Spring 2011 Halten Meinen Sinn Umfangen, Volume 8, Number 2 —“Träume” from the Editor

Wagneriana Sag’, welch’ wunderbare Träume Spring 2011 Halten meinen Sinn umfangen, Volume 8, Number 2 —“Träume” From the Editor espite an unusually cold and snowy winter, the Boston Wagner Society presented four events in close succession, bringing much-needed diversion to Boston audiences. On February 12 Maestro Rainer D Armbrust, taking a few days off from his hectic schedule at the Hanover Opera House, honored us with a lecture on and concert of Parsifal. He was joined by the wonderful soprano Joanna Porackova as Kundry and the delectable heldentenor Alan Schneider as Parsifal. For a review of this special event, see page 2. On February 27 Vice President Erika Reitshamer regaled us with rare videos of Hildegard Behrens. In her retro- spective of the German soprano, Ms. Reitshamer went over Behrens’s operatic life with a fine-toothed comb, reveal- ing many interesting tales and anecdotes. This was a most enjoyable presentation. March 27 brought us Maestro Jeffrey Brody’s wide-ranging lecture on Wagner, Mahler, and other post-Wagner composers. Soprano Andrea Matthews’s sweet voice and intonation were a perfect vehicle for her Wesendonck Lieder and three of Mahler’s Rückert Lieder, followed by an encore of the delightful “Liebst du um Schönheit,” also one of the Rückert Lieder. And on May 1 the award-winning Wagnerian scholar Professor Hans Rudolf Vaget gave an informative lecture on the influence of the Italian Renaissance on Wagner, with wonderful visual illustrations. For photos of some of these events, see page 6. We are pleased to announce two new board members and one new volunteer. Brian Reasoner, whose entertain- ing reviews you may have read in these pages, has graciously agreed to join the Board of Directors. We are very fortunate to avail ourselves of his musical expertise and in-depth knowledge of Wagner. Brian teaches chamber music and orchestra at Buckingham, Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We are also fortunate to have Fred Meyer, a devoted long-time member, join the Board and volunteer as our new Events Coordina- tor. And Fernando Gargano, a relatively new member, is now Membership Coordinator. For information about Fernando, see page 6. We are most grateful for their help and involvement. In September Sirius XM’s Met Opera host Margaret Juntwait will honor us with a talk on life at the Met. On Oc- tober 30 the filmmaker and writer Hilan Warshaw will return to give a talk and presentation titled “From Bayreuth to Hollywood: Richard Wagner and the Art of Cinema,” with rare video clips. Many members were unable to attend this event last fall due to a Metropolitan Opera presentation of Don Pasquale. Those who did attend thought it was one of our best events. We Now Have PayPal Members now have the opportunity to renew their memberships with a credit card by going to our Web site (www.bostonwagnersociety.org). To renew, please click on “Join Us.” 1 Maestro Armbrust’s Parsifal Lecture and Concert Parsifal: Boston Wagner Society lecture and concert. February 12, 2011, College Club. Maestro Rainer Armbrust, lecturer and pianist; Joanna Porackova, soprano; Alan Schneider, heldentenor ou may know that Wagner was influenced by Christian ideas in writing Parsifal (1882). But did you know that he may have been influenced by Buddhist ones as well? And did you also know that Wagner had much Y trouble finding the right instrument for the ostinato theme on bells (Acts 1 and 3)? These and other pieces of Wagnerian arcana were thoroughly discussed by Maestro Rainer Armbrust, lecturer and pianist, on February 12 at Boston’s College Club. He began the lecture with lovely slides of Ravello, Italy. Why? Because Richard Wagner, who often surrounded himself in legendary grandeur, claimed to have been inspired to write the second act of his final opera, Parsifal, at Villa Rufolo in Ravello. Ravello is the highest (and most picturesque) town on Italy’s fabled Amalfi Coast. Armbrust’s pictures made me want to go there. Too bad there weren’t more, as he showed only about five slides. After a helpful reading of Parsifal’s plot, Armbrust spoke of the opening notes of its famous and fabulous prelude. He deftly underscored the unsurety of the theme, the floating sense its figures imparted. He then reinforced the view of several musicologists that Parsifal is perhaps “the sum of Wagner’s works.” He mentioned Parsifal’s similarity to Siegfried (1871) in the mysterious origins of their respective heroes, yet added that Parsifal was supe- rior to Siegfried in that he gains clarity in his quest, whereas Siegfried doesn’t (he falls victim to intrigue). The temptress Kundry has similarities to Venus in Tannhäuser (1845), and she may even have roots in the earlier Der fliegende Holländer (1843). (Now that could make an intriguing lecture.) Wagner a Buddhist? Perhaps. Although Wagner never