Die Meistersinger at the ROH

[Richard Tarleton]

My regular opera buddy attended by himself (living in London he is able to take advantage of last-minute tickets) - and found himself wedged in the top of the amphitheatre between two very nice but very fat ladies whose upper arms spilled over into his seating area. All three were baffled by Eva's departure at the end, and (not having read the reviews) assumed she'd been taken ill . So much for Kaspar Holten's too-clever-by-half ending.

[Richard Tarleton]

Hugh Canning (today's ST - you'll have to buy a copy) will be surprised if this staging returns from its tour of China. Production "a messy swan song" for Holten. Praise for Pappano, the Chorus, some smaller parts. Terfel sounding "grey" in his bass register. Eva a vocal disappointment, Walther's prize songs fluid legato but neither starry nor climactic....

[Nevilevelis]

A number of very positive reviews here:

http://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg-royal-opera-house/

https://kurier.at/kultur/oper-in-london-kinder-schafft-neues/251.462.683

https://www.news.at/a/oper-london-meistersinger-wagner-kritik-8029663

[David-G]

Of the new productions at the ROH in recent years, Onegin, Don Giovanni, Idomeneo, Tell and Cosi fan Tutte have been disasters. Die Meistersinger was not quite a disaster - but about the production, there is very little positive to say. I found it unconvincing, charmless and cold - crushed by directorial conception and the overbearing set. I survived the five and a half hours by imagining in my head what I should be seeing on stage.

Our hero seemed unattractive and unattractively dressed. I cannot imagine what Eva saw in him. Or, for that matter, he in her - unfortunately for the very attractive Rachel WS, her costume in Act 1 was simply appalling. The critics seem not to have been kind to her - but given her fine Marschallin just a few weeks ago, I think she has suffered in Die Meistersinger at the hands of the director and the costume designer.

Her flouncing out at the end is simply ridiculous - it is in contradiction to the musical climax. Although one might say that it is feminist and therefore fashionable, it makes nonsense of her desperation for her beloved to become a Mastersinger in Act 1.

The scene in Hans Sachs’s room/house at the beginning of Act 3 gives the director an opportunity to flesh out Sachs’s character by showing us his domestic surroundings. This was done very effectively in the recent productions at the ENO and at Glyndebourne. Here the opportunity was simply thrown away.

A good production of Die Meistersinger presents Nuremburg as a community of real people, and draws the principal characters in considerable depth. Getting to know and understand these people and their relationships is part of the joy of watching Die Meistersinger. In this production I felt that I neither understood, nor indeed cared about, any of these people.

[Simon B]

I went on Sun 19th. I've rarely been more depressed by the willful destruction a gratuitously charmless and distorting production can inflict.

I say rarely as I hope nothing will ever match the desperately awful production of Manon Lescaut which Mariusz Treslinski excreted from some dark recess for WNO some years ago. The only thing to be said for it was that when it came to the ROH production (Kaufmann/Opolais in the original run) I couldn't really discern what was so bad about that widely-castigated production as it seemed glorious by comparison. I even managed to vaguely enjoy it on its recent revival, so I don't think I'm yet ready for the standard "reactionary old git who's only happy if everyone is blundering around in 18th century get-up" retort to being grumpy about regieoper.

The URL for the ROH's front page for this production contains the string "die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg-by-kasper-holten" which (inadvertently?) sums it up really. The one by Wagner managed to penetrate through the fog of deliberate "distancing" occasionally, mainly at its moments of greatest musical brilliance which couldn't entirely be destroyed even if Nurnberg had been relocated to Mars and everyone was singing in vintage diving suits. The act III quintet nearly hit the spot, greatly helped by it being one of the few points at which the lighting (generally creating an ambience of anodised-steel coldness) of the set was dimmed to the point where you couldn't see the damn thing, leaving only the leads picked out by spots.

It's a struggle to recall a performance of anything with a greater sense of disconnect between the quality of the playing/conducting (mostly simultaneously rich and transparent with much of beauty), singing (little to complain about) and production (consistently distracting/distorting/annoying, irrelevant at best, even a very good actor like Terfel struggling to convey feeling the way he has in other productions).

I found myself closing my eyes and trying to place what I could hear into my mind's eye recollection of the Richard Jones production I was fortunate to see 4 times at WNO and ENO - if only I could remember enough of the libretto I'd have stayed that way.

When this production is sent to China, I hope someone puts it on deck and lets it slide off into the sea...

[Prommer]

A number of very positive reviews here:

http://www.ayoungertheatre.com/review-die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg-royal-opera-house/

https://kurier.at/kultur/oper-in-london-kinder-schafft-neues/251.462.683

https://www.news.at/a/oper-london-me...kritik-8029663

Household names, all.

[Conchis]

I went on Sun 19th. I've rarely been more depressed by the willful destruction a gratuitously charmless and distorting production can inflict.

