The Opera Tattler

Pelléas et Mélisande at Münchner Opernfestspiele

* Notes *
A new production of Pelléas et Mélisande (Act II, Scene 1 pictured, photograph by Wilfried Hösl) opened as part of the Münchner Opernfestspiele opened earlier this month. Last night's performance had some very nice singing, but the production did not elucidate this dreamy, strange piece.

Maestro Hannu Lintu presided over a glittery orchestra, the music had a lot of color, but perhaps the phrasing could have a bit more nuance. The music certainly was very loud in the tiny Prinzregententheater, and could be felt as much as heard.

This co-production with Dallas Opera, directed by Jetske Mijnssen, is not very sensible. So many of the scenes simply go against the text, as when in Act III Scene 1 where Pelléas says he cannot reach Mélisande's hand while he's right next to her and indeed holding her hand. Ben Baur's narrow stage over water is nice and clean, it's very pleasing to watch the rain fall behind it before the opera, and the little strip of water downstage was a good effect. However, it probably was extremely confusing for those who do not know this opera, the forest in the first scene seems to be in a ballroom, the cave in Act II is under a dining table. The background of Act V has "C'était un pauvre petit être mystérieux comme tout le monde" on it, which Arkel sings at the end.

Everyone was cast perfectly for their roles. The child from the Tölzer Knabenchor who played Yniold was eerily clear, and acted very naturally even in this stilted production. Bass Franz-Josef Selig was slightly creaky at first but conveyed care and sympathy in the last scene. Baritone Christian Gerhaher is a terrifying Golaud, you never feel like Mélisande is being irrational for loving his half-brother rather than him. Gerhaher does angry very well, but he showed a more tender side at times when needed.

Tenor Ben Bliss is an ideal Pelléas, he is sweet and light and certainly brings a boyishness to the role. Soprano Sabine Devieilhe is also convincing as Mélisande, very ethereal but easily soars over the instrumentation. Her "Mes longs cheveux" was lovely. The love scene in Act IV was also very strong.

* Tattling *
Before the performance there was an altercation in English between two people in the center section in Row 25 or so. Someone yelled "Shut up" and the other person responded with yelling about how one shouldn't be "so rude." There was only light whispering during the music and no electronic noise.

My opera companion did not like Debussy's music or the production. She left at intermission, but was only one of a few who did so.

Tannhäuser at Münchner Opernfestspiele

* Notes *
Bayerische Staatsoper's 2017 Tannhäuser (ovation pictured, photograph by author) returned to the Münchner Opernfestspiele last night. The performance was absolutely transcendent in its beauty, with grand playing from the orchestra and wonderful singing.

The orchestra sounded full and together under Maestro Sebastian Weigle. The trumpets, bassoons, and harp were particularly fine.

This staging, from director Romeo Castellucci, is very busy. There are many supernumeraries, in various states of undress, doing all kinds of choreography all the time. For example, the overture was accompanied by perhaps two dozen archers, all of whom appeared to be young ladies with their chests bared. They shot at a large circle with a projection of an eye on it. It was very impressive how well they shot the arrows and how perfectly everything was coordinated. But we also had blood splattered loudly on this same round object, and had a count up in German of time from one second to many billions of years. I did really enjoy the dancing that happened from seated or lying down, the dancers were able to move as one entity, it seemed.

The chorus was great, singing with intensity. "Beglückt darf nun dich" was very moving. The rest of the cast was likewise strong. Mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina has a luxuriant, plush sound, perfect for Venus. Soprano Elisabeth Teige also has a dark tone as Elisabeth, but the two women definitely sounded different. Her Act II "Dich, teure Halle, grüss ich wieder" was full of hope and her Act III "Er kehret nicht züruck!" had palpable despair.

Baritone Andrè Schuen was heartbreaking as Wolfram. His voice is velvety and resonant, and his "O du mein holder Abendstern" was simply lovely. Even still, Schuen managed not to upstage tenor Klaus Florian Vogt in the title role. Vogt is bright, warm, and effortless. His Tannhäuser has much appeal and such sweetness.

