You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs...
Last night Scott and I went to see "Tristan und Isolde" at the Seattle opera house. It's the first time I've seen a Wagner opera all the way through, let alone live and in person. It was ... long. I have a lot of impressions of how it went last night, some of them conflicting. But let me just start by saying all of the musicians, both singers and orchestra, and the conductor, were all incredible. That sh*t is not easy, ya'll. And they did it brilliantly. But all in all, I was left with a giant "meh," which only very slightly has to do with my not being fond of the wide vibrato used by the Wagnerian soloist. (For those of you who aren't all up with the musical techy words, vibrato is an oscillatory effect (or wobble) in the voice, especially in the upper ranges. In Wagnerian (and some other) types of singing, it is generally wide and a little heavy and makes for what I feel is an over-wrought and histrionic kind of sound. Although to be fair, Wagner wrote a lot of over-wrought and histrionic opera, even for opera, so I guess it goes.)
So the story line of "Tristan und Isolde" is, as I commented last night, pretty much "I hate you/I love you/let's run away together/oops I'm dead." Although the "let's run away together" part is sort of "hey we can die together and it'd be totally awesome because life is so not worth it." So I suppose really the ending is, er, what they wanted. Sort of. And seeing as how that's almost how the actual legend/story goes, Wagner wasn't really pushing the story envelope too much. He did write his own libretto, I think, so it was all his own brain child. Well, his, and all the other people who were writing/had written about the doomed lovers. I read that Wagner himself was feeling like a doomed lover, as he was in love with his landlord's wife. I don't know if he ever did anything about being in love with her, or just really, really wanted to. From the music, I think it was just that he really, really, REALLY wanted to. So I get the symbolism and the staging and that all this manic intensity is about an artist and his life reflecting in his art. But seriously, Ricky, get a freakin' grip. And an editor. Because as a writer, I could see where he was running long, and he didn't really need to. So there's that.
But beyond any of my quibbles with the nature of Wagnerian opera (looooong, the wide vibrato, more than a little on the histrionic side even for opera,) I just entirely hated with the hate of a thousand meh's, the staging of this piece. Which is completely the director's choice - one can draw from old traditions or new ones, or blend them, and find a way to express this opera a dozen different ways. I don't agree with the director's vision in this production At All. I can see how, when one is singing (quite enthusiastically) from one's death bed, that one might be logically limited to the occasional wobbling lift onto one's elbows or knees (as the notes demand) and some weak gestures. But the servant who loves you like a brother just stands staring into space while you collapse in a heap? What is that? And you'd think that two people who are passionately, even deliriously declaring love for one another (I'm looking at you, Act II) and who can't bear to be parted so much that the idea of death is better than the half-life they're living, might want to, oh, I don't know, TOUCH one another once in awhile, or glance at each other while declaring said love. It took me half the act, but I finally figured out that the weird plastery looking walls that were leaning in odd angles here and there were supposed to be beds with rumpled sheets. At least I hope so, or those things made no sense whatsoever. But your main characters vaguely touching hands and leaning their heads back against one, side by side, does not a passionate clinch make. Sorry. And the Very Slow Walking Around the Stage, what was that about? I do understand that it is not easy to sing this music. This is not some folk song you can pour your heart into for 3 minutes and move on to something else. This is 4 plus hours of pushing your voice and your breath and your emotional expression to the limits, so it's very hard to have your characters embracing, or they'd go deaf singing past each other's ears. But could they not embrace in between times, or move as though they were normal people, and not manic depressives on really heavy medication? Because it was impossible for me to engage with the actors who were not allowed to act. I spent the whole performance re-directing it in my head, thinking here he could hug her from behind while she's singing out; there she could hold his hand to her face and look like she at least liked him a little; here they could act as though the words meant something, and they really can't stand to be separated, by Hey, here's a crazy idea - TOUCHING EACH OTHER LIKE THEY ARE IN LOVE. I know Wagner was frustrated, and the idea is to show the audience how very, very frustrated he was. But does it have to be like everyone's a zombie? Zombies aren't frustrated. They just want brains. Tristan et al might have NEEDED brains, but they didn't so much want them. (Now I'm thinking about how to re-stage the production with zombies. It would probably make it better.)
Sigh. There is a tradition, I guess, of Wagnerian opera being sung standing still with minimal staging, because the music should speak for itself. And the music is gorgeous, and the singers were skilled. But if you're going to bother to stage it at all, and have them act it at all, then I think you should go for it whole hog. It's hard to listen to the manic, not to say berserk, emotional music and watch people mostly deadpanning it and moving as though they'd been taking lithium. With the occasional sweep of cloak for emphasis. I mean. Just. What.
