MET: Wozzeck

[gurnemanz]

Incredibly, That production of Wozzeck with Matthias Goerne was as long ago as 2002, but like you it is indelibly stamped on my memory. Goerne had to stay underwater for several minutes keeping perfectly still, as if he had become another of the doctor's specimens. As he entered the tank he had to place a small and virtually invisible (to the audience) breathing tube in his mouth, and then stay motionless until the end of the opera. Here is Simon Keenlyside in a later revival.



My first encounter with Wozzeck was at the Opera House in 1984, with Jose van Dam as Wozzeck in a revival of a Willy Decker production with sets by Caspar Neher, who had designed the sets for the opera's premiere in Germany. Van Dam was stunning, and the sets gave the whole performance a real sense of historic authenticity.

I also remember seeing a memorable David Pountney production at ENO in the early 90s, with Donald Maxwell as Wozzzeck, which was also shown on BBC2 (this was in the days when it was still possible to see opera on TV).

Thanks for picture of tank. I remember Goerne's being rather larger. Also find it hard to believe it was 2002.

PS I then stupidly missed the free MET stream, so can't comment.

[LHC]

I’m not sure which year we saw it at the ROH, but we were transfixed. mrs d admitted not too long ago that she was terrified that Wozzeck wouldn’t get out of the fish tank, which added to her “excitement”. I could see the bubbles coming from the breathing tube, though I was still half expecting some safety person to come rushing on in the event that anything went wrong with the tube/air supply. mrs d was surprised when I told her I could see the plastic tube.

I do hope the ROH does employ such safety people - surely they must?

I’m not sure which year it was, but it may well have been 2002.

Yes, they will have had to have completed a risk assessment and tested the equipment before proceeding. Mind you, as the tank is open at the top, if the singer playing Wozzeck did get into difficulties, they only have to stand up to be safe again.

When Simon Keenlyside was singing the role, I remember him saying there was one evening when either the tube didn't work properly, or it fell out of his mouth. Rather than break the spell, he slowly turned his back to the audience and floated to the top of the tank so he could lift his nose and mouth out of the water.

[HighlandDougie]

I’m not sure which year we saw it at the ROH, but we were transfixed. mrs d admitted not too long ago that she was terrified that Wozzeck wouldn’t get out of the fish tank, which added to her “excitement”. I could see the bubbles coming from the breathing tube, though I was still half expecting some safety person to come rushing on in the event that anything went wrong with the tube/air supply. mrs d was surprised when I told her I could see the plastic tube.

I do hope the ROH does employ such safety people - surely they must?

I’m not sure which year it was, but it may well have been 2002.

Through the good offices of an old friend, who was the lighting designer for that production, I was at the first night (it was a 50th birthday present). I got dragged to the post-performance party upstairs and, to my horror, was thrust in front of Matthias Goerne. Well, what do you say? "Err, what a sadistic director making you immerse yourself in that tank". "Nein, nein, not David Pountney! It was my idea". He was disarmingly down-to-earth and not in the least bit "starry". I also saw 'Wozzeck' at the Met in the 1990s - Saturday matinée - when a Nuyorican friend said, "Say, I've never been to the Met". Ticket acquired for her so her introduction to opera was, 'Wozzeck'. I fear that she has never been back.

[Belgrove]

I vividly remember seeing this in 2002, and flying out to Myanmar the following day in a state of shock. Katarina Dalayman’s Marie was heart rending, and I feared for the well being of the young child, who had to witness such horrible and brutal scenes. This was early in Pappano’s tenure as Music Director, and he certainly earned his stripes here, the orchestra played out of their socks. Keith Warner was the Director. The revival with Keenlyside was good, but could not match the visceral and shocking impact of that first cast and production. Unforgettable theatre.

[Dave2002]

I also saw 'Wozzeck' at the Met in the 1990s - Saturday matinée - when a Nuyorican friend said, "Say, I've never been to the Met". Ticket acquired for her so her introduction to opera was, 'Wozzeck'. I fear that she has never been back.

That was a bit of a shame - probably not the best introduction to opera.

We had a similar situation a few years ago, when some people wanted to go to opera for the first time. The only production they could get to - in the new opera house near West Horsley - was the Valkyries. They said it'd be OK - "it's just like a musical, isn't it?". I don't think they ever went again after that.

The Dutch production was interesting, but although it had a fish tank, Wozzeck was not required to submerge himself into it. It was a lot less cluttered than the MET production, and many of the musical themes seemed much clearer, though maybe I'm just getting used to the opera as a whole. There are some vestiges of other really well known quotes in parts - for example in the last few minutes. Of course some of the quotes or similarities might just be of other works by Berg, such as the violin concerto.

