LOVE/DEATH: RICHARD WAGNER’S TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, ACT 2

Maestro Gianandrea Noseda, National Symphony Orchestra, and cast of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde
(photo © Kevin Yatarola, courtesy of Lincoln Center)

Guest review by Ellen Godfrey:

On Sunday afternoon, at David Geffen Hall, the White Light Festival, now in its 10th year, presented a concert performance of the complete second act of Wolfgang Wagner’s great music drama Tristan und Isolde. English subtitles were supplied. The theatre was totally sold out for this very special occasion. The title roles were sung by the dramatic Wagnerian soprano Christine Goerke and the Wagnerian tenor Stephen Gould.

Earlier in the afternoon, before the opera began, a very engaging lecture was given by Cori Ellison, a well-known opera lecturer and dramaturg involved in many opera projects.  She gave a wonderful in-depth lecture about Richard Wagner and his opera Tristan und Isolde.

Richard Wagner is one of the greatest musical geniuses who ever lived.  He revolutionized opera and brought it into the 20th century.  After working on his epic Ring Cycle for four.years  (the first ever “Mini-series”), he took a break after completing the second act of Siegfried, the third opera of the cycle. He wanted  to move away from the romantic period of opera to try some new ideas. As usual, he was short of money. Otto Wesendonck, a silk merchant and patron offered Wagner and his wife a small house to live in on his property.  

During his long break, Wagner began studying the 13th century German legend, Tristan, and became very excited about using it for his next opera. In 1856, he began by first writing the music for the opera and then later the libretto, which he wrote, as he did for all his operas. During this period, Wagner set five poems written by Otto’s wife Mathilde to music.  

He used two of them as sketches for the opera Tristan: "Im Treibhaus" (in the greenhouse) appears in the beginning of the third act and "Traüme" (dreams),is heard during the second act love duet.  The five songs became known as the Wesendonck Lieder and are still sung in concerts today.  Wagner and Mathilde were infatuated with each other, but it was never confirmed whether or not they were lovers.

Wagner was very interested in the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. The philosopher was very pessimistic about the human condition.  He felt that Death is a liberator.

In the first act of the opera, Tristan is on a ship to Cornwall bringing Isolde to marry King Marke. Isolde has cured Tristan from his wounds from a fight and Isolde secretly has fallen in love with him. She is furious that he is bringing her to Cornwall to marry another man, King Marke. She summons him to come to her and asks Brangane, her companion, to prepare a death potion for them. Brangane  realizes that they are both in love and prepares a love potion instead.  They both fall instantly in love as the ship reaches shore.

The second act of the opera begins with the famous “Tristan chord” and we are suddenly in a whole new world….a world of dissonance and unease.   Maestro Gianandrea Noseda conducted this chord and the subsequent music with great beauty of sound.  Each of the solo instruments and the off-stage French horns stood out for their clarity.  Maestro was able to bring out all the drama of the music when needed and easily toned down the orchestra for the more intimate moments. There were times when he took a more Italianate approach to the music but he excelled in the Wagnerian style as well. 

Christine Goerke has recently added the role of Isolde to her repertoire after having performed several Ring Cycles.  She conveyed the excitement and expectation of waiting for Tristan.  She has a wonderful lower register which was perfect for this scene.  She started off a little carefully but quickly warmed up to her big beautiful Wagnerian voice.  

The mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova, as Brangane, tries to warn Isolde that Melot (Neil Cooper), Tristan’s supposed friend, has been double dealing, but Isolde is too much in love to heed the warning. Ms. Gubanova has a big exciting dark voice.  In this scene she has to sing out many long beautiful lines and she handled them very well.  Her singing showed great empathy for Isolde.  When she went to the top of her register, her voice had perhaps an excess of vibrato but otherwise she was very comfortable in the role.

The Wagnerian tenor Stephen Gould is the leading Wagnerian tenor of today.  He has a big resonant voice that easily soars over the orchestra.  He sings the role of Tristan with great passion and has a big heldentenor sound.  When he sees Isolde, his singing becomes very passionate and they are both nearly breathless with the excitement of seeing each other.

As daylight disappears and night takes over, the music becomes quietly rapturous as Christine Goerke and Stephen Gould begin singing the love duet.  Their voices blended wonderfully for this long and difficult duet, effortlessly sung.  Their singing is interrupted by Brangane, who warns them of danger, but they are too much in love to care. They welcome the dark of night which banishes everyday reality from day; night is also the realm of death.

