THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 25, 1996 TAG: 9601250095
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL SAYEGH, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Long : 152 lines
MORE THAN 100 years after his death, the controversy over Richard Wagner and his music shows few signs of dying down.
He has been simultaneously praised as one of the greatest and most innovative composers of all time - and vilified as manipulative, self-serving, narcissistic and morally repellent.
When the curtain goes up on ``The Flying Dutchman'' Friday at the Harrison Opera House, local audiences will finally have the chance to experience, and judge, the German composer's work. The production is the first Wagner in Virginia Opera's 21-year history.
General Director Peter Mark is not ambivalent in his feelings. Wagner, he said, remains one of music's greats.
``In 1996, we take so many of the changes he brought to music for granted,'' Mark said recently between rehearsals. ``Wagner wanted opera to be more than just a variety show.''
When ``Dutchman'' was first staged in 1843, it was standard procedure to leave the theater lights on during operatic performances so audience members could see one another, Mark said. Patrons socialized and conducted business, stopping only for a favorite aria or duet. Acts were interspersed with unrelated ballets.
Wagner (1813-1883) fought that, emphasizing drama and psychological realism. Eventually, he revolutionized opera.
``The Flying Dutchman,'' the earliest Wagnerian opera in today's standard repertoire, highlights some of those innovations, Mark said. Instead of just setting a mood or offering a potpourri of ``hit tunes,'' the overture tells the opera's story in miniature. Arias, while climaxing on a high note or phrase, often lead immediately into the next musical number, without the traditional stop for applause.
Wagner, who wrote his own librettos, was so convinced of the need to change the way operas were written and performed he persuaded King Ludwig II of Bavaria to build a special theater in Bayreuth, Germany, dedicated to the exclusive performances of his operas.
Among his innovations were a cowl over the pit, rendering orchestra and conductor invisible to the audience; an auditorium designed to focus attention on the stage, and the lowering of the theater lights when a performance began. The Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, under the direction of the composer's grandson, Wolfgang Wagner, continues each summer to this day.
To some opera-goers, ``Wagnerian'' is synonymous with heavy, ponderous and long. While his operas do tend to be epic in scale, earlier works such as ``Dutchman'' are no longer than the Italian and French operas usually staged by Virginia Opera.
Mark disagrees that Wagner is excessively serious and needs to be performed in a slow, weighty manner; for him, it is the cumulative impact of music and drama that makes the works so rewarding. He also takes exception to the view that Wagner wrote for the voice as if it were another orchestral instrument; his operas are sometimes labeled ``symphonic.''
``All the instruments in the orchestra have their opportunity to sing, but the voice remains primary,'' Mark said. The long, beautiful, melodic lines that Wagner gives his singers, he added, are almost Italianate.
However, singers capable of meeting Wagner's demands have never been plentiful. They must have voices big enough to ride his orchestral waves, as well as the stamina to sing for several hours. In addition, the performing style is more inward and psychologically-motivated than the stand-up-and-sing approach of the Italian repertoire.
The orchestra has another function: conveying the characters' inner tensions and conflicts while the text tells the story.
In ``Dutchman,'' the story is of an arrogant sea captain who has been cursed to sail forever until he finds a woman willing to remain faithful to him.
Once every seven years, he is allowed to land and search for her. He finds Senta, a young, romantically obsessed girl, who agrees to marry him. Erik, a huntsman who had hoped to marry Senta himself, accuses her of betrayal. The Dutchman, convinced of the girl's faithlessness, sets sail.
Senta ecstatically proclaims her fidelity to him and throws herself into the sea. The Dutchman's ship sinks, and Senta and the Dutchman are seen ascending to heaven.
Wagner wrote that the inspiration for the opera came to him during a stormy sea voyage from Riga to London, one of several instances in his life when he suddenly packed up and left town to escape either creditors or the law.
``Dutchman'' was first given in 1843 in Dresden, where Wagner had secured a position after convincing a patron to cover his debts in Riga.
The composer's social and political beliefs, and his anti-Semitic writings, constitute a major obstacle for some. (His music is still not played in Israel.)
``I'm not sure I would have liked the man,'' Mark said, ``but I think it's unfair to blame him anachronistically for the things that his family and others did after his death.''
Some 50 years after Wagner died, the Nazis used his operas as propaganda for their racial ideology; Adolph Hitler was a frequent visitor to the Wagner Festival in Bay-reuth.
Political interpretations of Wagner's operas, with their recurrent themes of greed, power and love, have been common since the works were new, and continue to embrace both right- and left-wing beliefs, Mark said.
But it is the totality of the Wagnerian opera - the wonderful use of an enlarged orchestra, the powerful and dramatic vocal writing, the combination of the mythic and the human - that continues to draw and create new audiences.
Returning to rehearsal, Mark said it's been a long-held dream to present Wagner in Hampton Roads. He hopes audience response will spark interest in the composer's other works, such as ``Lohengrin'' and ``Tristan und Isolde.''
``Not every regional company has the resources of an orchestra able to perform this score, or a theater able to stage it,'' he said. ``Wagner is so unique. When it works, there really is nothing else like it in opera.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot
``Wagner is so unique,'' says Peter Mark, general director of the
Virginia Opera. ``When it works, there really is nothing else like
it in opera.'' Behind Mark is a backdrop depicting the title
character of ``The Flying Dutchman.''
Norfolk native John Hurst will appear as Erik in the upcoming
Virginia Opera production of ``The Flying Dutchman.''
Graphic
``DUTCHMAN'' ON CD
RECORDINGS OF ``The Flying Dutchman'' seem as cursed as its main
character: None of the available sets is without major problems,
though all have strengths.
Those led by superstar conductors Herbert von Karajan and Sir
Georg Solti feature the Berlin Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony,
respectively. Karajan's (EMI) has the best Dutchman in Jose Van Dam,
who brings a beautiful baritone and real sensitivity to the part.
Bass Karl Ridderbusch is also a superb Daland, but Dunja Vejzovic
fools no one. As Senta, she is a mezzo pretending to be a soprano.
Solti's cast (London) is no more than adequate.
American Robert Hale is a strong Dutchman in a new recording
featuring Christoph von Dohnanyi and the Vienna Philharmonic
(London), but Hildegard Behrens barely manages to get by as Senta.
Much better is another Viennese version from Naxos led by Pinchas
Steinberg with Alfred Muff as the Dutchman. Tenor Peter Seiffert is
the best Erik on CD, while soprano Ingrid Haubold is a solid, though
often shrill, Senta.
Best are two older versions. Leonie Rysanek and George London,
perhaps the greatest interpreters of Senta and the Dutchman in the
last 40 years, are paired on a London recording whose biggest flaw
is the dull conducting of Antal Dorati. And on Berlin Classics,
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sings admirably as the Dutchman, while
Marianne Schech, though not youthful-sounding, is an effective
Senta.
Finally, there is a live recording from Bayreuth (Philips)
featuring another American, Simon Estes, in the title role. This is
an exciting performance of Wagner's first version, meaning there is
no redemption music at the end of the overture or opera.
Paul Sayegh
by CNB