Der Ring des Nibelungen

*Note: This is not a review or an attempt at that. Just some personal opinions from a greenhorn to the Wagner scene.*

This grand opera of Wagner for the Bayreuth Festspiele '07 ends this evening with Götterdämmerung.

I have to admit that this is the first time whereby I've sat through the entire Ring cycle within a span of less than a week. What a journey!

I have listened to different sections of the entire cycle on records every now and then, and I have to admit that this year's production of this trilogy doesn't speak to me. Judging from the lukewarm applause upon the closing of this evening's Götterdämmerung, I believe that many of the people there felt the same. I can't deny that several segments of this entire cycle do shine, but on the whole, there's still something lacking, and I can't exactly put my finger on it.

This similar production, thankfully traditional, will run for the upcoming few years until 2010. On their side, there'll probably be quite some more fine-tuning to do to bring this trilogy to a higher level. Hopefully by then, I would have acquired more knowledge to fully appreciate this masterpiece by the greatest opera composer.

Tomorrow's the last opera for this year's Bayreuth Festspiele, Parsifal. I'm looking forward to it, not the end, but to indulge in another masterpiece by Wagner...

Quirky Quote

First of all: I am not a fan of Regietheater: I firmly believe that it is 1% ignorance and 99% exibitionism.

But the case of Kathi is slightly different: perhaps her mix is 30% smartness and 70% exhibitionism (and this was perhaps also the ratio applause/boos after her debut).

Read it all here.

Daland carries on by giving his opinions on Kathrina's production of Meistersinger on the opening day of Bayreuth. A break from the all-so-similar reviews out there.

A true Wagnerite! How I pale in comparison to him and the others out there!

Services

Design and Realisation of Card Courtesy of Ivan Lim

An Abhorrent System

In my entry to my new academic institution, I was recently introduced to their academic culture module. One of the first few concepts they emphasised was on independent learning and inquiry. Upon coming out from the module, I felt like I've been waddling in a pool of mud. Here's a short summary. In the independent quest for learning, they taught four methodologies, namely survey, compiling documented information, experiments and reasoning. After that follows mandatory steps of justification and critical thinking. I wouldn't go into the details, but you get the rough idea they're advocating.

How am I supposed to reconcile this with the way I function in the artistic field? I'll give an example - aesthetics. Beauty is a central concept in the arts, at certain times even prized higher than values like truth and goodness. Here's an imaginary scenario of myself in a conversation with someone else upon graduation out of this academic institution...

(looking at an abstract form in marble in a sculpture exhibition)

Friend: This is beautiful...
Me: Why do you think so?
Friend: Huh?
Me: As in justify your statement, why is it beautiful?
Friend (hesitatingly, for now his statement concept of beauty is being questioned): The usage of the black marble and spheres, arranged in the simplest manner...
Me: Let's work this out one by one. How does black marble make it beautiful? How does the colour itself and material itself trigger your aesthetic nerves?
Friend: It just comes together. Marble, polished with such meticulous care, painted in black, would result in such a beautiful effect.
Me: So it's the shiny surface of marble. What if he had used glass or a form of well-polished metal for it? Wouldn't it achieve the same effect?

And so the conversation can go on and on, questioning each individual quality in the sculpture, to the way they interact and even on to our perception of beauty, the way we perceive it. (One might argue that aesthetics is such subjective issue that it shouldn't be subject to any justification or any form of rules or trend in the first place, how about issues like capital punishment, euthanasia etc? Aren't there so many perspectives and controversies around these issues? Despite that, they're still being brought up for discussion in such a systematic scientific way.)

How destructive such learning concepts are to the appreciation of artistic objects and forms. And here, in this renowned institution, such skills (based on these concepts) are honed until they're second nature to the student! The picture now. This institution, or rather most academic institutions locally, instil this raging desire to question, research, reason and justify in order to learn. All to the point that without an answer, they wouldn't be satisfied. No satisfaction without an answer. The students are pushed until they can see the inner workings and mechanisms of it all. Going far too fast. How can one fully appreciate and learn about an artistic work and form in such a manner? Can one learn about an artistic work after taking it apart into its smallest components like the way a technician learns?

