It`s Bayreuth time again

[gurnemanz]

I think the German Freemasons were ruthlessly suppressed by the Nazis. Presumably post war they are a pale shadow of their numbers in the 19th century. One of the many strands in German cultural life that has never really recovered.

The quite small museum was fascinating, and attractively put together to tell the story of freemasonry in Germany. The great Enlightenment figure, Gotthold Lessing, was credited as the founding father. As I remember, we were the only people in there and were able to chat to the warden on duty. He said all their property, including precious ceremonial items, were taken away by the Nazis - all except one single piece which survived and which he pointed out to us.

[Master Jacques]

I see this weeks Bayreuth Wotan Gunther Groissbock has pulled out of planned Ring performances as he is unhappy with his performance. Commendable honesty but it leaves Bayreuth with a bit of a problem .He is singing in this afternoon’s Meistersinger , presumably Pogner * (can’t be Sachs that’s even trickier than Wotan ) . I can’t recollect a singer ever being quite so honest before.

There's honesty, and there's tact. The grapevine suggests that Günther Groissböck - perhaps the very best Wagnerian bass-baritone of our day, and at the peak of his powers - may have had other reasons for needing to find an exit strategy from the new Ring, which was very much built around him. That Guardian review might give a hint as to why, but who knows?

Very glad to have caught his Gurnemanz in 2019, which was a superlative piece of work, in a very satisfying production indeed. And if you can sing that, the Walküre and Siegfried Wotans are rather a piece of cake. Rheingold is of course a different matter.

[Ein Heldenleben]

There's honesty, and there's tact. The grapevine suggests that Günther Groissböck - perhaps the very best Wagnerian bass-baritone of our day, and at the peak of his powers - may have had other reasons for needing to find an exit strategy from the new Ring, which was very much built around him. That Guardian review might give a hint as to why, but who knows?

Very glad to have caught his Gurnemanz in 2019, which was a superlative piece of work, in a very satisfying production indeed. And if you can sing that, the Walküre and Siegfried Wotans are rather a piece of cake. Rheingold is of course a different matter.

Thing is Master J my Groissbock post is last year’s - he’s not singing this year either but I don’t know whether he was slated to…

[Ein Heldenleben]

The quite small museum was fascinating, and attractively put together to tell the story of freemasonry in Germany. The great Enlightenment figure, Gotthold Lessing, was credited as the founding father. As I remember, we were the only people in there and were able to chat to the warden on duty. He said all their property, including precious ceremonial items, were taken away by the Nazis - all except one single piece which survived and which he pointed out to us.

The importance of Freemasonry in German and Austrian culture was immense. They are a body of people who have had a great deal of unjustified criticism, suspicion and persecution. But the more you study them the more realise they have contributed to civilisation. Tricky for me as a close relative was quite high up but I’ve never been tempted to join .

[Master Jacques]

Thing is Master J my Groissbock post is last year’s - he’s not singing this year either but I don’t know whether he was slated to…

Apologies for being a year out of date - I blame lockdown! In fact the grapevine might still have a point: Groissböck first cancelled his Walküre Wotan last summer, and a few months later pulled out of the 2022 complete, brand-new Ring production too. Here's a press report from August 2021.

https://operawire.com/bayreuth-festival-announces-cast-change-for-2022-ring-cycle/

This new 2022 production was certainly being built around him, as there was much talk to that effect three summers ago, when it was scheduled for 2020: but it's clear that something has gone worryingly wrong. Last year, as you rightly say, he ended up confined to the Nightwatchman in Meistersinger and Titurel in the concert performance of Parsifal, with Zeppenfeld - the original Gurnemanz of the fully-staged production revived for the last time (with Groissböck) in 2019 - back in the larger role.

I'm told he's scheduled to go back to sing Pogner at Bayreuth in 2024.

[duncan]

Thing is the really revolutionary thing would be to follow Wagner’s copious stage instructions to the letter. Like Mozart and Verdi he was a master of the theatre and indeed a massively important technical and artistic innovator in stage craft. One day a director will go mad and actually do it.

The Otto Schenk 1990 production for the Met. is exactly this. Available on DVD.

[gradus]

The Otto Schenk 1990 production for the Met. is exactly this. Available on DVD.

Perhaps 2022 has produced a production ideally suited to radio.

[LHC]

The Otto Schenk 1990 production for the Met. is exactly this. Available on DVD.

