You hear so many things I miss but I knew we had some solid vocals here. I really love Thill's voice.
Wagner loses something in French, but not as much as he loses in Italian, a language that scans so differently from German that notes often have to be added to accommodate it. Wagner in Italian may be worse than Verdi in German, or maybe not. I'll do without both unless it's Callas singing Kundry or Isolde (of which we'll never hear more than eight minutes) or Joseph Schwarz singing Rigoletto.
I agree. He only sang the role once on stage though, in Stockholm in 1966. He was also supposed to sing it at Bayreuth the following year, but I'm sure I read somewhere that he decided the role wasn't for him and never attempted it again.
I have that recording but have yet to listen to it. And you are correct that he decided not to sing any more Wagner. I’m sure I read that he was only due to sing one performance in 1966 but some conflicting info suggests he sang all the performances in that season. Perhaps someone can shed some further light. 😎
You'll like the final round of singers.
We did a great traditional version here and it was one of the great operatic events of my life. Even if you don't like The Ring and Tristan you might really enjoy Lohengrin. It is more Bel Canto in my opinion and it has the most thrilling choruses I've ever heard in an opera. You can hear more the Italianate influence with the French language.
It’s one of Wagner’s “operas,” rather than “music dramas,” with its great choruses, especially hard on the tenors in the chorus, but just gorgeous. We also had a traditional staging, the first Act really looked like it was in a forest, and the lighting design was spectacular (his name was Thomas Munn, never had better lighting than when he was part of the company).
Thankfully, yes. Our two General Directors during my time were Kurt Herbert Adler, and Terry McEwen, who were traditionalists, that God, didn’t put up with nonsense from stage directors. The most controversial productions were the Jean-Pierre Ponnelle ones, which were apt to be early régie. His Die Fliegende Hollander was severely criticized in New York when the production was transferred to the Metropolitan Opera. Adler would even object if a singer‘s train was too long, or if a set director used too much forced perspective.
I've always thought of Lohengrin as Wagner's "fairy tale" opera: innocent maiden unjustly accused, evil witch who tries to destroy her, young boy turned into a swan, knight in shining armor who longs to experience human love... Most of Wagner's dramas are psychologically complex and even disturbing, but the tale of Lohengrin is great bedtime reading that will give the child in us happy thrills and not keep us awake. A production ought to be beautiful to look at and listen to, but still needs to give full weight to the story's gentle pathos. A lot rests on the tenor portraying the Grail knight, who should be both heroic and poetic - two seemingly opposite qualities rare enough in tenors, and rarer found together in one singer.
Most of the fiction I like are sort of fairy tale/ supernatural quest sort of things. I've read Proust, Joyce and Faulkner but now that I am old give me Harry Potter or some sword and sorcery stuff. Preteen in an old man's body. Most opera plots bore me but I like Wagner's plots.