I'll end off here with a passage by "Speaking of Beauty" by Denis Donoghue.

In "The Artist of the Beautiful" (1844) Hawthorne tells of Owen Warland, a young man who works as a watch-repairer but who lives his true life in search of the beautiful. He is gifted with a acute sense of the delicate and minute. Mind and hand are turned towards the exquisite. Owen thinks of his work as a tribute to Annie Hovenden, whom he loves and regards as his ideal companion, best recipient of the beautiful. For her, he makes a metal butterfly that perches on one's hand, flies off, and returns. It is a work of extraordinary refinement. But Annie marries Robert Danforth, the local blacksmith, a man of iron, and they have a child who resembles his father in that respect. Peter Hovenden, was once a watchmaker and Owen's master, but he is now retired. He is a materialist and despises Owen's yearning for the exquisite. (...) The implied narrator is on Owen's side, because he believes that the "deeds of the earth, however ethereralized by by piety or genius, are without value, except as exercises and manifestations of the spirit." After many tribulations and lapses during which he ceases "to be an inhabitant of the better sphere that lies unseen around us," he succeeds in making the butterfly, giving it his own life. One evening he shows it to Annie, Robert, their child, and Peter:

Nature's ideal butterfly was here realized in all its perfection, not in the pattern of such faded insects as flit among earthly flowers, but of those which hover across the meads of paradise for child-angels and the spirits of departed infants to disport themselves with. The rich down was visible upon its wings; the luster of its eyes seemed instinct with spirit, the firelight glimmered around this wonder - the candles gleamed around it; but it glistened apparently by its own radiance, and illuminated the finger and outstretched hand on which it rested with a white gleam like that of precious stones. In its perfect beauty, the consideration of size was entirely lost. Had its wings overreached the firmament, the mind could not have been more filled or satisfied.

Annie thinks it beautiful and wants to know if it is alive. Robert laughs at it. Peter wants only to see how it works. The child grabs it. In a few moments, meeting those roughness and vulgarities, the butterfly loses its beauty and dies...

Imagine...

... a few years down the road, what audiences will get at the Bayreuth Festspiele wouldn't be and exclusive seven evenings of only-Wagner operas, but instead, a mixture of other German operatic productions as well. Our dear Richard Wagner would probably flip in his grave if he knew how his operatic productions in his very own Festspielhaus had changed over the years. Superficial caricatures of the originals. With the invasion of productions of operas by other composers, he would soon flip out of his grave... What a desecration of the Festspielhaus...

Do head over to the A.C. Douglas's website for updates on the Bayreuth Festspiele 2007. He has diligently consolidated the reviews and articles, on top of his own, on this topic.

Der Ring des Nibelungen: Die Walküre

Die Walküre, the First Day of the Ring, was on this evening, a continuation from Das Rheingold from the previous evening.

I started listening from Act II on the Dwójka Polskie Radio this evening. Having accessed the webcast a couple of minutes late after what I supposed what the starting time, I was surprised on hearing the Valhalla leitmotif, which I vaguely recalled its appearance only during the second act. It was only after some time later that I realised that the operacast website had printed the timing for two of the radio stations wrongly. By that time, it didn't make much sense to switch to the other radio station with the delayed broadcast since Act I would have been more than halfway completed.

I thoroughly enjoyed Acts II and III this evening. Albert Dohmen, as Wotan, caught my attention with his confident and powerful delivery. Together with last evening's performance of Das Rheingold, I find that he was adept in bringing out the multifaceted character of Wotan vocally. I was moved by the way his voice shimmers above the orchestra in proclaiming his [sadly temporal] support for Siegmund, and when he was conflicted upon Fricka's chastisement of his notion of love and his ways as a god and husband, his immanent frustration upon killing of Siegmund, and of course, his most intense nostalgia in the closing passages of the last act.