Tristan’s companion Kurwenal runs in warning that King Marke is arriving from the hunt. The King is angry and feels betrayed  and dishonored by Tristan who was suppose to be bringing Isolde to him to be his bride. King Marke was sung by Gunther Groissbock who has a velvety smooth dark bass-baritone voice.  His sadness at losing Isolde was well portrayed.  Kerwenal, sung by another bass-baritone Hunter Enoch, also had a compelling voice.

For me, the most beautiful scene in the opera, which is a turning point for the lovers, occurs at the end of the act, when Tristan asks Isolde gently if she will follow him to a land where the sun never shines.  The music for this scene is so simple and moving.  Isolde responds directly that she will follow him to his land.  Both Stephen Gould and Christine Goerke sang this scene calmly with great beauty, as the music called for.  The act ends with a fight between Melot and Tristan. Tristan is seriously wounded.

At the end of this 80 minute act, the whole audience rose to their feet to cheer the wonderful singers, conductor, and orchestra members.  The performers were called back three times for more applause. We were all grateful for this wondrous performance. It made us all long to hear the entire opera in the near future.

© meche kroop

  

A TRIP DOWN THE RHINE

Guest Review by Ellen Godfrey:

Last night at St. John’s Church in the Village, the genius of Richard Wagner’s music abounded in the pairing of the Wesendonck Lieder with two selections from his passionate opera, Tristan und Isolde. 

In 1849, Wagner had to escape from Dresden to Switzerland with his wife Minna, to avoid being arrested as a rebel. He was invited to live in a small cottage on the estate of one of his patrons, Otto Wesendonck, and his wife Mathilde. While the Wagner’s were there, Mathilde wrote a cycle of five poems for women which Wagner set to music.  The cycle became known as the Wesendonck Lieder.  The song cycle was composed between 1857 and 1858. There were unconfirmed rumors that Wagner and Mathilde were having a love affair. 

Wagner was two thirds of the way through composing his unmatched 4-opera Ring Cycle, when he took a 12 year break after almost completing Siegfried, the third opera of the cycle. Wagner was very interested in finding new expression in music and drama. He became very interested in the 19th century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who wrote a book called The World as Will and Repression. He started to compose a new opera, Tristan und Isolde, which pointed to a new kind of music which eventually led composition into the 20th century.   

The highly gifted soprano Julianna Milin performed both the Wesendonck Lieder, and, after a brief intermission, two selections from Tristan und Isolde, no easy task.  In the first part of the program, Miss Millin used her  beautiful, big voice in a lighter vein, as is befitting a lieder singer.  In the second half of the program, she let her voice rip, with a much bigger sound and beautiful high notes and deep low notes. Her accompanist was the talented Juan Jose Lazaro, who has performed in many major symphonic halls. He has also accompanied many singers in masterclasses. He was a very supportive partner throughout the two part program.

Ms. Milin sang the first poem “Der Engel “(The Angel) very softly and ended it on a very quiet note. This song has several musical references to Das Rheingold, the first opera of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. In the second song "Stehe Still “(Be still), the pianist sailed easily through the difficult very fast moving music, like the rushing wheel of time, which is the first line of the song. Ms Milin was equally adept in her performance.

Wagner was using two of the Wesendonck songs as a draft for a new opera Tristan und Isolde which he had started working on.  In the third song “Im Treibhaus" (In the Green House) Wagner used the music as part of the prelude to Act 3 of Tristan und Isolde. It started off with a beautifully played piano introduction by Mr. Lazaro as Ms. Milin started slowly and softly along with him.  The ending of the song was quiet, with both the pianist and the singer feeling the music very deeply. In the fourth song “Schmerzen"( Sorrows)  Ms. Milin was able to show off her deep low notes, expressing the sorrow of the song.

The fifth and final song is the most beautiful of the cycle--“Traume” (Dreams,) and was used by Wagner in the Act 2 love duet of Tristan und Isolde.  Ms. Milin sang a beautiful introduction to the song with much feeling and a good. understanding of the music.  It was really her most beautiful singing of the cycle. Mr. Lazaro accompanied her with great understanding and feeling.

What was missing from Ms. Milin’s performance of these 5 wonderful songs, was communication with the audience.  She too often looked at the music on her nearby music stand rather than relating to the audience.  Hopefully, by the next time she performs this music, she will no longer need the score.

After the intermission Ms. Milin returned to the stage to sing Isolde’s curse from the first act of Tristan und Isolde.  Here she was a different singer  She used her big bright voice to great effect for this highly dramatic music, and sang with great feeling when called for.  In the long narrative, Isolde spews out her rage against Tristan, with whom she is secretly in love, but who is escorting her to marry King Mark. Her singing in this portion was very exciting and she poured out wonderful high notes as she curses Tristan. Juan Jose Lazaro played with anger when needed but never overshadowed her singing.

