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Washington's National Opera - Die Walkure
THE ALL AMERICAN RING — Die Walkure
Washington National Opera, is committed to broadening the public’s awareness and understanding of opera, discovering and nurturing young talent, and presenting American operas. With that mandate, it is perhaps not surprising that WNO is presenting the first “American Ring”. The plan was to present the operas in order, one a year, with the total Ring bring done in the 2009-2010 season. Siegfried was to have been presented at WNO 2007-2008, however is being delayed a year due to financial difficulties. The revised plan is for Gotterdammerung to debut within the complete Ring in 2009-2010. San Francisco is a co producer of this Ring, and plans to present the operas one a year, starting with Rheingold in the 2007-2008 season.
Multi-award winning Francesca Zambello’s focus is to use American history, mythology and landscapes to create a familiar yet mythical Ring. One could say that the Ring’s themes of nature, theft, deceit, broken promises, destruction of the environment, love, power and corruption are a natural fit with DC.
Although I did not see Rheingold, a short summary (taken from the wonderfully-named DCist) of Zambello’s concept is helpful here. Das Rheingold was first presented in March 2006. Alberich, panning for gold in the Colorado River, encountered three barefoot floozies and stole the gold (shiny fabric) from them. Fast forward to the 1920’s. The gods were a wealthy American family of corrupt business barons building their new mansion. Set on a southern plantation, all gods wore white. Fasolt and Fafner, union laborers, made their entrance suspended on a girder beam. The Nibelungs were African slaves, mostly children. The concept of Schwarz-Alberich fits with Schwart- slaves. Erda, a Native American seer rose from the earth. A no brainer in terms of type casting, Loge was a shady lawyer. The gods entered Valhalla on the rainbow bridge/plank of a luxury cruise chip. Singing was described as “often remarkable” and orchestra was “mostly good” but lacking in size.
And now on to Die Walkure. Before the curtain rose, hypnotizing images of whirlpools were projected onto the curtain. Next, projected scenes from the camera moving quickly through the forest dizzily represented the pursuit theme. Act 1 opened with the exterior of a wooden cabin in the forest. Sieglinde, ably sung and acted by Anja Kampe was a delicate hausfrau complete with full apron and bare feet. When the cabin later opened up to a large v-shaped set, guns were displayed on the wall, as were various animal heads. Time appeared to be in the 30’s or 40’s.
Hunding, Gidon Saks, was a very convincing misogynist and bully. He arrived complete with a retinue of hunting buddies and dogs and commanded Sieglinde to take refreshments to his buddies. When Hunding was barley out of sight, the hunters passed Sieglinde around in a circle in a lecherous, menacing way. In any case, Hunding likely would have encouraged them to gang rape his wife, Hunding snapped his fingers, slapped her butt and ordered Sieglinde around. She obeyed like a terrified Edith Bunker, running with small steps from Hunding, to the fridge, to Siegmund. Hunding was particularly menacing and threatening towards Siegmund.
Siegfried was portrayed by the wonderful Placido Domingo. The beautiful voice is still there, and his acting, as always, was superb. His concern for Sieglinde and his delicate touches and glances polarized the two men in her life. The lovers matched each other vocally and the Winterstume was breathtaking. To quote the Washington Post: “I don’t know whether the WNO has ever presented a more thrilling 70 minutes than Act 1….A glorious teaming. Exactly what an operatic love duet should be.”
I saw Walkure on both April 1 and April 4. Before the first Walkure, I positioned myself inside the Stage Door, and had an accomplice ready to snap a picture of “us”. Amazingly, he came through the same stage door as did everyone else. Who knows? He probably puts on his pants one leg at a time as well. Totally in awe, I wanted to tell The Maestro how much I admired his singing, conducting, managing, always stretching himself by taking new roles almost yearly, his charitable works, etc etc. What I actually said was: “Humma, humma, humma…I like your work.” I have such a silver tongue. Domingo was suitably unimpressed.
I overheard Domingo comment that he was feeling under the weather with a sore throat and would decide later if he “would announce”. He did not announce and sounded just fine. In the next performance a few days later, again he did not announce, however his voice was strained on a few notes. When he came for his bow, he touched his throat in a symbolic apology to the adoring crowd. Unfortunately, this marks the third time I have seen him perform in seven months with a sore throat. I urge Domingo fans to go to hear him wherever they can, as some day soon, he may stop singing opera and spend his musical talents in concerts, conducting, etc.