Linda Watson, as Brünnhilde, wasn't as consistent. In the dramatic sections whereby her vocals were supposed to float above the orchestra, she was drowned out by the latter. On the other hand, her rendition of the monologue at the end of Act II Scene 2 was the most beautiful I've heard thus far. In heart-rending passage with such poetic libretto, she brought out conflicting wretchedness in Brünnhilde in the most alluring manner.

And of course, now to the tragic hero, Siegmund, sung by tenor Endrik Wottrich. How I wish the lifespan of his character was lengthened! Such power and intimacy in the same voice! I shall take note of the re-broadcast, and indulge myself in his proclamation of love to Sieglinde in Act I Scene 3. I have no doubts that it'll be superb.

The Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele under Christian Thielemann was strong, as like the last evening, stringing every single unit of the opera together to create the most complete and coherent picture. Come to think of it, they're unrivalled when it comes to Wagnerian repertoire.

Thankfully, there'll be a break of a day before Siegfried will be shown. Being situated in an obscure corner of Mars, the time difference is just horribly different. I shall attempt to compile the available reviews on this entire Bayreuther Festspiele in the next coming few days. Apparently, the opening night wasn't well received with the radically different production by Katharina Wagner. We shall see how it turns out. Right now, I would personally prefer a traditionalist to the throne (all three candidates are, as quoted from A.C. Douglas, unfortunately, supporters of Regietheater and none seemed like conservatives), as I'm still considerably new to Wagner music. Give me a few more years of largely similar traditional productions and it'll difficult to say though...

Darn, I'm more interested in the politics of the Bayreuther Festspiele than the local politics.

Der Ring des Nibelungen: Das Rheingold

The production of the legendary Der Ring des Nibelungen at Bayreuther Festspiele 2007 has started. Christian Thielemann will be conducting these four evenings of the entire cycle.

Das Rheingold! Behold the conflict between love and power! Introduced this very first evening will be the multifaceted character of Wotan, the renunciation of love for power by Alberich, the craftiness of Loge (with a flawed sense of righteousness so despised by Wagner), the superficiality and simple-mindedness of the giants Fafner and Fasolt...

So much to write, but I need to go back the music. To end off, here's the cast for this evening's performance...

Conductor Christian Thielemann
Production Tankred Dorst
Sets Frank Philipp Schlößmann
Costume Bernd Ernst Skodzig

Wotan Albert Dohmen
Donner Ralf Lukas
Froh Clemens Bieber
Loge Arnold Bezuyen
Fasolt Kwangchul Youn
Fafner Hans-Peter König
Alberich Andrew Shore
Mime Gerhard Siegel
Fricka Michelle Breedt
Freia Edith Haller
Erda Mihoko Fujimura
Woglinde Fionnuala McCarthy
Wellgunde Ulrike Helzel
Flosshilde Marina Prudenskaja
(most are similiar's to last year's)

I'm thankful there wouldn't be any intermission tonight. Given the length of the intermissions for the previous two evenings, I am speculating that they have a shortage of cubicles over there...

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

I have to admit that I clicked on the webcast with that a slight skeptism, despite my love for Wagner's operas. I was almost preparing to turn in after a long day earlier, if the first few minutes into the opera didn't move me. The moment the first sounds of the production this evening came forth through my headphones, I knew I was hooked for the entire duration of it. For the few times when I've gone through the entire length of Wagner's operas, they were all savoured together with the visual staging. This was by far the first time I was hooked on the entire production simply based on the music without any visual stimulation.

Such a wonderful opening to this year's production of the Bayreuther Festspiele! Sebastian Weigle conducted the Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele with such Wagnerian charm, with the right touch of humour in this opera. The soloists sounded beautiful this evening. If the staging was anywhere as good as the music, this completely new production by Katharina Wagner would have been a success.

As to the composition of this opera, the libretto is beautifully and poetically written! Lighter in mood compared to his other works, but it certainly doesn't lose out in depth compared to them. How can one not be impressed when confronted by the Wagner's ingenuity?