The evening concluded with the  beautiful "Liebestod " (love/death).  The music began quietly with both pianist and singer. Ms. Millin sang with great feeling with perfect accompaniment by Mr. Lazaro. She had a beautiful pianissimo at the end and Mr. Lazaro finished on a quiet note. As the program ended, the audience cheered the performances of both artists.  It was a lovely evening of music and thoughtfully demonstrated the relationship between Wagner's song cycle and subsequent opera.

© meche kroop

TRISTAN UND ISOLDE--NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART

Cast of Tristan und Isolde at National Opera Center

By guest reviewer Ellen Godfrey

Producing, preparing, and performing Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde is not for the faint of heart.  Wagner’s operas demand so much from the singers, musicians, designers, and directors…arguably more than any other composer.  Artistic consultant Peter Randsman started thinking about the possibility of a concert performance of the opera without orchestra, but with piano, to be performed in a small intimate performance space. His goal was two-fold; first to have the singers articulate the text…to be dramatic and to get the emotion out there without scenery or costumes and secondly to give singers a chance to perform this great and taxing opera and to give the audience the opportunity to hear it.

 Peter and his colleagues assembled a fearless cast of singers. Coordinating the performance was conductor and music director, Maestro David Gilbert, chief assistant to conductor Pierre Boulez at the 1976 Wagner Bayreuth Festival, and pianist William Hobbs, a soloist as well as featured pianist with orchestras, and ensembles. LeAnn Overton wrote the English subtitles. She is a vocal coach on the faculties of Manhattan School of Music and Montclair University. Peter Randsman has performed as an actor/singer in many musicals, has sung with the New York City Opera, and has his own artistic management company. He was very involved in working with the singers.

This Tristan was performed at the National Opera Center in New York City, to a sold out house on Friday evening, November 30. I am happy to report that it was a great success.  Maestro Gilbert’s conducting was firm and totally attuned to every nuance of the difficult score. William Hobbs was amazing at the piano; for over four demanding hours he played with passion, drama, sensitivity, and understanding.

The opera was sung in German, with English subtitles and, as is common in concert versions of operas, the singers had scores. However, they were still able to convey their emotions and interact with each other. The rehearsal period was only three weeks. The only singer in the cast who had ever sung Tristan was Adam C.J. Klein, who performed the role at the Seattle Opera. It truly is amazing that the performance came together so well.

Tristan und Isolde is based on a 12th century Germany legend. Tristan is bringing Isolde to Cornwall by ship for her marriage to King Marke. Isolde and Tristan have both fallen in love with the other, but both keep their feelings hidden. Brangane, her maid, can see that Isolde loves Tristan and substitutes a love potion for the poison Isolde and Tristan were preparing to take. Under the spell of the potion, Isolde and Tristan admit their love for each other. 

Later they have a passionate encounter at night, but are discovered by King Marke, who is furious. Tristan flees to France despite the wounds inflicted on him by his former friend and betrayer Melot. Isolde follows him to France,but by the time she gets there he is dying. She dies by his side, enraptured and transfigured by love.

The singers were all up to the task. After the first act prelude, the tenor, Jeremy Brauner, sang a lovely Irish song beautifully and clearly. He was equally at ease with three other roles; the betrayer Melot, a steersman, and a shepherd.

There are few opera soprano and tenor roles that have as much singing as  Isolde and Tristan do. Both Julia Rolwing, as Isolde, and Adam C. J. Klein as Tristan, proved to be wonderful in their parts.  In Act I, Isolde’s narrative and curse, Julia Rolwing displayed the anger boiling inside.  She has an even dramatic soprano range, from top to bottom and has no fear of the high notes. Her voice has a lovely dusky quality.  

Adam C. J. Klein was equally fearless in his singing. He has a bright tenor voice and uses it for dramatic purpose when called for. After drinking the love potion, they sang lovingly to each other.  The Act II duet, which runs about 30 minutes, was introduced very delicately by William Hobbs and was sung with great love, excitement, and intensity.

Act III belongs to Tristan; who sings for about 40 minutes, with a couple of interruptions by Kurwenal. While some tenors take some cuts in the third act, Adam insisted he would sing it uncut. The length of the scene did not prevent him from singing with passion and a strong, dramatic voice. 

The end of the opera belongs to Isolde. After all that singing, Julia Rolwing could still sing an unforgettable Liebestod…starting off slowly and gradually increasing in sound and going easily higher and higher until the music fades.