[bluestateprommer]

The Dutch production was interesting, but although it had a fish tank, Wozzeck was not required to submerge himself into it. It was a lot less cluttered than the MET production, and many of the musical themes seemed much clearer, though maybe I'm just getting used to the opera as a whole.

That was one of my reactions also to the DNO production, regarding the staging. The DNO production was also the "anti-Kentridge" production in another key way, namely in having the child on stage (besides having a child as opposed to Kentridge's marionette manipulated in full view of the audience) prettty much all throughout, with his interpolated speech in between Acts II and III (I think). The one glaring moment for me was the appearance of Disney character-masked kids, as I don't know what that really contributed. OTOH, the staging of the Drum Major beating up Wozzeck was definitely different, in a good way. There is perhaps unintended resonance, since the Drum Major, Frank van Aken, is the real-life husband of Eva-Maria Westbroek.

The prologue with the "Strictly Ballroom"-type cha-cha number with the dancing kids, set to a 1990s number, at first seemed disconcerting (although I like the chosen song very much), but actually made sense in setting up the child's outsider status apart from the "cool" kids, as a mirror for his dad, Wozzeck. At the risk of another spoiler alert, I was actually surprised in how these same "Strictly Ballroom" kids features later, in the tavern scene. The kid (Jacob Jutte, if that is correct) got a well-deserved roar of approval at the curtain call.

Sir Willard White as the Doctor underplayed the caricature aspects much more compared to Christian van Horn in the recent Met production, who did a more "bug-eyed" reading. This actually was the flip side of the respective portrayals of the Captain, where Marcel Beekman in Amsterdam was much more bug-eyed than Gerhard Siegel in NYC.

It took me a while to catch on to Christopher Maltman's hair style at the start (i.e. Andy Warhol), although in general, his body language fit very well the down-and-out status of Wozzeck's mindset. Vocally, CM was terrific, as you'd expect. Westbroek also did very well as Marie, and from the applause and discussion in the feature video with an assistant director on that 2017 production, EW-M does seem to have national treasure status in the Netherlands.

The DNO video hasn't yet disappeared from access as of the moment of this post, so if you have time today, it's well worth a watch. Not quite what I was expecting to watch on a Sunday morning, but given the Bible references in the story, maybe more appropriate for a Sunday than it seemed at the time.

[LHC]

That was a bit of a shame - probably not the best introduction to opera.

We had a similar situation a few years ago, when some people wanted to go to opera for the first time. The only production they could get to - in the new opera house near West Horsley - was the Valkyries. They said it'd be OK - "it's just like a musical, isn't it?". I don't think they ever went again after that.

The Dutch production was interesting, but although it had a fish tank, Wozzeck was not required to submerge himself into it. It was a lot less cluttered than the MET production, and many of the musical themes seemed much clearer, though maybe I'm just getting used to the opera as a whole. There are some vestiges of other really well known quotes in parts - for example in the last few minutes. Of course some of the quotes or similarities might just be of other works by Berg, such as the violin concerto.

My very first opera was Siegfried at ENO with Rita Hunter, Alberto Remedios and Norman Bailey, with Charles Mackerras in the pit. We didn’t know much about it beforehand, and turned up for the 5:30 start expecting it would all be over by 8:00, only to be confronted by a sign saying the performance would end at 10:30! Probably not the ideal first opera, but I was transfixed. We had somehow managed to get seats in the 5th row of the stalls, and I can still remember being awestruck when Hunter started to sing in the final Act; I had never heard such a glorious sound before. I was hooked from that moment on.

My second opera a few months later was Parsifal at Covent Garden, conducted by Solti and with Kurt Moll, Peter Hoffmann and Yvonne Minton in the main parts.

[Dave2002]

My very first opera was Siegfried at ENO with Rita Hunter, Alberto Remedios and Norman Bailey, with Charles Mackerras in the pit. We didn’t know much about it beforehand, and turned up for the 5:30 start expecting it would all be over by 8:00, only to be confronted by a sign saying the performance would end at 10:30! Probably not the ideal first opera, but I was transfixed. We had somehow managed to get seats in the 5th row of the stalls, and I can still remember being awestruck when Hunter started to sing in the final Act; I had never heard such a glorious sound before. I was hooked from that moment on.

There were others who had a different reaction to the first season at the Grange Park Opera at West Horsley. One couple had never been to opera, or anything like it before, and after seeing Jenufa as their first experience then joined the ROH Friends and spent a lot of time after that going to opera performances accessible to them. We did think the people who could only get tickets for Die Wälkure were setting themselves up for disappointment.

I was surprised that seeing Jenufa was a trigger to an interest in opera.

I can’t now easily remember which opera I saw first. Perhaps Die Entführung aus dem Serail.