I say rarely as I hope nothing will ever match the desperately awful production of Manon Lescaut which Mariusz Treslinski excreted from some dark recess for WNO some years ago. The only thing to be said for it was that when it came to the ROH production (Kaufmann/Opolais in the original run) I couldn't really discern what was so bad about that widely-castigated production as it seemed glorious by comparison. I even managed to vaguely enjoy it on its recent revival, so I don't think I'm yet ready for the standard "reactionary old git who's only happy if everyone is blundering around in 18th century get-up" retort to being grumpy about regieoper.

The URL for the ROH's front page for this production contains the string "die-meistersinger-von-nurnberg-by-kasper-holten" which (inadvertently?) sums it up really. The one by Wagner managed to penetrate through the fog of deliberate "distancing" occasionally, mainly at its moments of greatest musical brilliance which couldn't entirely be destroyed even if Nurnberg had been relocated to Mars and everyone was singing in vintage diving suits. The act III quintet nearly hit the spot, greatly helped by it being one of the few points at which the lighting (generally creating an ambience of anodised-steel coldness) of the set was dimmed to the point where you couldn't see the damn thing, leaving only the leads picked out by spots.

It's a struggle to recall a performance of anything with a greater sense of disconnect between the quality of the playing/conducting (mostly simultaneously rich and transparent with much of beauty), singing (little to complain about) and production (consistently distracting/distorting/annoying, irrelevant at best, even a very good actor like Terfel struggling to convey feeling the way he has in other productions).

I found myself closing my eyes and trying to place what I could hear into my mind's eye recollection of the Richard Jones production I was fortunate to see 4 times at WNO and ENO - if only I could remember enough of the libretto I'd have stayed that way.

When this production is sent to China, I hope someone puts it on deck and lets it slide off into the sea...

That production sounded awful in theory but was actually excellent to view. Jonathan Kent knows what he is doing and always respects his text: that goes for his work in theatre, as well as opera.

[gradus]

There's a great deal to be said for Wagner operas in concert performance or with the minimalist symbolic stagings favoured by Wieland.

[silvestrione]

I went last night. 'Charmless' it certainly was: a good word. I've never before thought Act 2 too long (or even anything in a good Wagner production too long). Act 1 was drab (after the splendidly sung chorale).

Why were there people wandering about behind the scenes, in Act 2? Perhaps not visible from the more expensive seats (I was in the Balcony)?
The problem seemed to be, they were applying some sort of concept, rather abstractly, to it (things being turned inside out = the staging being turned inside out), and perhaps working back from the end, the elaborately staged and technologically stunning 'riot', which was amazing, but not what the plot required. I would prefer some attention to inventive detail, moment by moment: e.g. Sachs, Bryn Terfel, completely convinced me that he'd never mended a shoe in his life, and all attempts to hammer something were pointlessly half-hearted.

Things mightily improved in Act 3. The climax of the piece for me was, not the final Prize Song, but the 'birth' of the song, the baptism and christening of it, and the great quintet, followed by the totally stunning outburst of acclamation for Sachs by the chorus: the loudest moment, followed by the most spine-tingling silence.

I quite enjoyed the 'twist' introduced at the end. A witty and thought-provoking 'take' on that difficult last Sachs 'speech'. Usually just difficult for the audience, but I could see the logic. Walther never seems to have much brain or sensitivity, except in his great song, so it fitted that Eva would see him undoing all he's achieved, in developing something new, a new creative direction helped by the old (in Sachs), when he submits to the empty pomp of the Mastersingers, after Sachs's nationalist rhetoric.

[Cockney Sparrow]

The set being on so many levels, lots of steps, and otherwise crowded - it seemed to me it precluded much in the way of movement so the way the riot developed solved that problem.

I suppose setting Act II backstage amongst the metalwork structure of the set left nothing upon which to concentrate than the text, vocal line and the acting of the cast but I can't see there was any point in that setting (to me - unsophisticated I'm sure - it just seemed they were saddled with their set which worked better for the 1st and 3rd Acts).

I enjoyed the performances of Gwyn Hughes Jones as Walther (no anxiety that he could deliver vocally) but I thought little attempt was made with costume or other means to make him appear as a handsome Knight to whom Eva would be attracted. He reminded me of Ringo Starr but with receding hair (and taller, I admit) and was drabbly dressed (what was he wearing under the morning dress waistcoat - a heavy metal T shirt over a collar shirt?). Again, I enjoyed Rachel Willis-Sørensen's performance as Eva (as I did for the Marschallin - couldn't get to Fleming's dates in Der Rosenk.) but thought her Act 1 costume served her very poorly and was very unflattering.

As to Sachs difficult "Speech"- I'd have to read about that - but presently my take is that it was written in a very recently unified nation - context being everything - and I can leave the 20th century associations which have accrued to one side.

I can also give some credit to Eva's stance at the ending - by emphasising, in Act one, the secret society - masonic style aprons (not sure whether I should have expected to see trowels etc - don't know that much about them) she can react to Walther's assimilation into the society of the old men as a new Mastersinger, and the continuance of what has gone before.

