat ladies and horns, and as a piece of Nazi propaganda. The last point I'll leave alone, but I found none of the other stereotypes to be true.
Tannhauser was fantastic and may very well have been the best opera I've ever seen.
This opera clocked in at close to 4 hours and I was engaged the entire time. Whereas most opera, particularly my beloved Mozart, tends to repeat things - musical lines and themes, lyrics, songs are basically doubled up for emphasis, rather than furthering the plot - Wagner repeated nothing. Everything was done to move the story forward. In the third act, even after knowing the general synopsis of the plot thanks to the pre-show lecture, I was still hanging in suspense as Tannhauser recounts his pilgrimage to Rome, wanting to know how the story would turn out. Would he be redeemed? Would he be damned?
The plot in some ways is typical oepra: a man loves two women, one woman has two men who love her, purity is major factor, shame and redemption are included as spice. Except this plot was significantly more interesting: Tannhauser, a knight of song in medieval Germany, has spent many years in the underground domain of Venus (paganism has been driven underground), enjoying her sensual love of the flesh. He longs for the grass and sunshine of the world above, so he leaves. He remembers he once loved a woman, Elizabeth, who is pure and chaste and faithful. He returns, a singing contest is held - the winner, he who can sing most beautifully about love - will win a prize from Elizabeth. One knight sings about how love is too pure to ever be touched, one sings about how love makes him do brave things, but Tannhauser is appalled at the naivete of these men and he sings about how love is real - so real it can and should be touched. The other knights are shocked. Tannhauser ends up admiting he was with Venus all these years and the knights want to kill him for blasphemy. Elizabeth, in all her love and mercy, sends him on pilgrimage to Rome; if the Pope will pardon him, he will be welcome again in the kingdom. In the third act, we see Elizabeth praying for his soul, she dies. Tannhauser comes back a wreck and tells his story. He was not pardoned and now longs for the best thing he's ever known: Venus. But! Elizabeth's soul reaches heaven and God grants her wish and Tannhauser is redeemed.
And wow. It's hard for me to separate how much I liked the opera itself from the production. The production was beautiful. The lighting, the slow decay of the stage over the three acts, the pagan dancing, the use of fire (yes! real fire on stage!!), motifs of the Virgin Mary.... it was all incredible and added tremendously to the mood of the show. In fact, my favorite scene had to be in the second act when the male chorus comes out as knights singing of their piety and women chorus come out each dressed as the Virgin Mary. I thought I was going to choke on my glee! But all of my manners kept me from laughing out loud and clapping with joy. 30 Virgin Marys on stage. I was beside myself.
And did I mention there was a real horse too?
Was it the music I loved so much? Was it the beautiful and clever production? Was it the themes of paganism vs Christianity, and redemption (I am a sucker for redemption)? What did I love so much? It's hard to say, but I was enamoured from the get-go. If the rest of Wagner is this good, I may have to forsake my beloved Mozart as favorite composer. I will be holding out my judgement until the summer season of opera when Wagner's first opera in the Ring cycle is performed, Das Rheingold.
Tannhuaser. Seriously, the best thing I've seen on screen or stage in ages.
Tannhauser was fantastic and may very well have been the best opera I've ever seen.
This opera clocked in at close to 4 hours and I was engaged the entire time. Whereas most opera, particularly my beloved Mozart, tends to repeat things - musical lines and themes, lyrics, songs are basically doubled up for emphasis, rather than furthering the plot - Wagner repeated nothing. Everything was done to move the story forward. In the third act, even after knowing the general synopsis of the plot thanks to the pre-show lecture, I was still hanging in suspense as Tannhauser recounts his pilgrimage to Rome, wanting to know how the story would turn out. Would he be redeemed? Would he be damned?
The plot in some ways is typical oepra: a man loves two women, one woman has two men who love her, purity is major factor, shame and redemption are included as spice. Except this plot was significantly more interesting: Tannhauser, a knight of song in medieval Germany, has spent many years in the underground domain of Venus (paganism has been driven underground), enjoying her sensual love of the flesh. He longs for the grass and sunshine of the world above, so he leaves. He remembers he once loved a woman, Elizabeth, who is pure and chaste and faithful. He returns, a singing contest is held - the winner, he who can sing most beautifully about love - will win a prize from Elizabeth. One knight sings about how love is too pure to ever be touched, one sings about how love makes him do brave things, but Tannhauser is appalled at the naivete of these men and he sings about how love is real - so real it can and should be touched. The other knights are shocked. Tannhauser ends up admiting he was with Venus all these years and the knights want to kill him for blasphemy. Elizabeth, in all her love and mercy, sends him on pilgrimage to Rome; if the Pope will pardon him, he will be welcome again in the kingdom. In the third act, we see Elizabeth praying for his soul, she dies. Tannhauser comes back a wreck and tells his story. He was not pardoned and now longs for the best thing he's ever known: Venus. But! Elizabeth's soul reaches heaven and God grants her wish and Tannhauser is redeemed.
And wow. It's hard for me to separate how much I liked the opera itself from the production. The production was beautiful. The lighting, the slow decay of the stage over the three acts, the pagan dancing, the use of fire (yes! real fire on stage!!), motifs of the Virgin Mary.... it was all incredible and added tremendously to the mood of the show. In fact, my favorite scene had to be in the second act when the male chorus comes out as knights singing of their piety and women chorus come out each dressed as the Virgin Mary. I thought I was going to choke on my glee! But all of my manners kept me from laughing out loud and clapping with joy. 30 Virgin Marys on stage. I was beside myself.
And did I mention there was a real horse too?
Was it the music I loved so much? Was it the beautiful and clever production? Was it the themes of paganism vs Christianity, and redemption (I am a sucker for redemption)? What did I love so much? It's hard to say, but I was enamoured from the get-go. If the rest of Wagner is this good, I may have to forsake my beloved Mozart as favorite composer. I will be holding out my judgement until the summer season of opera when Wagner's first opera in the Ring cycle is performed, Das Rheingold.
Tannhuaser. Seriously, the best thing I've seen on screen or stage in ages.
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Date: 2007-09-21 07:00 pm (UTC)