Sic Semper Tyrannis

Whatcha' Listenin' To/ Watchin'? (Special Wagnerian Edition)

Let me tell you about one of the many cool things about the library. Imagine this scenario:

All through high school and college I hear about this humongous cycle of operas by Richard Wagner called Der Ring Des Nibelungen. I am reminded of it when reading Alex Ross’s The Rest is Noise (on loan from the library.) When checking to see if the library has recordings, or even better, videos of the operas I find out they don’t. I suggest the title, never thinking they would actually purchase them (we’re talking about one standard length opera and three super-sized operas, probably close to 15 hours of material in total!) Well, two weeks ago I was notified that they came in and were on reserve for me. Wow! When systems actually work like this I get excited.

Last night I finished watching the entire cycle, which has taken a little over a week to fit in the time. Let me start with some basics:

1) This kind of stuff is not for everyone. In fact it’s only even marginally for me! After all, this is OPERA we’re talking about! And I don’t even like opera. But I’ve always been curious about this Ring cycle for several reasons, as I’ll discuss.

2) The four operas tell a continuing story and were meant to be staged over four consecutive nights. The titles: Das Rheingold, Die Walkure, Siegfried, and Gotterdammerung. Have you ever heard the terms “epic” or “spectacle?” I can think of no better words to describe Wagner’s intent with this massive work of art. It’s the story of gods, goddesses, humans, dwarves, supernatural heroes, there’s a dragon…(Sound like another Ring-ish work, maybe?) Wagner had about 50-60 years’ head start on Tolkien, but I found some striking similarities between the two story lines. I have reason to believe they were drawing from the same well.

3) I watched all of this with a combination of: a) awe at Wagner’s sheer artistic ambition- imagine it, imagine writing hours upon hours of musical score for a giant orchestra with scenes connected by instrumental sections, writing the libretto (lyrics), envisioning stage directions and practical matters like visually creating HEAVEN BURNING DOWN!- and b) frustration- does it really take half an hour for two characters to say goodbye? On one hand, this continuous work of art is the absolute height of human creativity and ingenuity and labor. It’s THE example of a Romantic artist with something to say. On the other hand it’s an overweight, bloviating bore. One thing is for sure. This Wagner fellow would be out of place in our world. I wish I could bring him here in a phone booth time machine like Bill and Ted and introduce him to this Twitter thing that is all the rage.

4) The actual production (from the 80s) on the DVDs felt a little bit odd. One, the conductor was Pierre Boulez-- Mr. 20th century, anaesthetic, math-as-music guy. Probably has never had a Romantic impulse in his life. And he’s French--not the guy I immediately associate with German Romanticism on this loud of a scale. Two, the production design seemed to be a bit of a departure from the horned helmet and long pigtails that you normally see as the caricature of this music. I was a little distracted by the purposeful anachronisms—ancient looking, dark, foggy sets looking like a primordial Middle Earth and suits and ties for the men at points. Obviously this was the set- and costume designers’ attempt to present this story as timeless yet timely and relevant to today as well.

5) Unlike in other versions of musical theater there really isn’t any “acting” as we typically think of it. There are no spoken lines. Every bit of plot and emotion has to be expressed through singing and music. Due to the sheer size of the sets the “acting”, as it were, winds up looking a lot like it used to in the Greek theater where the characters wore giant masks to portray emotions over a large distance. While Wagnerian opera doesn’t have masks the performers are really insignificant in comparison to the giant landscape behind them.

Until you hear the voices. Good Lord, the voices! It’s another one of those dichotomies. The sheer lung capacity and power required to be heard over a large orchestra including drums, trumpets, horns and strings is quite impressive. It is almost “musical technique as athleticism.” It’s also piercing and not the kind of thing you’d like to relax to.

So, all in all, I’m glad I exposed myself to this monstrous work- this impressive, impractical, frustratingly slow, ambitious, sometimes glorious work of art that reminds us exactly what human beings are capable of.

posted by Mike @ 10:21 AM