Tannhäuser
- Episode aired Feb 28, 2017
- 3h 2m
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8.6/10
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Featured review
Zeal
Imagine for a moment that you're seated in one of New York City's dozen or more opera venues about a hundred and fifty years ago, waiting for the curtain to rise on Mozart's "Don Giovanni." Following the overture, the soloists perform their respective arias and recitatives, but in more than a few different native languages, English included. Such Babels of tongues were not the norm, but, according to Walt Whitman and other period sources, not exceptional. Neither were American performances of Donizetti in German, or English, or French depending on the opera house and its immigrant or native-born clientele.
Right up through the 1970s, one frequently attended performances sung in the hometown language. In Austria and Germany, Puccini was frequently sung in German. Turin and Milan mounted productions of Lohengrin in Italian; "Die Meistersinger" was presented as "I maestro cantori di Norimberga." Behind the Iron Curtain, audiences got their opera in Russian, Bulgarian, Magyar, and I don't know what else. Recordings of these mostly radio broadcasts are still to be heard, and a whole new world of expression opens up; the Russian take on Wagner is pretty special. Some years back I stumbled across a live recording of "Tannhaeuser" made in Italy during the 'sixties: Everyone, the chorus included, sings in Italian, except for Hans Beirer in the title role, who bleats out his part in his native tongue. In deference to the aging Norwegian diva Mme Flagstad who despaired of mastering the French vowels, back in the 1950s the Met ordered a quickie English translation of "Alceste's" entire libretto from the largely unheard-of John Gutman. Virgil Thompson, among other critics, declared this English-language performance a triumph. But by this time pressure from Historically Correct guardians of taste started to build.
Today, most opera companies worldwide feel obliged to determine The Original Language of the work to be performed, and vocalists need multilingual familiarity if they hope for success. But just what was The Genuine Article? Verdi, arguably the quintessential Italian composer, had more than a few of his works premiered in Paris, where, as one might expect, the Gallic tongue was de rigueur. Several of his countrymen's works were written with a French-language libretto, which was later translated into Italian. Or German: The great Verdi revival of the Weimar Republic featured "Aida" and "Il Trovatore" in German-language versions only.
These polyglot, anachronistic days are most likely gone forever. Now the purists demand that a vocal score be performed in the historically correct language. The very thought of national champions like Berlioz, Weber, or Verdi being sung in anything other than their original, correct, and certified authentic tongues makes more than one musically correct enthusiast quake with rage, embarrassment, and dread. Today's homogenized culture requires an official version of everything, so why should opera be exempted? Even if there is no definitive original.
So it's more than refreshing to see "Tannhaeuser" in French, especially since the version performed in Paris fifteen years after its premiere in Dresden had a French libretto anyway. Parisian tradition demanded a ballet, which resulted in an extended Venusberg scene and some chromatic challenges for the Love Goddess in the duet that follows. Too bad the ballet was in the wrong act; wrong for some hoodlums, anyway, who started a riot and wrecked everything. The composer, who modestly announced more than once that he was writing the Music of the Future, nursed a grudge against La Grande Nation till the day he died. It wasn't reciprocated, as "le wagnerisme" took hold in France, and the Paris version "Tannhaeuser" provoked an eloquent defense by Baudelaire. Interested listeners will profit from hearing soprano Germaine Lubin's francophone recordings of Wagner, most from the 1930s; they are sumptuous and rewarding.
How to rank the Monte Carlo offering? There's opera film, such as those directed by Zeffirerlli, and filmed opera, to which genre the Monte Carlo release belongs: As filmed opera, it's among the better achievements. No, it may not go down in musical history as one of the best ever. But it's courageous; taking risks in the arts always requires zeal. In opera, typically top-heavy with tradition, it takes nerves of steel. This release gives audiences worldwide a privileged experience: Opera sung in a semi-unofficial language, like it used to be years ago, and as such was certainly enjoyed by generations of audiences everywhere.
Right up through the 1970s, one frequently attended performances sung in the hometown language. In Austria and Germany, Puccini was frequently sung in German. Turin and Milan mounted productions of Lohengrin in Italian; "Die Meistersinger" was presented as "I maestro cantori di Norimberga." Behind the Iron Curtain, audiences got their opera in Russian, Bulgarian, Magyar, and I don't know what else. Recordings of these mostly radio broadcasts are still to be heard, and a whole new world of expression opens up; the Russian take on Wagner is pretty special. Some years back I stumbled across a live recording of "Tannhaeuser" made in Italy during the 'sixties: Everyone, the chorus included, sings in Italian, except for Hans Beirer in the title role, who bleats out his part in his native tongue. In deference to the aging Norwegian diva Mme Flagstad who despaired of mastering the French vowels, back in the 1950s the Met ordered a quickie English translation of "Alceste's" entire libretto from the largely unheard-of John Gutman. Virgil Thompson, among other critics, declared this English-language performance a triumph. But by this time pressure from Historically Correct guardians of taste started to build.
Today, most opera companies worldwide feel obliged to determine The Original Language of the work to be performed, and vocalists need multilingual familiarity if they hope for success. But just what was The Genuine Article? Verdi, arguably the quintessential Italian composer, had more than a few of his works premiered in Paris, where, as one might expect, the Gallic tongue was de rigueur. Several of his countrymen's works were written with a French-language libretto, which was later translated into Italian. Or German: The great Verdi revival of the Weimar Republic featured "Aida" and "Il Trovatore" in German-language versions only.
These polyglot, anachronistic days are most likely gone forever. Now the purists demand that a vocal score be performed in the historically correct language. The very thought of national champions like Berlioz, Weber, or Verdi being sung in anything other than their original, correct, and certified authentic tongues makes more than one musically correct enthusiast quake with rage, embarrassment, and dread. Today's homogenized culture requires an official version of everything, so why should opera be exempted? Even if there is no definitive original.
So it's more than refreshing to see "Tannhaeuser" in French, especially since the version performed in Paris fifteen years after its premiere in Dresden had a French libretto anyway. Parisian tradition demanded a ballet, which resulted in an extended Venusberg scene and some chromatic challenges for the Love Goddess in the duet that follows. Too bad the ballet was in the wrong act; wrong for some hoodlums, anyway, who started a riot and wrecked everything. The composer, who modestly announced more than once that he was writing the Music of the Future, nursed a grudge against La Grande Nation till the day he died. It wasn't reciprocated, as "le wagnerisme" took hold in France, and the Paris version "Tannhaeuser" provoked an eloquent defense by Baudelaire. Interested listeners will profit from hearing soprano Germaine Lubin's francophone recordings of Wagner, most from the 1930s; they are sumptuous and rewarding.
How to rank the Monte Carlo offering? There's opera film, such as those directed by Zeffirerlli, and filmed opera, to which genre the Monte Carlo release belongs: As filmed opera, it's among the better achievements. No, it may not go down in musical history as one of the best ever. But it's courageous; taking risks in the arts always requires zeal. In opera, typically top-heavy with tradition, it takes nerves of steel. This release gives audiences worldwide a privileged experience: Opera sung in a semi-unofficial language, like it used to be years ago, and as such was certainly enjoyed by generations of audiences everywhere.
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- hgreisman
- Oct 31, 2019
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- Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Monaco(Opera House)
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