Act 11 began in a boardroom with blurry images of Manhatten in the background. Linda Watson as Brunhilde sang adequately but showed little or no emotion. Alan Held as Wotan, was commanding with his rich bass-baritone voice. Fricka, Elena Zaremba, wore a beautiful, flouncy dusty rose outfit, a la Joan Crawford at her most elegant. Unfortunately, the most prominent thing about Zaremba’s voice is its wobble, which was very uncomfortable on the ears after a few minutes. I still dream about her outfit, however.
The scene then moved under a deserted freeway, reminiscent of the spots Tony Soprano used for surreptitious meetings. Hunding, his goons and dogs added immediacy to the situation. It is not surprising that Siegmund would rather kill Sieglinde than leave her to fate. The five principals sang strongly and the tensions built in this scene to climax with Wotan’s chilling “Geh! Geh!”
Act 111 opened with the Walkuries as paratroopers, complete with goggles and caps, descending in parachutes. On the stage were close up portrait photographs. The pictures seemed timeless, and made me think that they might be pictures of victims of the present war.
The Kennedy Center is a vast building with seven theater halls plus other areas for events. WNO performs in the hall designated Opera House, however this hall does not have the acoustics of a decent opera hall. Perhaps I have been spoiled by seeing the Ring done in opera halls with fabulous acoustics—Seattle, Bayreuth, Metropolitan, Toronto and even Orange County—and I expect the Walkuries Ride to echo pleasantly in the hall.
Unfortunately, the Walkuries sang as the late Anna Russell predicted: “They are the noisiest creatures”. This is the first time I have heard discordant singing in the Ride of the Walkuries. Each seemed to sing her own song, unrelated in timing and scale to the other. Between this and Fricka’s wobble, I now understand why people dislike opera and make fun of it. It was positively painful.
Brunhilde was still in her longish red jacket, black pants with high boots, (not typically American), and was totally different from her sisters. Her movement remained stiff, in complete contrast to the nubile Walkuries. There was no connection between her and the Walkuries, and there would seem to be no reason for them to protect this outsider.
Then, beginning with Sieglinde’s ecstatic “O hehrstes Wunder”, the act build from strength to strength. Held (Wotan) proved his mettle in voice and acting. He was suitably furious towards his unemotional daughter and then heartbreakingly honest in his farewell. Wagner is at his very best in showing the devastating human cost of power over love. In one day, Wotan has lost everyone he loved. Held is certainly in the new tier of excellent Wotans.
The orchestra was conducted by Music Director Heinz Fricke. As it did not meet the full component of a Wagnerian orchestra, and possibly because of the acoustics in the hall, the orchestra lacked strength, however considering these limitations, they performed well.
WNO’s claim of this being the “First American Ring” is in doubt. Arizona Opera’s Ring of 1998 used the Grand Canyon as a background. There is also the wonderful das Barbecu, by Jim Luigs and Scott Warrender. They were commissioned by Seattle Opera to adapt the Ring into a two hour musical with four singers. Valhalla is in Texas, and some of the songs—notably “Wandering Man” and “Turn the Tide” are worthy of Country Western tears. This little musical has taken on a life of its own after being premiered in Seattle, it moved to Broadway and other sites. If you get a chance, see it. Like each production of the Ring itself, it adds some new meaning to the original.
 - Yes, that is me with Placido Domingo before Walkure. Although he looks tired in the picture, and said he was under the weather, one hour later he was on stage, and from my front row seat, he looked about 30 and in perfect health. And as always, the consummate performer.
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Toronto Ring Cycle
September 25 to October 2, 2006
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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| Join us for Canada's FIRST complete Ring Cycle. This is an occasion so monumental that the Canadian Opera Company is building a new Opera House that will open in September 2006 with Wagner's Ring Cycle. |
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Wagner's Ring Cycle
October 5th to 14th, 2006
Los Angeles, California
Kirov Opera Company
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| Be present for the long-awaited American premiere of the Kirov's acclaimed production of Wagner's Ring Cycle. As a special bonus, we will also be attending Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, by the premier Russian Opera Company - the Kirov. |
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Lyric Opera of Chicago Production
Wagner's Ring Cycle |
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| For their 2005 Ring revival, Lyric Opera of Chicago assembled a Valhallan cast - possibly the best Wagner cast assembled in the past 40 years.
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Seattle Opera Production
Wagner's Ring Cycle |
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| In August, 2005, nine Winnipeggers joined with two "Ringheads" from Chicago and one from Florida to see Seattle's famous Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner. The tour was sponsored by Manitoba Opera, Continental Travel and Valhalla Opera Tours. |
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