Wagner in Norwich

[Flosshilde]

Looks like Norwich was the place to be for a good Parsifal and Tannhäuser .

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/27/wagner-parsifal-review-theatre-royal-norwich-theater-freiberg

[Suffolkcoastal]

Am only 5 minutes from Norwich's Theatre Royal, did briefly consider going but I cannot bear modern opera staging completely at odds with the composer's intentions and keep well away from any production not set in the intended time/mythological period.

[gurnemanz]

Am only 5 minutes from Norwich's Theatre Royal, did briefly consider going but I cannot bear modern opera staging completely at odds with the composer's intentions and keep well away from any production not set in the intended time/mythological period.

... which rules out Bayreuth.

[Flosshilde]

Am only 5 minutes from Norwich's Theatre Royal, did briefly consider going but I cannot bear modern opera staging completely at odds with the composer's intentions and keep well away from any production not set in the intended time/mythological period.

What is the period - actual or mythological - Wagner set Parsifal in? Or the setting of the original story?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What is the period - actual or mythological - Wagner set Parsifal in? Or the setting of the original story?

I wondered this, too, but presumed that when Suffy mentioned "staging completely at odds with the composer's intentions", he meant the Period as imagined by Wagner in 1880.

[Flosshilde]

What period that is is anyone's guess!

Apart from reproducing the designs from the first production (of any opera) I don't see that Suffolkcoastal's wishes could be met. And Wagner wasn't really satisfied with what was produced for the first performance of the Ring at Beyreuth, even though he had a close hand in all aspects of the production.

I wonder how SC would handle Tippett's 'A Midsummer Marriage'?

[gurnemanz]

Wagner as "Regisseur" would surely have revelled in the staging possibilities opened up by modern technology. He didn't even have electricity. For him wasn't it essentially music and drama that matter in getting his "message" across ? For me stage imagery can help (or hinder) but most of Wagner goes on in my head and specific settings may actually detract from the universal human truth of the works.