Opera Review: Tristan runs aground in Bayreuth
Tristan and Isolde
Like the other modernist Wagnerian opera Parsifal, Tristan makes an extraordinary use of chromatic harmony, pushing romanticism to the limits of possibility. It also shares a very static plot, making directorial choices very important. In Act 1, the English hero Tristan is bringing the Irish princess Isolde to England to marry his friend and patron King Mark. He’s kidnapped her after murdering her lover and himself falling in love with her. They try to commit suicide to avoid the complications of their love, but instead drink a love potion. In Act 2, having arrived in England, they have sex (musically) and are caught in flagrente delicto by King Mark, who sings regretfully for 20 minutes. Tristan is mortally wounded by a jealous soldier. In Act 3 the delirious Tristan sings for 40 minutes, dies, then is lamented over by the grieving Isolde (the famous Love-Death, or Liebestod). The End. It’s a hard opera to direct, since these monumental vocal roles usually require oversized singers, not always able to pull off a convincing sex act in Act 2, and often not up to the vocal challenges there, or in Act 1 (Isolde) or Act 3 (Tristan). This production fell short in every way possible. Each act has one basic directorial idea communicated visually, but almost no attention to directing the singers to interact convincingly. This was a Tristan without any semblance of erotic attraction, very hard to pull off, and was denervating for the audience. In Act 1 there was no ship, but instead a set of Escher-like interlocking stairways on which the lovers wandered during the act, unable to find their partner. OK, but not enough to sustain a whole act. Act 2 was set in a prison yard, with odd semicircular bars that looked like a jungle-gym. There was lots of fussing with these: climbing, reshaping, etc., all substituting for getting the two lovers to interact with passion.
There was even an S&M-style auto-asphyxiation haltingly portrayed as the orgiastic music reaches its climax, with the two singing lovers placing nooses around their necks--but in no way trying to simulate what an orgasm should actually look like. Wagner’s theme of the lovers’ romantic darkness vanquishing the glaring, evil, rational light of day was emphasized by prison spotlights interrupting the dark love duet from time to time, but this got old after a while. Why, if darkness is so great, did the lovers spend five minutes putting up tiny lit ornaments at one point? It seems that Ms. Wagner could not figure out how to direct lovemaking on stage in Act 2, so filled the actions with arts and crafts, plus a little bit of S&M. Act 3 was better, with Tristan hallucinating and dying in a fogbank, but his delusional visions of Isolde that popped up in lit triangles all over the stage again got old after the 14th time they appeared. At the end, after Isolde’s Liebestod, she usually dies (the libretto is ambiguous on this point), but in this production was dragged offstage by her husband King Mark, presumably to begin her loveless marriage. An interesting switch, but this was not set up earlier in the production, and somewhat spoiled the ethereal music that ends the opera, which suggests no such domestic abuse. Overall this was a terrible production, deficient in both new ideas and basic directorial skill.
I got to sit in row 5 for this performance and gain some insight into the famous Bayreuth acoustics. The orchestra pit is completely covered, so you can’t see the orchestra (Wagner wanted nothing to distract from the onstage action)—but you hear them to the last exciting detail. I’d always heard that conducting here is a big challenge, since from the conductors stand, what the conductor hears occurs a split second after what he conducts, due to peculiarities of how sound travels from the orchestra pit to the stage to the audience. This was confirmed, as I could see a video screen of Mr. Thielemann as I listened and watched the singers onstage. Sure enough, his beat was visually always ahead of the sound and the singer’s lips. The delay seems to be about the duration of the conductor’s upbeat (when his arm goes up after the downbeat that signals the pulse of the music). So as I watched and listened, the music appeared to coordinate with not the bottom of his beat (as it should) but with the top of the beat (after the upbeat recovery). So I guess the conductor has to conduct his downbeats exactly like he desires the music to go, but get used to hearing the music on his upbeats. No wonder some renowned conductors have failed at Bayreuth!
Music and libretto by Richard Wagner
Directed by Katharina Wagner
Conducted by Christian Thielemann
Starring Stefan Vinke and Petra Lang
Festspielhaus, Bayreuth Germany
August 23, 2019
My second opera at this year’s Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany was Tristan und Isolde. The performance received an exceptional orchestral performance led by Festival musical director Christian Thielemann and some excellent singing, especially by Stefan Vinke as Tristan and Christa Mayer as Brangäne. Unfortunately, a pedestrian, and often silly production by the composer’s great grandchild Katharina Wagner, undid the excellent musical effect and created a mediocre, long (6 hour with intermissions) evening. After lots of family infighting, Ms. Wagner has now settled in as the overall director of the festival. She should stick to that, and not direct operas, from what I saw.
Directed by Katharina Wagner
Conducted by Christian Thielemann
Starring Stefan Vinke and Petra Lang
Festspielhaus, Bayreuth Germany
August 23, 2019
My second opera at this year’s Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Germany was Tristan und Isolde. The performance received an exceptional orchestral performance led by Festival musical director Christian Thielemann and some excellent singing, especially by Stefan Vinke as Tristan and Christa Mayer as Brangäne. Unfortunately, a pedestrian, and often silly production by the composer’s great grandchild Katharina Wagner, undid the excellent musical effect and created a mediocre, long (6 hour with intermissions) evening. After lots of family infighting, Ms. Wagner has now settled in as the overall director of the festival. She should stick to that, and not direct operas, from what I saw.