And the ending just pissed me the hell off. I mean, WTF? (I don't feel I'm spoiling anything for anyone here, as "Doomed Lovers" pretty much tells you how things end, and besides, this is opera, and "everyone dies" is a pretty common ending.) Tristan, in a wish for death (or possibly from being halucinatory/insane) tears off his bandages (wounded in act II) and bleeds to death. OK, got it. Then Isolde comes in and is distraught as he dies in her arms. She sings about it for awhile. Totally normal opera stuff. Got it. She did actually hold his head in her lap, although it did take her a long time to walk Very Slowly (tm) to his side, even though he was all collapsed on the floor obviously dying. Whatevs. Kurwenal, the beloved servant is supposed to (according to the notes) fight with the betrayer Melot as Melot and King Marke (Isolde's actual husband) land. So we have some singing about fighting, while Melot and Marke are off stage singing things like move it, you madman, and Kurwenal stands alone, facing the audience, singing about how no one will molest his lord while he yet lives. And yet then he dies, untouched by anyone. Although he was supposed to die defending his lord, it was more like he died thinking about defending his lord. So there's that. And supposedly Melot is also supposed to die in this fight. But as far as I can tell, he's not dead in this production. Or if he is, he died simply because Kurwenal said to. Isolde, of course, dies of love. Totally standard operatic reason. Stupid, but standard. I'm not sure, in this version, if Isolde's maid is dead or just really, really still. Marke lives, ostensibly so someone can grieve about the stupidity of it all. As one does. I think my biggest complaint about this production is that Nothing Happens Onstage. The one fight we witness in Act II we don't even get to witness, as it happens in about 2 seconds behind a sheet hung on stage. The passion is apparently all off stage, other than that we just sing about it. The dying we see most of, but it doesn't appear to have any cause half of the time. So mostly this production was watching people move very slowly about the stage, singing their lungs out, not looking at each other, with the occasional abrupt dramatic gesture. It got very boring. Despite histrionics. It really takes some planning to take all of the action out of every scene, I have to say.
So my overall opinion of Wagner has not changed much. I appreciate the music more than I used to. The orchestration is nothing short of amazing, and the skill it takes to play and sing it impresses the heck out of me. But I still prefer less vibrato, less constant pushing of the limits of voice (I think keeping that to every now and again gives it more impact) and I do think Wagner needed an editor who could tell him when he was being redundant. A lot. I mean, we all do, right? (Me, I do.) Wagner more than some. But it's lovely music, for all of that.
My opinion of the staging of this production is that the director and I do not agree on what consists of acting for opera in any way. Oh well. As usual, your mileage may vary. But I have to applaud the singers and the orchestra and the conductor for working their asses off. The director I'd like to slap upside the head.
So the story line of "Tristan und Isolde" is, as I commented last night, pretty much "I hate you/I love you/let's run away together/oops I'm dead." Although the "let's run away together" part is sort of "hey we can die together and it'd be totally awesome because life is so not worth it." So I suppose really the ending is, er, what they wanted. Sort of. And seeing as how that's almost how the actual legend/story goes, Wagner wasn't really pushing the story envelope too much. He did write his own libretto, I think, so it was all his own brain child. Well, his, and all the other people who were writing/had written about the doomed lovers. I read that Wagner himself was feeling like a doomed lover, as he was in love with his landlord's wife. I don't know if he ever did anything about being in love with her, or just really, really wanted to. From the music, I think it was just that he really, really, REALLY wanted to. So I get the symbolism and the staging and that all this manic intensity is about an artist and his life reflecting in his art. But seriously, Ricky, get a freakin' grip. And an editor. Because as a writer, I could see where he was running long, and he didn't really need to. So there's that.