* Tattling *
It seems that certain audience members simply do not think that the messages in German and English about completely turning off one's cellular phones apply to them. An elderly person on the left side of the Balkon, Reihe 3 Platz 35 had a device that rang many times during the overture, and the couple next to her had to help silence it.

The person next to us in the Balkon, Reihe 1 Platz 17 was roughly in the same demographic, yet was kind enough to take our photograph before the performance and let another eager person know that our seats were taken before the start of Act III. We tried to arrive as late as possible as we were on the aisle and wanted to make it easier for others to get to their seats.

Parsifal at Münchner Opernfestspiele

* Notes *
An excellent revival of Parsifal (ovation pictured, photograph by author) opened at Münchner Opernfestspiele yesterday evening. Musically, it was the best Parsifal I have heard live, the orchestra sounded splendid and the singers were all great.

Maestro Adam Fischer lead the orchestra with verve, starting off the Vorspiel in a stately manner and building from there. The sound was very full and could be felt in one's whole body. The brass was clear, the timpani ecstatic, and the harps exquisite.

Pierre Audi's 2018 production is serviceable. Act I featured a forest, Act II had a curtain downstage and a cloth backdrop mid-stage with a big gash in the middle, and Act III was the forest upside-down, which was effective. There is a lot of imagery around flaccid, aging bodies, on screens and curtains, and depicted in the chorus, whose members wore padded bodysuits to appear naked in Act I Scene 2 and Act II Scene 2.

The chorus sang beautifully and together. The principal cast was also uniform and strong. Baritone Jochen Schmeckenbecher's Klingsor was menacing, while bass-baritone Gerald Finley conveyed painfully exhaustion as Amfortas. Bass Tareq Nazmi sang a sympathetic and robust Gurnemanz.

Tenor Clay Hilley gave a solid performance as Parsifal, though his stage presence is a bit wooden. His voice cuts through the orchestra and is quite loud. Soprano Nina Stemme makes for an intense Kundry, she seems to really be inside the character, and draws the audience in as well. The resonance of her sound is penetrating but never harsh. Act II was the highlight of the night because of her, to be sure.

* Tattling *
It was a relief to be at a Wagner performance in Germany, as the audience is serious and engaged. Unfortunately two cellular phones rang during the Vorspiel and there was some clapping after Act I.

The person next to us in the Balkon, Reihe 1 Platz 5 was cheerful and joked with us before curtain, but fell asleep during Act I. He had the good sense to leave at the second intermission.

Gerald Finley was named a Bayerischer Kammersänger after the performance and addressed his colleagues and the audience in German. He thanked many people, including his wife and family, and mentioned the wisdom he received from Edita Gruberová about performing on this stage.

Bayerische Staatsoper's 2012-2013 Season

September 23 2012- June 29 2013: Tannhäuser
September 30- October 30 2012: Fidelio
October 7 2012- July 24 2013: Tosca
October 27 2012- July 21 2013: Babylon
October 28- November 4 2012: Dialogues des Carmélites
November 5-16 2012: Rusalka
November 11 2012- July 3 2013: Lohengrin
November 22- December 1 2012: Turandot
November 24- December 8 2012: Die Zauberflöte
December 6 2012- July 20 2013: La bohème
December 15 2012- July 24 2013: Rigoletto
December 16-22 2012: Hänsel und Gretel (1965 Production)
December 23 2012- January 4 2013: Aida
January 31 2012: Die Fledermaus
January 5- July 13 2013: Das Rheingold
January 6- July 14 2013: Die Walküre
January 9- July 15 2013: Siegfried
January 10-20 2013: Lucrezia Borgia
January 13- July 18 2013: Götterdämmerung
January 14-19 2013: Madama Butterfly
January 29- February 6 2013: Carmen
February 9-16 2013: Il barbiere di Siviglia
February 13- July 30 2013: Boris Godunow
February 18-24 2013: I Capuleti e i Montecchi
March 3- July 11 2013: Tristan und Isolde
March 6-16 2013: Jenufa
March 17- July 10 2013: Ariadne auf Naxos
March 24- April 4 2013: Hänsel und Gretel (New Production)
March 28- July 31 2013: Parsifal
March 31- July 16 2013: Otello
April 14- June 28 2013: Der fliegende Holländer
April 30- May 4 2013: L'elisir d'amore
May 3-12 2013: Don Giovanni
May 3-9 2013: Elegie für junge Liebende
May 5- July 29 2013: Macbeth
May 18- July 23 2013: Les Contes d'Hoffmann
May 20- July 9 2013: La Traviata
June 3- July 12 2013: Simon Boccanegra
June 27- July 8 2013: Il Trovatore
July 6 2013: Falstaff
July 23-27 2013: Written on Skin
July 25-28 2013: Don Carlo

