Nürnbergs teurem Sachs

[sovay]

Well, as far as first experiences of Wagner go, that was pretty awesome. I even got the high-resolution stream to work after the first act. Gerard Finley: why have I not heard of? (Apparently I would have if I'd been able to get tickets to Doctor Atomic at the Met in 2008.) Johannes Martin Kränzle: would watch sing his way out of a paper bag. (Which is pretty much happens to Beckmesser in the third act, Malvolio-funny.) What a much more complicated opera than I was expecting. I may attempt to write it up, but first I have to start making Ethiopian collard greens from a recipe I got off the internet. I wish there would be a professionally available recording, but right now I'll settle for being glad—for once—that even if I was in the wrong country for a production, it didn't matter.

Comments

[straussmonster.livejournal.com]

It's Glyndebourne, they're likely to issue it commercially as well.

What a much more complicated opera than I was expecting.

*blink blink blink*

[sovay]

It's Glyndebourne, they're likely to issue it commercially as well.

Okay; cool. The National Theatre doesn't with its broadcasts, which makes me very sad; I've been hoping for a DVD of Alan Bennett's The Habit of Art for a year and a half now.

*blink blink blink*

I can't tell if you're blinking because I should have known better or because it wasn't complicated at all. I knew very little about the opera going in except that everyone said it was the comedy and a good place to start; the reviews were good; my experience of Wagner is almost nil. I kept bouncing off The Flying Dutchman for years.

[straussmonster.livejournal.com]

Ah, I guess I had forgotten/not known/etc. that you were not a Wagnerianer. Yeah, it's a marvelous and wonderous beast (and there's a decent amount of quality writing about it), and it's one of the very few long operas that really has no flab in it. I also find it probably the easiest to talk about without getting musically nitty-gritty. I'd say that was a solid introduction to the opera as well, no really crazy directorial fiats involved.

[sovay]

Ah, I guess I had forgotten/not known/etc. that you were not a Wagnerianer.

He's one of my serious musical blind spots, probably because I had such a bounce with the first opera I tried. Based on how much I loved Meistersinger, though, I'm thinking I should try again.

Yeah, it's a marvelous and wonderous beast (and there's a decent amount of quality writing about it)

You should point me in the direction of some of that; I'd be curious. I probably will try to get down some of my own reactions first, but then I have a lot of secondary scholarship to make up.

I'd say that was a solid introduction to the opera as well, no really crazy directorial fiats involved.

Awesome. I did notice the staging was shifted forward a couple of centuries, but it didn't seem to do anything weird to the story; I thought it worked very well in terms of forming national identity, plus Regency costuming is fun even when you're not in England.