Like the other modernist Wagnerian opera Parsifal, Tristan makes an extraordinary use of chromatic harmony, pushing romanticism to the limits of possibility. It also shares a very static plot, making directorial choices very important. In Act 1, the English hero Tristan is bringing the Irish princess Isolde to England to marry his friend and patron King Mark. He’s kidnapped her after murdering her lover and himself falling in love with her. They try to commit suicide to avoid the complications of their love, but instead drink a love potion. In Act 2, having arrived in England, they have sex (musically) and are caught in flagrente delicto by King Mark, who sings regretfully for 20 minutes. Tristan is mortally wounded by a jealous soldier. In Act 3 the delirious Tristan sings for 40 minutes, dies, then is lamented over by the grieving Isolde (the famous Love-Death, or Liebestod). The End. It’s a hard opera to direct, since these monumental vocal roles usually require oversized singers, not always able to pull off a convincing sex act in Act 2, and often not up to the vocal challenges there, or in Act 1 (Isolde) or Act 3 (Tristan). This production fell short in every way possible. Each act has one basic directorial idea communicated visually, but almost no attention to directing the singers to interact convincingly. This was a Tristan without any semblance of erotic attraction, very hard to pull off, and was denervating for the audience. In Act 1 there was no ship, but instead a set of Escher-like interlocking stairways on which the lovers wandered during the act, unable to find their partner. OK, but not enough to sustain a whole act. Act 2 was set in a prison yard, with odd semicircular bars that looked like a jungle-gym. There was lots of fussing with these: climbing, reshaping, etc., all substituting for getting the two lovers to interact with passion.
There was even an S&M-style auto-asphyxiation haltingly portrayed as the orgiastic music reaches its climax, with the two singing lovers placing nooses around their necks--but in no way trying to simulate what an orgasm should actually look like. Wagner’s theme of the lovers’ romantic darkness vanquishing the glaring, evil, rational light of day was emphasized by prison spotlights interrupting the dark love duet from time to time, but this got old after a while. Why, if darkness is so great, did the lovers spend five minutes putting up tiny lit ornaments at one point? It seems that Ms. Wagner could not figure out how to direct lovemaking on stage in Act 2, so filled the actions with arts and crafts, plus a little bit of S&M. Act 3 was better, with Tristan hallucinating and dying in a fogbank, but his delusional visions of Isolde that popped up in lit triangles all over the stage again got old after the 14th time they appeared. At the end, after Isolde’s Liebestod, she usually dies (the libretto is ambiguous on this point), but in this production was dragged offstage by her husband King Mark, presumably to begin her loveless marriage. An interesting switch, but this was not set up earlier in the production, and somewhat spoiled the ethereal music that ends the opera, which suggests no such domestic abuse. Overall this was a terrible production, deficient in both new ideas and basic directorial skill.
Musically things were much better. Conductor Christian Thielemann is a renowned figure in Europe, but little known in the US, as he rarely conducts outside of Germany and Austria. He has gotten into some difficulty for his conservative statements about immigration, and fits into the old autocratic conductor roles of people like Herbert von Karajan and Wilhelm Furtwängler. Like them, he is prominent in the old establishment European musical organizations: Bayreuth (he is musical director), the Salzburg Easter Festival, and the Dresden Statskapelle Orchestra (he is music director there). He was up to the hype in this performance, leading a nuanced, colorful, and exciting performance that largely overcame the incompetence onstage. He was a little loud in Act 1, where the singers held back to save themselves for their later vocal trials, but otherwise was the star of this performance, and received the loudest cheers at the end of the opera. It would be great to see him in the US sometime. Christina Mayer’s Brangane was a revelation. This role is often played as a nattering maid, warning the lovers about threats, but here Ms Mayer transformed the role with her rich mezzo. Her wonderful Act 2 interlude where she warns the lovers of oncoming danger was sung from a balcony behind the audience, with her voice beautifully and magically radiating through the house. Stefan Vinke’s Tristan started cautiously, made little impact in the dreadfully staged Act 2, but really rose to the occasion in Act 3. Here, his long delusional solo had endurance, volume, dramatic range, and real excitement, supported by a fiery Mr. Thielemann in the orchestra pit. This was the best live version of this solo I have heard, and evoked memories of the great Wagner tenors of the past, for whom this act was always the supreme test. Petra Lang as Isolde was dramatically effective, but her voice, more of a mezzo in color, did not summon the volume or excitement that the best Isoldes do. This was a performance that was almost, but not quite saved by the singers and orchestra. Unfortunately, Ms. Wagner’s pedestrian and dimwitted production sank the ship long before it reached England.
I got to sit in row 5 for this performance and gain some insight into the famous Bayreuth acoustics. The orchestra pit is completely covered, so you can’t see the orchestra (Wagner wanted nothing to distract from the onstage action)—but you hear them to the last exciting detail. I’d always heard that conducting here is a big challenge, since from the conductors stand, what the conductor hears occurs a split second after what he conducts, due to peculiarities of how sound travels from the orchestra pit to the stage to the audience. This was confirmed, as I could see a video screen of Mr. Thielemann as I listened and watched the singers onstage. Sure enough, his beat was visually always ahead of the sound and the singer’s lips. The delay seems to be about the duration of the conductor’s upbeat (when his arm goes up after the downbeat that signals the pulse of the music). So as I watched and listened, the music appeared to coordinate with not the bottom of his beat (as it should) but with the top of the beat (after the upbeat recovery). So I guess the conductor has to conduct his downbeats exactly like he desires the music to go, but get used to hearing the music on his upbeats. No wonder some renowned conductors have failed at Bayreuth!
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