So much to talk about, but I shan't disgrace myself further by showing my ignorance. I'm still new to the Wagnerian opera scene and have lots more to learn. Let's wait for the professional critics to come out with their reviews...

Almost seven hours of live audio webcast of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg after a full day of activities, it's nigh time I catch some sleep. And Tannhäuser's on tomorrow.

Bayreuther Festspiele 2007

There it goes by again... The Bayreuther Festspiele 2007 opens today with Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. And there seem to be some pretty intense fireworks this year between the 29-year-old great-granddaughter of our beloved Richard Wagner, Katharina Wagner, with her cousins, Nike Wagner, 62, a musicologist and artistic director of the Kunstfest Weimar arts festival, and Eva Wagner-Pasquier, her step-sister from her father's first marriage, also 62, artistic adviser to the Aix en Provence opera festival...

It's on now. Schedules on the official website. Catch the webcast here.

Tabula Rasa

Have been drowning myself with a great deal of recordings of modern works lately, with works by Messiaen, Takemitsu, Arvo Pärt, Penderecki and others appearing on my player more often than before.

Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is most well known for his third and current phase of compositional style, which he himself termed as tintinnabulation. It's intriguing to learn of how he has progressed since he first appeared on the scene. From an experimental twelve-tone compositional technique following Schoenberg, he reached an interim phase whereby he made use of collage techniques whereby he "cut-and-paste" sections from pieces ranging from the renaissance to the romantic periods onto his twelve-tone compositions. Being still unsatisfied, he went into a stage of self-imposed silence, only to emerge with a most unique voice.

I was first drawn to his music by his most peculiar concept of sound and have been hooked since. I surprise myself when I look at recordings of his works which I've amassed over the past few months. One could almost see a holy aura surrounding the music from the very moment the first note is sounded. Here, I shall attempt to put into words my reflections on one of his most famous compositions, Tabula Rasa.

Scored for two violins, string orchestra, and prepared piano, this work consists of two movements - Ludus (with movement) and Silentium (without movement). For the first time, I actually loved and could understand the sounds of a prepared piano. The prepared piano uses a tonic pedal to give the pulse and movement, like a breathless race through time. Some other points, it was used to create the bell tones like those coming from a monastery. At other times, it is used to create a tone cluster of an unimaginable depth to sound a death knell.

The first movement is just a simple yet profound alternation between two sections - the theme and silence. Behold the depth in the impulsive pulsing sections where the instruments come together to create tensional surge to propel the music forth, choking the listener of the space to breath. It is only resolved in a series of monastric bell-like sounds on the prepared piano before fading away into midst of of the calm and tranquil silence. The extended periods of contemplative silence provide the much needed deliverence from the tensional rush, such stoic moments so indifferent to the contrasting sections encompassing them.

How can one help but be drawn into this masterful blend of arsis (movement and impulse) and thesis (rest) - a rhythmic technique found commonly in Gregorian chants in the renaissance era? The two solo violins, as the music progresses on, engages in an almost devilish dance, encouraged on by the sounding of the death knell on the prepared piano, originally sounding once every time the theme comes on, but recurring repeatedly like a hounding nightmare in the last segment. In a most enigmatic way, all the tension is resolved in a cold A min drone, creating the effect of sounding on for eternity.

How apt, when it leads on to the 2nd movement, where for the sixteen over minutes, Arvo Pärt creates the most beatific effect of a most tranquil suspension in eternity. When it all ends, I sense in myself a disappointment in the very fact that it has ended. I guess I shan't go too much into the second movement for any form of description in words would be far from sufficient to put that music into words.

Nonetheless, it's been a most spiritually rich journey, not just through this particular masterpiece, but through his other works as well. Truly blessed this deeply spiritual man is, with such an esoteric concept of sound and ability to create such exoteric compositions palatable for most.

Been a long time since I last updated this place. Just an entry to update my readers that I'm still alive. I've been caught up with loads of work recently and barely have the time to have a proper rest.