The 2012-2013 season for Bayerische Staatsoper was announced on March 12, 2012.

Official Site | 2012-2013 Premieres

Generalmusikdirektor of BSO

Kirill Petrenko has been named Generalmusikdirektor of the Bavarian State Opera, starting on September 1, 2013.

Press Release (In German) | Official Site

William Mason / Kent Nagano News

William Mason, Lyric Opera of Chicago's general director, will retire at then end of the 2011-2012 season. Generalmusikdirektor Kent Nagano is leaving the Bayerische Staatsoper when his contract is up in 2013.

William Mason Press Release | Welt Online

Don Giovanni at Bayerische Staatsoper

Our correspondent in Germany, Opernphrenologe, was recently in Munich. What follows is a lightly edited review of the new Don Giovanni production that recently opened at Bayerische Staatsoper.

   * Notes *
The premiere of Don Giovanni, directed by Stephan Kimmig, in München started out badly enough. The curtain opened to reveal a naked old man with saggy boobs, shivering. From that point on, the production continued to get steadily worse. Behind him were a bunch of shipping containers that moved around and opened throughout the opera. One of the worst scenes was the wedding party, which was a rave with two 3-foot high penguin statues that people danced with. The masks were snorkeling masks, and there were half-naked lesbian snow bunnies humping each other here and there. Even worse was the send-Giovanni-to-Hell scene. Heaven was a shipping container, this time filled with people dressed like priests and army soldiers. Giovanni was cooking dinner in his modern kitchen (located in a shipping container that also contained around 20 mannequins), and he was sent to Hell by shaking hands with a chain of hand-holding army dudes and priests. When they let go, Giovanni fell to the ground next to his modern food processor. Profound. There was also a film screen that added absolutely nothing to the production, except to perhaps make it worse, as if it needed help in that department. At the end, everyone danced around, and old-naked-man came out again with his old-man-boobs to blow on some pinwheels.

Mariusz Kwiecien (Don Giovanni) did not sing as well as I remember him singing before. He sounded like he was mumbling and there was not much dynamic range in his voice. Perhaps he had a cold? Then again, he was definitely slimy, and an especially bad moment was when he pretended to give a doll a horseback ride on his knee. Maija Kovalevska (Donna Elvira) was a hippy backpacker chick in this particular production. Her voice was sweet and lovely, and she was incredibly fit. She must work out a lot. My favorite singer was Pavol Breslik (Don Ottavio), and I guess others agreed since he received loud applause at the end. His interpretation of the music was wonderful, with lots of dynamics and a sugary tone. However, even he could not make up for the flat, off-tune, and downright ugly singing of Ellie Dehn (Donna Anna). Her famous aria was like nails on a chalkboard. Fortunately for her, most people do not have perfect pitch and she received lukewarm applause at the end (with only a few buh's). The orchestra was also lightly buh'd. It is true that they were a bit sloppy, but they were not bad. They were like a player piano that had played the same tune one too many times. Some of the horn section looked angry when they were buh'd, which I suppose is understandable. After all, it is the conductor's (in this case, Kent Nagano's) job to interpret the music and not allow them to be sloppy.

The producers were heartily buh'd at the end. Some people responded to the buh'ing with loud applause, as if they somehow "got" the profundity of the production while the buh'ers did not. Or perhaps they just found the old-man-boobs incredibly sexy. I might guess the latter.