So - lot's to enjoy (Terfel, other principals, the chorus), but the Act two scenery and staging to be ignored as far as possible But, as this is only my 2nd staged Die M, it will be the first Glyndebourne production which will remain in my memory (and be refreshed from the DVD !).

[Belgrove]

I saw this yesterday. The production is a dog's breakfast. The concept of the Mastersingers being a Masonic lodge actually works well enough in the first act, it's the corollaries of the concept, pursued with vigour in subsequent acts, that do not gel into anything coherent or illuminating. The score is one suffused with the light and scents of high summer, but we are confined to a gloomy hotel interior, which actually reminded me of the Atlas elementary particle detector at CERN rather than the streets and meadows of Nuremberg. This work has brought a lump to the throat and tear to the eye more than any other, but those emotional responses were absent here in all but one instance, and it's an interesting one. Beckmesser, badly beaten up, stripped to a singlet and humiliated in public from the hash he's made of the prize song, hears Walter doing it right, and sobs uncontrollably. Quite devastating and bleak, coming face-to-face with his own mediocrity.

It must have cost a fortune to produce, but I would not be enticed to see it again in the event it is revived, for it unearthed insufficiently many of the profundities that this work contains.

But fortunately, musically it was very fine.The prelude to Act 3 was gorgeous, with strings of a burnished mahogany and rich sonority. The horns really earn their crust in this work, and provided that suffused golden, mote-filled light (so absent on the stage). I'm critical of Pappano's Wagner, but the Masteringers is the least 'Wagnerian' of the late works, and here he got it right - not a transcendental reading, but beautifully paced and realised nonetheless.

Having checked the archives, I wrote of the WNO production that 'Terfel is a great Sachs in the making'. I fear that time may have past. His voice no longer has that beauty and ease of yore, and is rather monochromatic. And yet, when Eva is teasing him as to whether he will enter the fray for her hand, his response to her having grown up, 'Gar groß und schön', was a wonderful example of vocal acting. Gwyn Hughes Jones was an excellent Walter, who deserved to win the contest, even if his character was an unsympathetic yob, reminding me, alarmingly, of Max Wall. The chorus blew the roof off in 'Wacht Auf', thrilling stuff. But my palm for sheer quality vocal and stage acting goes to Johannes Martin-Kranzle's Beckmesser. He was terrific at Glyndebourne, but gave an entirely different, and equally valid portrayal here.

There is a great deal to enjoy here when it is broadcast later in the year.

[duncan]

I concur with most points in the last three reviews; a curates egg.

Gwyn Hughes Jones, Stephen Milling, Johannes Martin-Kranzle, and The Chorus and Orchestra were particularly good. Papanno did a decent job. Bryn Terfel sounded out of sorts vocally, shouty and "grey" toned as someone said; I do hope this is temporary.

The second act just didn't work at all for me. I'm no fan of traditional productions, especially in a work like this, but spatial arrangement is crucial to understanding a rather complex plot, and the overwhelming set was a fatal impairment. I pitied newcomers to the opera at this point. Eva was done up like an Easter Egg and Walter like Francis Rossi. I can see why the former could have been deliberately unflattering but can we please have a 20 year moratorium on long coat 'n' mullets for Wagnerian heroes?

Meistersingers as Masons (this doesn't need to be too specific) was a plausible update but emphasises their self-interest and misses the well-meaning nature of their cultural guardianship. Was Sachs supposed to be a shoe-factory owner? It might explain why he was attempting to mend Eva's shoe on a restaurant table and clearly an amateur with the hammer and leather! These were by far the least sympathetic portrayals of Sachs and the Masters I've seen. I was discomforted by this for much of the opera but it does make Sachs final speech much more credible and treatment of the denouement worked well for me, both Beckmesser's and Eva's responses seemed entirely appropriate. I really struggle with a 'straight' version of this finale I'm afraid; my head tells me that Wagner was writing before a German state even existed but too much has happened in the world since then for my heart to accept it.

In achieving a satisfying ending, many of the nuances of this wonderful work seem to have been lost though. I'm glad to have see the WNO version with Richard Jones masterful production and what might turn out to be Bryn's finest four-and-a-half hours.

[silvestrione]

I concur with your comments. Ah, yes, perhaps Sachs was meant to be a factory owner!

What did Richard Jones do with that problematic ending, then, duncan?

[Prommer]

It was lovely: he took the text seriously by showing pictures of great German artists (of all races etc) at the close. People obsess about the mentions of German 'Rule', but there as many about German 'Kunst'. He elided the two, in effect (as Wagner tended to do) making us aware of the heavy debt we owe to germanic culture - and how we are shaped (though perhaps not actually governed?) by it.

[silvestrione]

It was lovely: he took the text seriously by showing pictures of great German artists (of all races etc) at the close. People obsess about the mentions of German 'Rule', but there as many about German 'Kunst'. He elided the two, in effect, making us aware of the heavy debt we owe to germanic culture - and how we are shaped (though perhaps not actually governed?) by it.

Ah, nice.