A friend came over to share some music over at my place today. In an attempt to showcase his conducting skills under the tutelege of respectable conductors Leonid Korchmar and Alexander Polishchuk from the St. Petersburg Conservatory when he was over in Russia, he introduced the 1st, 2nd and 4th movements from Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. Such heartwrenching pain in the first movement. Such grandeur and passion in the march at the end. In the middle lies the most beautiful second movement. Such earth-shaking exaltation, when salvation is used as a theme, in a stark contrast to his Symphonies No. 4 and 6. In the heat of his passion at the end, he proclaimed it, together with several Russian compositions, to be the best music around. And of course, given his ultimately huge ego, he couldn't help exalting the Russian school of conducting as he compared the German, American and Russian conducting styles at the same time. Such haughtiness.

Naturally, I knew I had to protect German music, with names and reputations of our beloved Bach, dramatic Beethoven, poetic Schubert and romantic Brahms in danger of being overwhelmed by the Russian masters at that moment. In jest, I decided to launch a counteroffensive. For that moment, he was the nationalistic Russian, and I, the nationalistic German. Mentally, I was in a mad rush to scan through all the German composers and their compositions. I needed to fight on home ground, at the same time not too distant from what he was familiar with in order to convince him. An orchestral composition, with a strong nationalistic touch, a contemporary of Tchaikovsky. Time was ticking. Yes, if he was going to overwhelm me with the unmistakable stench of Bolshevikian mass marches, I would retaliate with the mind-blowing aroma of Germanic romantic chivalry. He probably knew more about Brahms than I do. Yes, Wagner! I whipped out my recording of his ultimate Tristan und Isolde by Daniel Barenboim (whom he had earlier flamed jokingly on his flowery conducting technique in his recording of Brahm's Symphony No. 1 with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra). Strictly speaking, it wasn't orchestral music, but since he wasn't that familiar with operas, I guess the prelude would make a great candidate. The prelude was sufficient, more than sufficient to counter his three movements of Russian nationalism. And there, as the first sounds came in, culminating in the famous Tristan chord, I conducted this time with passion and gusto (probably more like a lunatic for conducting isn't my forte). Waves and waves of unresolved dissonances together with the intense and sensuous conversations between the instruments. Prima!

*Maybe at this point, I should clarify. Both of us are truly all rounded music lovers. In fact, I fell in love with Russian music much earlier than any music by Bach, Beethoven or Wagner. And as for him, he worships Beethoven and Brahms. Our quibble was a suitable impetus for us to start hurling music at each other to widen our musical repertoire while in a heightened and alert state of mind.*

Being clearly deeply moved by the Wagner, he braced himself and retaliated with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. I groaned. It was going to be a long evening. Not having sufficient rest and recovering from the excesses of last evening weren't helping much! My mind was spinning for the entire day. I couldn't escape sitting through the entire Pictures, but I sure did enjoy it. Beautiful composition by Mussorgsky and masterful orchestration by Ravel! Such colours and evocative paintings of sound.

It was pretty much bombing each other with pieces for the entire evening, a full five hours. It didn't end with Mussorgsky! We had Brahm's Symphony No. 1 after that and a load of his compositions and projects after that. A most taxing music sharing session but ultimately satisfying.

Earlier throughout the day, it was strange how excerpts from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana played on repeat mode in my mind. I hadn't touched that recording probably for the past century, but to think just a mention of it by Ivan last evening got it all back into my head. Or was a it a subconscious attempt of my mind to get rid of all the most repetitive music I had been exposed to the previous evening? I can safely say that I've survived 5 hours of continuous blasting pop band music and 5 hours of continuous gigantic classical works the following day. Gained much from both marathons in very different ways, though I'm still pretty much zonked out from all the activities for the past few days.

An Evening of Sacred Music

It was a most memorable and spiritual evening with the Chor des Bayerischen Runkfunks (Bavarian Radio Chorus) under the direction of Peter Dijkstra. It was the first day of their Asian Premiere in Singapore this evening. Their programme this evening consisted of a range of German and Austrian sacred choral works from the renaissance to the romantic era, a huge contrast to their next performance which will consist of secular works held tomorrow afternoon.