Sir Peter Hall's Ring Cycle at Bayreuth in 1983 was intended to be a romantic ring cycle that was loyal to all of Wagner's stage directions. So there was fire for the magic fire music, the giants looked like giants, there was a rainbow bridge at the end of Rhinegold, Fafner was a dragon and the Rinemaidens swam in an onstage river. William Dudley's stage designs were stunning (and also resulted in this being the most expensive production ever put on an Bayreuth at the time).

The first year's run was pretty disastrous and the production was considered a failure, only lasting four years before being replaced. Most of the problems with the production were due to backstage politics (Wolfgang Wagner was obstructive and tried to make life as difficult for Hall as he could. Hall couldn't speak German so was unable to communicate with some of the singers and most of the stage crew) and problems with the performers (Reiner Goldberg who was due to sing Siegfried turned up having failed to learn the part and had to be replaced late on into rehearsals), rather than a failure of imagination on the part of Peter Hall, William Dudley and Georg Solti (who only conducted the first year, and didn't return for its later revivals).

There's an interesting book about the production, which is very honest about all the problems experienced: "The Ring, Anatomy of an Opera" by Stephen Fay and Roger Wood, which includes lots of photos of the production.

Its a shame it wasn't filmed, as it looks much more interesting than Schenk's deadly dull Met production, but as the Bayreuth management clearly hated it, this was never going to happen.

Edited to say productions photos from all 4 operas can be found here:

http://richardwagner.free.fr/hringa.htm

[Lento]

According to Simon Thompson in The Times: "During his great confrontation with Fricka, Tomasz Konieczny’s Wotan leant back in his chair only for the back to snap off and for him to land injured on the floor. He was replaced for Act III by Michael Kupfer-Radecky, who did a terrific job at short notice. The audience thought it was part of the show, of course, a symbol of Wotan’s waning authority."

[ARBurton]

Today`s performance of Gotterdammerung (complete with replacement Siegfried) is being televised tomorrow on 3sat, for those who can receive it.

https://www.3sat.de/kultur/festspielsommer/bayreuther-festspiele-2022-goetterdaemmerung-100.html

[Pulcinella]

According to Simon Thompson in The Times: "During his great confrontation with Fricka, Tomasz Konieczny’s Wotan leant back in his chair only for the back to snap off and for him to land injured on the floor. He was replaced for Act III by Michael Kupfer-Radecky, who did a terrific job at short notice. The audience thought it was part of the show, of course, a symbol of Wotan’s waning authority."

Review here (only two stars):

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ring-cycle-review-bayreuths-incoherent-show-continues-with-die-walkuere-and-siegfried-2c8pzq0v9?shareToken=a380e71fa6d2c55c6606a08018ea720b

[gurnemanz]

Today`s performance of Gotterdammerung (complete with replacement Siegfried) is being televised tomorrow on 3sat, for those who can receive it.
https://www.3sat.de/kultur/festspiel...erung-100.html

Livestream from BR Klassik just finished. Only dipped in to get an impression, so I shouldn't pass judgement but what I saw made little sense to me. A lot of booing at the end for director, Valentin Schwarz.

[Prommer]

Yes, apparently there was. As is usual. I gather that some of the singers/conductor were booed too. Which is not.

[Rivington]

interesting review from the New York Times (and I didn't have to subscribe to read it)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/07/arts/music/bayreuth-ring-review.html

Well... now I've reloaded it wants me to subscribe(!)

[Nachtigall]

I was in Bayreuth for the second cycle of the Ring. There have been attempts, such as that by the New York Times reviewer, to give serious interpretative attention to Schwarz's production, but I'm afraid all I could see was a preposterously inconsistent updating which was at loggerheads with most of Wagner's ideas. The singing and orchestral playing were of the usual exceptional standard, but what ultimately gave rise to the deafening chorus of boos was the utterly unsatisfactory staging of the final scene of Götterdämmerung, where the overwhelming turbulence and lyricism of the score was incongruously accompanied by an anticlimactic and pretty inert scene set at the bottom of a swimming pool, with a Brünnhilde who didn't know what to do with herself other than to lie down beside the corpse of Siegfried. Valentin Schwarz needs to learn something about the importance of catharsis. Needless to say, the production team, having once faced the wrath of the audience, did not appear at the final curtain call on this occasion.