Elizabeth – Wagner really outdid himself with Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Everyone knows Wagner is long; longer than most other operas. But Meistersinger’s season premiere began at 6pm and ended at 12:10am. I requested special dispensation from work to make the curtain time and dressed as though I was flying to London (because I may as well have) since I was going to be crammed into the Met seats for the same amount of time it would take me to fly to Europe. Two intermissions didn’t make up for the total lack of leg room and seat recline. I’m actually slightly worried about a deep vein thrombosis. Seriously. I’m taking baby aspirin for the rest of this week.
So I came prepared, dressed in yoga gear, with a Met opera jacket to spruce up the ensemble, a bag of Twizzlers at the ready. I noticed few others were willing to take the Met Meistersinger Marathon challenge—most of the rear of Dress Circle was empty. Those who did come tended to be elderly; how they stayed awake is beyond me. I did notice people standing quite a bit in between scene changes, to stretch their legs and prevent blood clots. But those in attendance were well rewarded. As Levine was elevated in his wheelchair pod, a sense of relief washed over me. This was going to be ok. We were under the baton of James Levine. And he was tremendous. All six hours and ten minutes of it. He was especially crisp and precise; the orchestra was an absolute delight, everyone was on their A Game. The interlude before the third act (yes, the one used in Triumph of the Will, the 1935 film by Leni Riefenstahl that associated Wagner with Hitler) alone was worth it.
And many of the singers were tremendous, even more so when you consider what a long evening it was. Johan Botha is Walther von Stolzing, a Knight seeking Eva Pogner’s hand in marriage by attempting to win the master singer’s contest the next day. I have not heard Botha before, but he has a rich tenor, well suited for Wagner and the evening’s long haul. Equally impressive was Johannes Martin Kränzle as Beckmesser, Walther’s rival for Eva’s hand, for his Met debut. Kränzle’s bright baritone brought to life Wagner’s nervous sweeps of music for Beckmesser, but Kränzle didn’t overact the part. He walked the line respectably, leaving little room for debate over whether Beckmesser is a Jewish stereotype and manifestation of Wagner’s anti-Semitism. Paul Appleby remains a crowd favorite after his performance last year in Two Boys and as a last minute replacement at the Tucker Gala. His sound is great, and, even better, you can feel the audience follow his energy around the stage. There were points last night where he was hard to hear. I blame the Met’s stage.
The night, however, belonged to James Morris. As cobbler and master singer, he ably carried the entire six hours on his shoulders, helping Walther compose a song that fit the rigid requirements of the master singers, teasing Beckmesser for his severity, dispensing advice to Eva, and making shoes throughout. Morris’ powerful voice showed no sign of fatigue even when the acres of choristers arrived at the eleventh hour. He could be heard over all of them. The man can sing.Meistersinger doesn’t have some of my favorite Wagnerian bits—magic, mysticism, and mythical creatures—though it is tuneful and for those who don’t particularly like Wagner it is supposed to be one of his more approachable pieces. If you consider six hours approachable. But it’s true that this Wagner is stacked with melodies. I particularly liked the watchman’s melody and Matthew Rose as the Night Watchman. The meta-musical aspect of the opera whereby you have a piece of music about a contest of making music and the rules and breaking of said rules of making music was also a bit of fun that I’m not used to seeing from a Wagner opera. Apparently Wagner had a lighter side.
Lastly, kudos to the chorus for showing up at 11:30pm for the final scene of Act 3. If only Wagner had an editor we both could have gotten home a little earlier and with fewer aches and pains.
Shawn – Every time I go to an opera of four hours or more, I always feel like I should wear sweats. I haven’t yet. But still. There was a guy I knew in my childhood who always wore a Batman sweat suit to the Metropolitan opera. Often a yellow one. He would even go backstage after the show in his yellow Batman sweat suit. He also illegally recorded almost every performance from a tape recorder in his bag. Which made his wearing a bright yellow Batman sweat suit all the more odd. I guess he was hiding in plain sight. Alas, the days of tape recorders in that bags at the Met are over. The days of yellow Batman sweat suits may still be with us however.
But I digress, although Die Mestersinger von Nürnberg is the longest single stretch I have ever been at the Met, (I got there at 5:30 and we weren’t back outside until 12:20am), it didn’t drag as some far shorter things I have seen. True by the final 30 minutes I was shifting my position every 2 minutes in a vain attempt to relieve the pain in my back but I was fully engaged in the music and the action onstage. I never once prayed to god for it to end as I did at Les Troyens two years ago. Wagner is magic that way. Possibly the most entranced I have ever been at the Met was Parsifal two years ago. At five and a half hours it is similarly long as Meistersinger, but I have no memory of the length. I only remember Parsifal as a kind of wild vivid dream, certain images and moments from it are burned into my memory as if I saw them yesterday.
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg did not quite achieve that kind of transcendental theatrical and emotional experience in me but it was in a similar ballpark.
I’m not going to repeat much of what was said above, except I will say that James Morris was excellent. As was Johannes Martin Kränzle, who was making his Met debut as Buckmesser. It always amazes me how many Met debuts there are for older already established singers that are absolutely excellent. Kränzle in Meistersinger and Clive Bailey as the Doctor in Wozzeck last year are just two examples that come to mind.
It’s a reminder of the greater operatic world beyond the sometimes myopic stage of the Metropolitan opera and that there is a huge community of consummate accomplished singers enjoying successful careers that –GASP- have no connection to the Met.
I enjoyed Paul Appleby as well though I have a soft spot for him due to my adoration of Two Boys. And Hans-Peter König is always excellent every time I see him.James Levine and the Met orchestra were, as to be expected, wonderful throughout the musical marathon of Meistersinger. There is something so dramatically appropriate in Levine rising up out of the darkness in his mechanical chair like Darth Vader in his Vader Egg in Empire Strikes Back. Especially for Wagner. As if Levine is ascending slowly out of the underworld to show us his treasures for 6 hours only to descend back down into the darkness again once the show is over.
Finally, in the playbill there was an asterisk next to Johan Botha’s name which read “The appearance of Johan Botha in this performance is made possible, in part, by the Lauritz Melchoir Endowment Fund.” I have never seen this mentioned in a playbill before but I could have missed it. In researching, I found this and this from 2010.
One of these reads in part, “The Metropolitan Opera announced today that it has been awarded a $1.1 million endowment grant from Lauritz Melchior Heldentenor Foundation… to honor the memory of Lauritz Melchior and perpetuate his goals of developing heldentenors (“heroic” tenors in the German repertory) and maintaining Wagnerian opera by making an endowment gift to the Metropolitan Opera. The new Lauritz Melchior Endowment Fund will support the musical education of heldentenors and Wagnerian sopranos who are in the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program or on its roster of artists. In keeping with the Foundation’s ultimate goal ‘to maintain and improve the performance of Wagnerian opera,’ income from the Fund also may be used to support the appearance by heldentenors or Wagnerian sopranos on the Met’s stage during the season.”
Does that mean Wagner lead cast members’ salaries don’t entirely count against the Met budget? If so GO TEAM WAGNER!
– Elizabeth Frayer & Shawn E Milnes
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Can I just say how much I love "Elizabeth and Shawn Go to the Opera"!?! It reminds me of “Breakfast with Roger and Irene” from Woody Allen's film "Radio Days". Remember them? They were the glamorous Park Avenue husband and wife who described their milieu of showbiz and nightclubs on their morning radio show? The narrator's mother, played by Julie Kavner, always had to have her "fix" of Roger and Irene as she started her day