This performance by the Chor des Bayerischen Runkfunks was in fact the first performance which caught my attention in this year's Singapore Arts Festival when the programme for the festival was unveiled. I went down to the immediately to grab the best seat available during early March, a good 3 months before the concert day. I had heard good reviews of the Chor des Bayerischen Runkfunks and it was a pleasant surprise when I got to know that they were coming down to town. And this evening, they put up one of the most charming concerts amongst all the vocal concerts I've ever been to in my life.

Such a sublime performance which I've experienced this wonderful evening. Please pardon me for my words on this performance for they only serve to undermine the true spiritual, musical and emotional value of their live performance in a concert hall, but I can't help but pen my them down!

The first half of their this evening consisted of choral works in the renaissance and baroque era. Two renaissance compositions, by Heinrich Schütz and Orlando di Lasso, were included alongside Bach. Tonight was the first time I was presented with a genre of works by Bach that I wasn't very familiar with - his motets (BWV 226 and 228). The performance of the former, Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf (BWV 226) touched me in a deepest manner. On the composition, despite it being a motet, Bach apparently couldn't help infusing this traditional form with the chorale style which he was so proficient in. Probably one of the most melodious motets which I've listened to. This motet is special in the fact that it was scored with an orchestral accompaniment. It was sung unaccompanied this evening, without the orchestral parts. I couldn't compare, since I've never heard of any renditions other than the one this evening. Probably due to the lack of orchestral colours, the purity and beauty of the unaccompanied human voices managed to shine forth and fill the concert hall this evening. Peter Dijkstra, amazingly young and talented for a conductor of this renowned choir, managed to draw a myriad of most captivating sounds from the singers. The melismatic passages in the first movement were executed with a sparkling quality by the musicians. One could really sense the shimmering brilliance of the melisma above the rest of the voices in the concert hall.

The second half featured sacred works by Mozart, Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, Anton Bruckner and Mendelssohn. Ave verum corpus (KV 618) by Mozart was a most captivating start to a second half. It is a very short work by Mozart towards the end of his life. This evening, the Chor des Bayerischen Runkfunks presented an unpretentious yet sensitive rendition of this work. The nuances were realised with such artistry but never in anyway exaggerated. How could I help being charmed by such solemn yet elegant beauty?

Two movements from a work by Josef Gabriel Rheinberger were sung this evening. I have to admit my ignorance at the existence of such a prolific German composer despite being familiar with his contemporaries, Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms. Drei geistlichen Gesängen (Op 69) of Rheinberger was presented tonight. I was immensely moved by their interpretation of the work. The purity of the voices infused a most special quality to the notes. Even during the extended pianissimo sections of the work, the purity of the each single vocal section was amazingly clear and possessed a fluid-like quality, like the unbroken flow of a peaceful river. I was drawn deep into that harmony at a certain point in that section, whereby I knew at that moment whereby the sounds doesn't have a beginning nor an end. Time simply didn't exist at that particular instant at all... The silky smooth expansion of the sound from a most tender pianissimo to a deep and powerful fortissimo within a single phrase of the work is still fresh in my mind.

At the end, the audiences tonight were presented with two oriental Chinese works as encores. They weren't familiar to me, but I could somehow make out words like water and mountains. At least I thought I heard those words and believed that they brought out that images well. I don't think it was them who didn't pronounced the Chinese words well, but more possibly because I myself am not proficient in that language. What a shame, when the language is supposed to be my mother tongue. After the end, the lady beside me commented that they sang the oriental pieces better than the Chinese. Oh well...

Despite the choir exhausting their encore pieces, the applause lasted even after the last musician has left the stage. All in all, it was a most rejuvenating evening of sacred music, an unaccompanied vocal performance of the highest artistic order. I certainly don't regret getting the most expensive seats for this performance...