Brangane, Isolde’s maid, was performed by Alison Bolshoi. Although she was a soprano, she is now a contralto. She has an exciting and even big booming voice from top to bottom.  The lower notes of her contralto voice are absolutely gorgeous.  Her singing of Brangane’s watch in Act II, was outstanding.

Kurwenal, Tristan’s retainer, was sung by helden-baritone Bryan Glenndavis. His voice beautiful voice is very expressive and big. He is perfect for Wagnerian roles.

King Marke, who is to marry Isolde, was sung by bass Eric Lindsey. I was  extremely impressed with his distinctively beautiful bass voice. He sang without pushing his voice and was very dramatic in his castigation of Tristan.

Justin McBurney, the English horn player had a lovely tone. He comes in for the third act. He played with great joy ,when appropriate and also great feeling.

Thanks to all who participated in this wonderful performance.  I found it very interesting just hearing the piano, especially played by such an excellent  pianist as William Hobbs. Maestro David Gilbert led a brilliant performance. There is nothing better than hearing opera voices live. I hope that Peter Randsman and his group can perform other operas in a similar manner.

EROS AND THANATOS AT CARNEGIE HALL

Boston Symphony Orchestra in concert version of Tristan und Isolde (Act II) at Carnegie Hall

We went to hear tenor Jonas Kaufmann's Tristan but we left with so much more. Without the distractions of a meretricious concept production at the Metropolitan Opera last season (one which we fled during the first intermission), we were able to focus on Richard Wagner's transporting music. Under the precise and expressive baton of Maestro Andris Nelson, the enormous forces of the Boston Symphony Orchestra paid tribute to Wagner's music with its intense emotional impact.

We were perfectly content with Mr. Kaufmann's vocal artistry and dark coloration. As Isolde, Finnish soprano Camilla Nylund was right up there with him. The voice of Japanese mezzo-soprano Mihoko Fujimura as Brangäne sailed right through the dense orchestration as she begged Isolde to pay attention to the risk of discovery. As King Marke, German bass Georg Zeppenfeld broke our heart with his deeply felt aria, expressing the pain of betrayal he experienced.

Since this was a concert version of only Act II, we were deprived of the introduction to the story and also of any physical contact between the two ill fated lovers. There wasn't even any eye contact to rely upon so that the feelings had to come almost entirely through the music. And this led to our appreciation of the work in a new way.

Even the off-stage horns at the beginning of the act fostered our imagination, creating the nighttime hunt arranged by Melot to get King Marke out of the castle. We hear what the realist Brangäne hears and understand that Isolde is in the grip of delusion, based upon denial. Not only does Isolde not hear the horns but she denies Melot's jealousy and danger to her.

The two lovers are so infatuated that there is a reversal of the normal pattern of perceiving daylight as real and positive, with nighttime as dangerous. These lovers reject the reality of day and worship darkness where their illicit love becomes real.

There is also a reversal of what people normally experience; great happiness makes us cherish life and fight against death; these lovers are so ill-starred that they can only see happiness in death. All this Wagner created in his adventuresome unresolved harmonics and astute orchestration. We get caught up in their rapture.

When the lovers speak of death the orchestra becomes peaceful and we hear the apposite sound of the harp, beautifully played by Jessica Zhou. The bass clarinet is used effectively with its mournful tones.

The music has been called " emotionally manipulative" but isn't that what music is supposed to do? It was something happening in the orchestra and in Mr. Zeppenfeld's performance that shifted our sympathies from the deluded couple to that of the betrayed husband who is led to the scene of the assignation by the snitch Melot (Welsh tenor Andrew Rees).

Wagner was by all accounts a rascal. He seemed to enjoy seducing other men's wives. He abandoned his wife Minna and focused his romantic intentions upon Mathilde, the wife of his benefactor Otto Wesendonck. This would seem to parallel the triangle in Tristan und Isolde, in which Tristan pursues Isolde, the wife of his adoptive father King Marke. Is it only chance that he chose this medieval story to set to such erotic music?  Shortly thereafter he impregnated Cosima, the wife of Maestro Hans von Bülow. Perhaps rascal is too kind a term.

The love potion (liebestrank) is just an excuse.  "The devil made me do it!" Film, music, and literature are filled with similar stories.  Just think of "Love Potion Number 9", and L'Elisir d'Amore. We are flawed human beings and often out of control of our desires and eager to place the blame elsewhere.  But that ill wind has blown us some good in a work of incomparable beauty, cherished by music lovers worldwide. Last night's performance was definitely one to cherish.

(c) meche kroop