spoke of the influence of this religion on Parsifal, Arm- brust maintains that the development of the character of Parsifal and the “many reincarnations of Kundry are more Buddhist than Christian.” Indeed, other scholars have also claimed to have found Buddhist traits in the opera, spe- cifically in the doctrine of the transfer of merits. As a Christian saint, Parsifal absolves Kundry of her sins; however, as a Buddhist saint, he transfers some of the merit that he has gained through good works in many earlier lives. Finally, the anecdote of the bells. In Acts 1 and 3, the transformations are accompanied by bells, sometimes alone, sometimes in unison with brass. Armbrust related the story about Wagner never quite getting the tone right. To actually reproduce the right intonation, the bells would have had a diameter of “seven meters and have weighed seventy tons.” The Asian tamtams he initially tried fell short, so Wagner had metal drums constructed to produce a better sound. Again, a failure. So he had an upright piano frame with 24 strings built, but with only four keys, each causing a hammer to strike six strings tuned to the same pitch. Even that wasn’t up to snuff. Only long after Wagner’s death was the right sound eventually produced for these bells (according to scholars). His dauntingly detailed lecture over, Armbrust then performed Franz Liszt’s piano transcription of the prelude. The clarity of his playing made it easy to hear the contrast between the diatonic and chromatic sections of this music that he had been discussing. “The demonized music of sexual desire,” he tagged the chromatic figures. After that, he surprised all by playing an unscheduled Wagner-inspired piece by Liszt, the poignant and intricate “March of the Holy Grail.” After intermission, the crowd was treated to two excerpts from Parsifal. The first was “Parsifal - Weile! ... zu Am- fortas mir den Weg” (Parsifal—stay! . the way to Amfortas). Both Soprano Joanna Porackova and Heldentenor Alan Schneider performed this difficult piece sensitively. Porackova demonstrated startling dynamic range in her interpretation of Kundry the temptress. In relating how she saw Parsifal at his mother’s breast, she sang in flowing compound-time narrative, with intensely contrasted tones. Most notable was her singing about “Herzeleids Ent- brennen / ihn sengend überfloss” (when Heart’s Sorrow’s passion / engulfed him in its fire). She sang with such voluminous intensity, the walls of the Percy-Dauber Drawing Room almost shook. (I for one felt as though I’d been hit by audio lightning.) Then she plunged to the depth of her mezzo-soprano range with “der Liebe - ersten Kuss!” (the first kiss of love). Throughout the extract, Schneider conveyed a convincing performance. As Parsifal, he first sang in tones that characterized the character’s perplexity at what was transpiring. Later he erupted into forceful passion as he realized the nature and scope of the seduction attempt and his duty to Amfortas. He sang “Elender! Jammervollster!” (Most wretched! Most pitiable!) with furious passion. The second excerpt, although not as musically dramatic as the first, is just as momentous in a narrative sense. It portrays a transformed Parsifal at the opera’s end. “Nur eine Waffe taugt” (Only one weapon serves) may be brief, but within its stolid tones Schneider revealed a determined, rock-steady hero, rapturous at times, and at the end ascendant and hopeful. In a triumphant D major, he sang of the hero touching Amfortas’s wound with the magic spear and healing him. Modulation abounded as D major quickly shifted to D minor, and then to the final tonality 2 of A-flat major, at the words “open the shrine!” Such a fitting way to end both the opera and the Boston Wagner Society’s evening of entertainment. –Peter Bates Peter Bates, the former Vice President of the Boston Wagner Society, is a music critic. To see his writings, go to www.stylus.batescommunications.net/recordedmusic.htm. The Metropolitan Opera’s Das Rheingold: Review and Comparison Das Rheingold, April 2, 2011: Metropolitan Opera, cond. Fabio Luisi; Woglinde: Lisette Oropesa; Wellgunde: Jennifer Johnson-Cano; Flosshilde: Tamara Mumford; Alberich: Eric Owens; Fricka: Stephanie Blythe; Wotan: Bryn Terfel; Freia: Wendy Bryn Harmer; Fasolt: Franz-Josef Selig; Fafner: Hans-Peter König; Froh: Adam Diegel; Donner: Dwayne Croft; Loge: Arnold Bezuyen; Mime: Gerhard Siegel; Erda: Patricia Bardon; director: Robert Lepage Review was somewhat anxious about this performance, as James Levine was unable to conduct it. However, Fabio Luisi stepped in and led the orchestra with a sure grip on the score. He balanced the orchestral sections well. I Inner voices—counterpoints and figurations, inner melodic voices—were easily heard; these were especially notable in the clarinets and oboes. Luisi also supported the singers without drowning them out.

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