*I apologise for the pathetic attempt to put my afterthoughts on such a sublime performance into words. The states that I were in during and after the live performance were indescribable. (probably the simplest but best way to put it)*

True Beauty

Recordings of Bach's Ich Habe Genug (BWV 82), found their way into my player more often than other works lately. It contains one of the most beautiful arias ever written in history - Schlummert ein. Such exquisite charm. Listening to it never fails to melt me from inside. The recording by Hans Hotter and Peter Kooy are my personal favourites. Simplicity. That's what it needs. Somehow, he just allowed the music to sing by itself without imposing his own vocal and musical authority on the melodic line.

Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen,
Fallet sanft und selig zu!

The entire aria is summed up in the descending line "Fallet sanft und selig zu". It's just the most natural to allow that line to fade gradually into silence. A small flame flickering and dying out. Just fading into oblivion...

Welt, ich bleibe nicht mehr hier,
Hab ich doch kein Teil an dir,
Das der Seele könnte taugen.

Bach wrote these lines in such a way such that by the time it reaches the end of the respective phrases, one would just be able to sing "taugen" with just a whisper. I've been wondering why some singers would attempt to conserve their breath for the last few words, resulting instead, in the suffocation of the melodic line. In any case, it's just amazing how well this aria was written and phrased. Such sublime beauty. Whenever I listen to this work, it does give me a sense that Bach really have intended the singers to yield themselves to the melodic line and succumb to her beauty.

Beauty. That's what it's about. The beautification of death...

Thoughts on Wagner

Just caught a glimpse of the genius of Wagner last week. Someone once compared the intelligence of Daniel Barenboim, when he expounded on Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, with that of current political leaders and found him to be much more superior than them. What do we say of Wagner then, who has written the opera, libretto and music all by himself? How can anyone come close to him in terms of depth and musical ideas in their operas? It's unfortunate that some people don't have the aptitude to see past the superficial themes which Wagner had used in his operas. With just a bit more, they could delve right into this rich and profound world of this master. How can one sit through his operas and remain the same person as he was before?

Musical ideas aside first for now, let's just touch on his libretto for Der Ring des Nibelungen. Charged with revolutionary political ideas, profound philosophical ideas, this epic had managed to get past the censors during Wagner's time. Such ideas subtly permeates the entire Ring cycle and other operas which were done after the influence of Schopenhauer. Nope, trying to give a summary of his ideas would result in me writing a book, of which books with such content are already flooding the market. I'll just talk about my personal brush with Wagner from the performance of just the first act of Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) by SSO last Saturday.

One can see the gradual transformation of this great master in his philosophical and musical ideas from Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold) to the Die Walküre (The Valkyrie). Music, once subservient to the rhetoric, now moves ahead of the words. As the story unfolds, the psychology and inner world of each character at every point of time, is reflected in the music, even and especially, at those moments when the characters are putting on a facade. The hidden, internal psychology of the characters are brought into the foreground only by the music, when the libretto doesn't reveal anything regarding it.

I guess the main reason why Wagner had insisted to write his own libretto was because of his need to hide those powerful yet subtle political undertones beneath the apparent light-hearted mythological storyline. Which other predecessor or contemporary had written their own libretto for their own opera? Richard Strauss and Michael Tippett had written their own libretto, the former having just done one and the latter for all his operas. Fairly successful, but how could their operas stand at the same level as those by Wagner? No one comes close to his capability to write their own libretto for their own operas.

One of the many parts which caught my attention was to the scene when Siegmund and Sieglinde expressed their love for each other. They sang of the arrival of spring (as in the libretto), but the music was distinctively done in the operatic style of Mozart. A superficial caricature and showcase of Wagner's skill in reproducing the operatic compositional style of another? It seems much deeper than that. What happened in the next act? As usual, Wagner killed Siegmund and erased him for the rest of the Ring cycle. That naivety and innocence of the Mozartian style was ridiculed and mocked! At the same time, it, too, exposes the philosophies of Wagner regarding love, the social classes (humans being controlled by gods as an allusion to the social classes during Wagner's society) etc. Just the tip of the iceberg of Wagner's ingenuity and intelligence.