* Tattling * 
We did not have tickets for this production, since it sold out and I tried to buy tickets too late. Instead, we bought tickets from vicious female ticket scalpers who fought amongst themselves to unload their overpriced tickets on us. It was fearsome to watch them in action, and we both needed to tipple afterwards. My companion was an Opera Virgin, and we acquired her ticket from the only nice scalper in the bunch. I suspect that my companion will never willingly attend opera again -- the production was that bad. The audience was unusually engaged compared to the average performance (but perhaps not for a premiere). They seemed extremely pleased with themselves during the hearty buh'ing at the end.

Bayerische Staatsoper's 2009-2010 Season

September 19 2009- July 20 2010: Ariadne auf Naxos
September 20 2009- July 6 2010: Lucrezia Borgia
October 4 2009- June 12 2010: Carmen
October 11 2009- July 9 2010: Jenůfa
October 15 2009- July 29 2010: Lohengrin
October 31 2009- July 8 2010: Don Giovanni
November 1-8 2009: Eugene Onegin
November 13-25 2009: Il turco in Italia
November 27- December 25 2009: Hänsel und Gretel
December 1 2009- July 27 2010: L'elisir d'amore
December 2-12 2009: Der fliegende Holländer
December 6-20 2009: Die Zauberflöte
December 15-30 2009: La bohème
December 29 2009- January 9 2010: La Traviata
December 31 2009- February 16 2010: Die Fledermaus
January 6- July 22 2010: Don Carlo
January 13- July 31 2010: Tannhäuser
January 15- July 26 2010: Così fan tutte
January 22- February 2 2010: Madama Butterfly
January 31- February 7 2010: Salome
February 3- July 24 2010: Macbeth
February 21- July 4 2010: Roberto Devereux
February 22- July 12 2010: Die Tragödie des Teufels
March 7- July 17 2010: Le Nozze di Figaro
March 10-21 2010: Il barbiere di Siviglia
March 28- July 13 2010: Les dialogues des Carmélites
April 4-18 2010: Palestrina
April 16-24 2010: Wozzeck
May 12-23 2010: Aida
May 22- June 2 2010: Die Entführung aus dem Serail
June 7-29 2010: Medea in Corinto
June 28- July 19 2010: Tosca
July 20-30 2010: Die schweigsame Frau

Mariusz Kwiecien and Erwin Schrott share the role of Don Giovanni. Kwiecien also sings Almaviva in Figaro. Nadja Michael stars opposite Ramón Vargas in Medea in Corinto, current Adler Alek Shrader has the role of Egeo. Shrader also sings Almaviva in Il Barbiere. Mattila sings Tosca opposite Jonas Kaufmann, with Juha Uusitalo as Scarpia.

Official Site | 2009-2010 Season

An Opera Outing

I'm being kept quite busy with non-opera activities, so I present to you an opera painting from 2003. This acrylic on paper work was painted after I had gone to a performance of Händel's Serse at the Bavarian State Opera. It was one of the few times in Munich that I wasn't in standing room. The Königsloge is quite nice, the painting does not capture how shiny it is. This is one of the first paintings I had ever sold.

Details of Painting | Performance Review of Serse

Bayerische Staatsoper's 2008-2009 Season

October 2 2008- July 24 2009: Macbeth
October 4-11 2008: Das Gehege / Salome
October 5 2008- July 13 2009: Norma
October 19-25 2008: Die Bassariden
October 23- November 2 2008: Eugene Onegin
November 1-6 2008: Die Entführung aus dem Serail
November 8 2008- May 21 2009: Der fliegende Holländer
November 10 2008- January 31 2009: Wozzeck
November 22 2008- March 27 2009: Tamerlano
November 24 2008- July 26 2009: Luisa Miller
November 28 2008- July 7 2009: Werther
December 9-14 2008: Doktor Faustus
December 13-18 2008: Hänsel und Gretel
December 17 2008- May 31 2009: La Bohème
December 21-28 2008: Die Zauberflöte
December 23 2008- June 15 2009: La Traviata
December 31 2008- February 24 2009: Die Fledermaus
January 4-10 2009: Carmen
January 19- July 14 2009: Palestrina
February 2-18 2009: Elektra
February 7- July 22 2009: Nabucco
February 20-26 2009: La Calisto
February 23- July 6 2009: Lucrezia Borgia
March 1- July 31 2009: Falstaff
March 14- July 30 2009: Otello
April 8- July 9 2009: Jenůfa
April 9-12 2009: Parsifal
April 26- May 2 2009: Così fan tutte
May 13-15 2009: Madama Butterfly
May 16-23 2009: Le Nozze di Figaro
June 8-30 2009: Aida
July 5-19 2009: Lohengrin
July 13-20 2009: Ariadne auf Naxos
June 14- July 30 2009: Idomeneo