But beyond any of my quibbles with the nature of Wagnerian opera (looooong, the wide vibrato, more than a little on the histrionic side even for opera,) I just entirely hated with the hate of a thousand meh's, the staging of this piece. Which is completely the director's choice - one can draw from old traditions or new ones, or blend them, and find a way to express this opera a dozen different ways. I don't agree with the director's vision in this production At All. I can see how, when one is singing (quite enthusiastically) from one's death bed, that one might be logically limited to the occasional wobbling lift onto one's elbows or knees (as the notes demand) and some weak gestures. But the servant who loves you like a brother just stands staring into space while you collapse in a heap? What is that? And you'd think that two people who are passionately, even deliriously declaring love for one another (I'm looking at you, Act II) and who can't bear to be parted so much that the idea of death is better than the half-life they're living, might want to, oh, I don't know, TOUCH one another once in awhile, or glance at each other while declaring said love. It took me half the act, but I finally figured out that the weird plastery looking walls that were leaning in odd angles here and there were supposed to be beds with rumpled sheets. At least I hope so, or those things made no sense whatsoever. But your main characters vaguely touching hands and leaning their heads back against one, side by side, does not a passionate clinch make. Sorry. And the Very Slow Walking Around the Stage, what was that about? I do understand that it is not easy to sing this music. This is not some folk song you can pour your heart into for 3 minutes and move on to something else. This is 4 plus hours of pushing your voice and your breath and your emotional expression to the limits, so it's very hard to have your characters embracing, or they'd go deaf singing past each other's ears. But could they not embrace in between times, or move as though they were normal people, and not manic depressives on really heavy medication? Because it was impossible for me to engage with the actors who were not allowed to act. I spent the whole performance re-directing it in my head, thinking here he could hug her from behind while she's singing out; there she could hold his hand to her face and look like she at least liked him a little; here they could act as though the words meant something, and they really can't stand to be separated, by Hey, here's a crazy idea - TOUCHING EACH OTHER LIKE THEY ARE IN LOVE. I know Wagner was frustrated, and the idea is to show the audience how very, very frustrated he was. But does it have to be like everyone's a zombie? Zombies aren't frustrated. They just want brains. Tristan et al might have NEEDED brains, but they didn't so much want them. (Now I'm thinking about how to re-stage the production with zombies. It would probably make it better.)
Sigh. There is a tradition, I guess, of Wagnerian opera being sung standing still with minimal staging, because the music should speak for itself. And the music is gorgeous, and the singers were skilled. But if you're going to bother to stage it at all, and have them act it at all, then I think you should go for it whole hog. It's hard to listen to the manic, not to say berserk, emotional music and watch people mostly deadpanning it and moving as though they'd been taking lithium. With the occasional sweep of cloak for emphasis. I mean. Just. What.
And the ending just pissed me the hell off. I mean, WTF? (I don't feel I'm spoiling anything for anyone here, as "Doomed Lovers" pretty much tells you how things end, and besides, this is opera, and "everyone dies" is a pretty common ending.) Tristan, in a wish for death (or possibly from being halucinatory/insane) tears off his bandages (wounded in act II) and bleeds to death. OK, got it. Then Isolde comes in and is distraught as he dies in her arms. She sings about it for awhile. Totally normal opera stuff. Got it. She did actually hold his head in her lap, although it did take her a long time to walk Very Slowly (tm) to his side, even though he was all collapsed on the floor obviously dying. Whatevs. Kurwenal, the beloved servant is supposed to (according to the notes) fight with the betrayer Melot as Melot and King Marke (Isolde's actual husband) land. So we have some singing about fighting, while Melot and Marke are off stage singing things like move it, you madman, and Kurwenal stands alone, facing the audience, singing about how no one will molest his lord while he yet lives. And yet then he dies, untouched by anyone. Although he was supposed to die defending his lord, it was more like he died thinking about defending his lord. So there's that. And supposedly Melot is also supposed to die in this fight. But as far as I can tell, he's not dead in this production. Or if he is, he died simply because Kurwenal said to. Isolde, of course, dies of love. Totally standard operatic reason. Stupid, but standard. I'm not sure, in this version, if Isolde's maid is dead or just really, really still. Marke lives, ostensibly so someone can grieve about the stupidity of it all. As one does. I think my biggest complaint about this production is that Nothing Happens Onstage. The one fight we witness in Act II we don't even get to witness, as it happens in about 2 seconds behind a sheet hung on stage. The passion is apparently all off stage, other than that we just sing about it. The dying we see most of, but it doesn't appear to have any cause half of the time. So mostly this production was watching people move very slowly about the stage, singing their lungs out, not looking at each other, with the occasional abrupt dramatic gesture. It got very boring. Despite histrionics. It really takes some planning to take all of the action out of every scene, I have to say.
So my overall opinion of Wagner has not changed much. I appreciate the music more than I used to. The orchestration is nothing short of amazing, and the skill it takes to play and sing it impresses the heck out of me. But I still prefer less vibrato, less constant pushing of the limits of voice (I think keeping that to every now and again gives it more impact) and I do think Wagner needed an editor who could tell him when he was being redundant. A lot. I mean, we all do, right? (Me, I do.) Wagner more than some. But it's lovely music, for all of that.
My opinion of the staging of this production is that the director and I do not agree on what consists of acting for opera in any way. Oh well. As usual, your mileage may vary. But I have to applaud the singers and the orchestra and the conductor for working their asses off. The director I'd like to slap upside the head.