Gesamtkunstwerk. It pretty sums it up everything. It suggests the totality of the artistic merging of subject and object. Wagner not only pulled it off, but had done so in a sublimal way. Despite it being an average, or even below average performance to some, of just the first act of Die Walküre, Wagner's genius is still evident in that evening of Wagnerian music.

As for the evening of Wagner music by SSO, though it consisted an ambitious and large-scale work, it wasn't well programmed. It was served with Siegfried Idyll as an unsuitable appetiser. The Siegfried Idyll is an introduction of the themes from the third act of Siegfried in a chamber music setting. Nothing in relation to the music which comes after the interval. The mere similarity in the transparent orchestration, distinctive of Wagner and shows Wagner's preference to get the musical events clearly to the audience instead of overwhelming them with a colourful blend of tonal and orchestral colours, was what one could draw from the programme. Other than this mere similarity, whereby any other work by Wagner would suffice, both weren't suited for a programme. If I were to choose a complementary piece to introduce just the first act, I would believe that an orchestral or even chamber arrangement of Ride of the Valkyries from the third act of the same opera would be appropriate. At least it would gel with the main programme as it's taken from the same opera, though much wilder after Wagner's influence by Schopenhauer.

As for how Siegfried Idyll had gone, it wasn't their musicans at their best. It's just strange when, after the concert, you get to know the musicians were unhappy and attributing the fault to a particular player. But well, I'm digressing. That'll be another story.

I guess for the main programme, they pulled it off well, given the fact that the work really wasn't easy. The conductor gave me an impression of being more jittery and rigid as compared to his usual flowery style (as a fellow musician friend of mine put it). On the whole, I was pleased with how the entire programme had gone.

This work was premiered in the mid 1800s. More than a century old work. Upon reading reviews and comments of this work, I lament the listening abilities of today's audiences. Over all these time, our senses seemed to have dulled instead of being able to comprehend the music of this great master. There's still this deplorable passivity in the modern day audience, leading to an unwillingness to understand the music, as well as art, and life itself.

I shall end this off with a statement by Theordor Adorno, despite it being made a couple of decades ago, still applies today.

Ambivalence is a relation toward something one has not mastered; one behaves ambivalently toward a thing with which one has not come to terms. In response to this, the first task at hand would be, quite simply, to experience the Wagnerian work fully -- something that to this day, despite all the external successes, has not been accomplished.

Took a walk in the woods just outside my place after night had fallen. The chilling wind blew, but sounded like a laugh of derision. The trees, with their crooked branches, forming a haunting silhouette with the starless sky as their backdrop, seemed to be whispering with one another, pointing their hands in mockery...

The Schubertian cry... I heard it in my head. The angst and the pain. I felt it. Ich habe genug! A heartwrenching scream!

A period of momentary silence. The wind stopped blowing and the leaves stopped moving. I had managed to come out of the woods after wandering in it mindlessly. How much time had passed? I didn't know. I guessed nothing mattered anymore.

How fitting. Just like the Schubertian introspective moments...

How apt. Floating around, floating around. Despite coming to the perfect cadence in bars 190 and 191, there isn't a sense of rest. Until the descending D minor arpeggio to the A minor chord. Seems to suggest a resignation to the harsh realities of life.

The imitation in the cello part seems to symbolise the slight aftershocks. And with a last breath, it rises up 3 octaves within two bars, sweeping everything away. Such poetry in the music. Reminds me of a poem by Emily Brontë...

It is too late to call thee now
I will not nurse that dream again
For every joy that lit my brow
Would bring its after-storm of pain

Besides the mist is half withdrawn,
The baren mountain-side lies bare
And sunshine and awaking morn
Paint no more golden visions there.

Yet ever in my grateful breast
Thy darling shade shall cherished be
For God alone doth known how blest
My early years have been in thee!

Just as the poem ending with a nostalgic exclamation of the beautiful past, the music is puntuated with the two last two chords with a nostalgic yet exaltant fortissimo.