Nicola Luisotti is conducting a new production of Macbeth next season at the Bavarian State Opera. Željko Lučić sings the title role, Nadja Michael sings Lady Macbeth, and Dimitri Pittas is Macduff. Anna Netrebko sings in the May performances of La Bohème, with Joseph Calleja as her Rodolfo. John Relyea sings Colline. Relyea is also singing the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro, with Lucas Meachem as the Count. Angela Gheorghiu is Violetta Valéry in the June performances of La Traviata, singing opposite Jonas Kaufmann. Simon Keenlyside is Germont. Paolo Gavanelli sings the title role of Nabucco during the Münchner Opernfestspiele 2009. Earlier in the year he also sings Sharpless in Madama Butterfly.

New Productions for 2008-2009 | Official Site

Lucia at ENO

The English National Opera presented Lucia di Lammermoor for the first time this season, and the last performance was yesterday. The adorable Anna Christy made her British debut in the title role, despite recently suffering bronchitis. She has a sweet, warbling sort of voice, and from the reviews, it sounds like she was adequate, not distinguishing herself but not awful either. She certainly didn't get as much attention as the whole lip-synching incident of the opening performance.

The Lucia production looks quite tame for David Alden, dark but not absurd. Neil Fisher titled his Times interview "David Alden, the Stephen King of Opera," which I don't find particularly apt, having seen half a dozen of Alden's productions. Stephen King is popular, and is known for horror. David Alden's productions did not seem popular at Bayerische Staatsoper, where I heard him booed a couple of times. Nor was his Rodelinda at San Francisco Opera popular, though not nearly as reviled as Anna Viebrock's Alcina or the recent Macbeth from Zürich.

David Alden's work isn't exactly horror either, though he did have the valkyries give the audience gesto dell'ombrello with those wands airport ground handlers use in Die Walküre, for which he was he was roundly booed for at the end of the premiere. The enormous Playmobil doll whose trousers fall down in Rinaldo was also vaguely horrific (and also garnered the audience's vitriol), though I did like the cupcake frosting hairdos on the sirens. His Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria  has the distinction of being the only opera performance for which I had a ticket for but did not turn up to simply because I could not bear to watch what he had done with Monteverdi another time.

It is more self-indulgent than truly scary, even the T-Rex used for Giulio Cesare is not frightening! This image was used in Bayerische Staatsoper's advertising, and alas, I never managed to see it, as it was put on shortly before I arrived in Munich. For the past few years I've successfully avoided David Alden's productions and I'm slightly annoyed to see that the Radamisto at Santa Fe this summer is his. As there are not many Baroque operas being performed at major opera companies, it does seem inevitable that I will be forced to see Alden's work again.

Times Interview | ENO | BSO | Santa Fe Opera

Fidelio at Bayerische Staatsoper

* Notes *
Peter Mussbach's production of Fidelio, which premiered at Bayerische Staatsoper in 1999, is infuriating and yet strangely dull. The set is boring, despite the many scene changes. It was also rather loud, the scrims made all sorts of sounds as they banged against the stage and a certain metal door squealed when opened or closed. There were bizarre choices of when have the curtain down, as in the middle "O welche Lust" and during the Overture to Leonore No. 3, which was placed, as it sometimes is, between Florestan and Leonore's duet and "Heil sei dem Tag!" The choreography was simply stupid, why have Marzelline spin around in joy and then grab the wall or have everyone space themselves neatly like sculptures on a staircase?

The costumes, by Andrea Schmidt-Futterer, are likewise unexciting, lots of white and grey, though at some point Jaquino wore a skirt for just one scene. Certainly the most annoying part of the production is Konrad Lindenberg's lighting, or rather, lack thereof. The faces of the singers were perpetually in shadow, which dampened their dramatic force. Ridiculously, the rest of the stage was lit well, so one could see a staircase, or a heater, or a pile of dirt perfectly clearly.

Christof Prick's conducting was not inspired, the horns sounded off in the overture of Act I, and generally it seemed somewhat slow. The chorus sounded rather strange in the last scene, for they were placed in rows beneath the principal singers. Waltraud Meier was at least reasonable visually in the title role, but vocally she was brittle and out of tune. Robert Dean Smith was somewhat reedy as Florestan. The rest of the cast was fine, certainly best was René Pape's Rocco. His voice has good volume but is also nuanced. Martin Gantner sang the small role of Don Fernando, and as usual was not unpleasant.

* Tattling *
The audience distinctly less well-behaved than at Parsifal, though, at least, there was no late seating. There was whispering throughout, a chief offender on the orchestra level was in Row 17 Seat 696. This white-haired fellow also turned some sort of device on during the overture, for his face was bathed in a blue light for a few seconds. A person to his left peered over at him, confused by the visual disturbance. There were also two beeps during Act I, at least one was during an interlude in which Florestan and Leonore's voices are heard, but there is no music.

Parsifal at Bayerische Staatsoper

* Notes *
Paper was the main motif in Peter Konwitschny's production of Parsifal currently at Bayerische Staatsoper. The set was first hidden by a scrim covered with pieces of paper reading, in various languages, "Erlösung dem Erlöser," the last line of the opera. Act I featured a stage littered with white sheets of paper, a papier-mâché ramp with branches, and a red piece of paper hanging from the ceiling. Act II had many saffron colored pieces of paper hanging from the ceiling, along with the same white sheets still strewn across the floor. Act III had an enormous black sheet hanging at center stage, in addition to black sheets scattered around, and a medium-sized sheet covering the corpse of Titurel. Even the prompt box was covered with paper, at first matching the scrim and at the end black.

The set and costumes, both by Johannes Leiacker, seemed somewhat incongruous. The knights wore long grey coats, Parsifal fleecy lederhosen without a shirt, and both Klingsor and Amfortas wore black robes over their bloody loincloths. At first Kundry had on inexplicable flowered pants, a short wrap dress, and a black blazer with one patched elbow, but changed into a black and red evening gown in her siren guise. The set moved in a clever manner so that changes of scene were unproblematic. The ramp that Kundry rode her toy wood horse down for her entrance lifted up to become a tree that holds the grail. Parts of the stage could be raised and lowered, quite handy for bringing in the choruses of knights or flower maidens.

The production did make me laugh, especially when Parsifal made his entrance by attacking the red sheet of paper as he swung from a rope. Naturally he wore an Indian head dress and carried a stick bow. Another choice part was when Parsifal threw a tantrum at the end of Act II, breaking a plastic statue of the Virgin Mary so that her head fell off. When Kundry started menacing poor Parsifal with the Mary head, I thought I would lose my composure completely.

Perhaps Kent Nagano is still easing in to his position as the Generalmusikdirector, as his tenure began last September. There were moments when the orchestra was not together. The chorus also had a few problems of this sort, especially at the end of Act I.

As Amfortas, Martin Gantner found a certain balance that the others lacked. The baritone acted well and had good volume and control, and his only weakness was a brightness that is not best suited for someone long-suffering. It was rather shocking to see Gantner in little more than diapers, his legs are very skinny. Bass John Tomlinson looked like a proper Gurnemanz, his voice was shaky and gravelly, which is fairly apropos. Luana DeVol was piercing as Kundry, she had a frightening amount of vibrato, especially when she sang "Parsifal! Bleibe!" in Act II. Nikolai Schukoff was a convincing youthful Parsifal, his voice is also rather bright and young, without much heft. He did strain somewhat, and gasped here and there. He saved himself for the last act, his last notes in the opera were beautiful.

* Tattling *
The audience was well-behaved, as it is only a certain type that will go hear Wagner in Germany. There was no late seating, no ringing of mobile phones, no watch beeping, and no speaking aloud. Thankfully for you, gentle reader, there were certainly transgressions nonetheless. Some young men in the standing area of the Second Tier Left Row 1, Places 1 and 3 waited for the very last moment go to their spots. This was in hopes of nabbing some seats, but there were very few left, and none together. They pushed their way behind the three others in this standing section and then one sat up on one of the barrier walls (his head practically touched the ceiling) and the other had himself perched on the railing. The seats in the Nationaltheater are small and creak a great deal, plus the shape of the theater is such that it is difficult to see all of the stage from the sides. Audience members on the sides would sometimes just stand up so that they could see what was happening. There were isolated cases of whispering, mostly in the first act. A woman in Row 1 Seat 17 unwrapped a candy.

The Münchner have a peculiar habit of trying to find the best possible place in spite of whatever ticket they may hold. The person next to me in Place 15 found a seat in Row 3, and no one was on either side of me for the first act. In Act II, the woman who had Place 17 on the other side of the aisle decided that 15 was better, and stood next to me. She took off her shoes and kept ducking so that she could see the supertitles, then she finally sat in the aisle. During Act III two other women surrounded me, for I moved to Place 11 to get away from the aisle woman. I noticed that the latter fell asleep at one point, as she rested her head on the railing.

Orest

Yesterday I attended a performance of Richard Strauss's Elektra at the Bavarian State Opera. Peter Schneider conducted well, as usual, and the orchestra seemed very much together. Herbert Wernicke's production was uninspired. It involved a huge black square door that would open to various degrees, but on a diagonal. They also utilized one of the boxes on the left, which must have been dreadfully obscured if one was on the left as well. The costumes were silly, the women wore shifts and the men modern suits. The lead, Gabriele Schnaut, perspired through her costume throughout. Very charming.

The choreography seemed non-existent. Schnaut looked uncomfortable even when she was not moving at all, and when they had her dance around with an axe, it was not pleasing to the eye. Jane Henschel, as Clytamnestra, was given a huge velvet curtain to use as a mantel. Her movements down the staircase revealed when the giant door swung its widest, were awkward. Her subsequent displays of the mantel were also absurd.

The singing wasn't too bad, Schnaut was much better in this than as Brünnhilde last season, as the part is much less demanding. Inga Nielsen had the perfect voice for Chrysothemis: sweet, thin, and bird-like. Her final "Orest, Orest" was haunting. Alan Held (Orestes) had a noble, strong voice, his duet with Schnaut was one of the best parts of the evening. Henschel's voice seemed dark and rich, I would like to hear her in a bigger part.

The music was not to my taste. At times, R. Strauss seems to make everything very loud in order to disguise how bad his music is. Though the opera is not even two hours long, it melodramatically clunks along. To his credit, there were moments that were quite beautiful as well. That Strauss! A first-rate second-rate composer, indeed. Toscanini said of him, "To Strauss the musician I take off my hat; to Strauss the man I put it on again." I just giggle.

Die heil'ge deutsche Kunst!

The Münchner Festspiele and the 2002-2003 opera season at the Bayerische Staatsoper ended with a performance of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. August Everding's production from 1979 was undoubtedly the best I have seen with this opera company, and naturally, they are getting a new one for next time.

Peter Schneider conducted impeccably. The music was very beautiful, less monumental than Der Ring, much more filled with joy. Jürgen Rose's sets and costumes were lovely, the sets were not ornate, of light wood, but filled the space nicely. The costumes were fitting for the middle of the 16th century from what I could tell, and there were no strange choices of color.

The singing and acting all came off well. Jan-Hendrik Rootering as Hans Sachs and Eike Wilm Schulte as Sixtus Beckmesser were especially good in Act II, as the latter is trying to serenade Eva, and the former is cheerfully foiling his efforts by cobbling while singing.

Robert Dean Smith as Walther von Stolzing, our headstrong Frankish knight, was charming, a very pleasing voice, but his accent in German is not perfect.

René Pape has the perfect voice for Veit Pogner, but he seems to young to be the father of Eva, just as far as his carriage.

At any rate, it was a thrilling performance. To think that the opera itself premiered in that very space!