Wagner EC 27/05/2003 10:16 Am Page 32
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555788 bk Wagner EC 27/05/2003 10:16 am Page 32 DDD WAGNER 8.555788 Also available on Naxos: Scenes from Lohengrin and Siegfried John Horton Murray • Margaret Jane Wray • Adam Klein Russian State Symphony Orchestra • Bolshoi Opera Chorus • John McGlinn 8.660025-6 8.555788 32 555788 bk Wagner EC 27/05/2003 10:16 am Page 2 Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Hei, Mime! Wie glückte dir das! Hi, Mime! How lucky you are! Scenes from Lohengrin and Siegfried Wer hätte wohl das gedacht? Who would ever have thought it? Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig in 1813, the unscrupulousness in his relations with women. The Siegfried Siegfried acknowledged son of a Government official Carl protection later afforded by King Ludwig II of Bavaria (hat während der letzten Absätze von Mimes Lied (During the last part of Mime’s song he has, with Friedrich Wagner and his wife Johanna, but apparently allowed some respite from difficulties, but his liaison mit den letzten Schlägen die Nieten des Griffheftes final blows, smoothed the rivets of the haft and fathered in fact by the actor Ludwig Geyer, who was to with Liszt’s daughter Cosima, wife of the Bavarian geglättet und faßt nun das Schwert.) now takes hold of the sword.) marry Johanna after Carl Friedrich’s death. Wagner’s court conductor Hans von Bülow, and his unpopularity Nothung! Nothung! Neidliches Schwert! Nothung! Nothung! Trusty sword! education was an intermittent one, much of it in in Munich, led to a further period of exile in Jetzt haftest du wieder im Heft. Now you are firmly again joined to the hilt. Dresden, where he fell under the spell of Weber and Switzerland. His final relative triumph in the Warst du entzwei, ich zwang dich zu ganz; You were broken, I made you whole again; Der Freischütz, the first great German romantic opera. establishment of a Festival devoted to his work in kein Schlag soll nun dich mehr zerschlagen. no blow shall break you again. Returning to Leipzig he was to profit more from contact Bayreuth was accomplished again with the Dem sterbenden Vater zersprang der Stahl, For my dying father the steel shattered, with his uncle Adolf, a widely read scholar with a encouragement of King Ludwig. The first festival took der lebende Sohn schuf ihn neu: his living son made it anew: knowledge of Greek tragedy, as well as of the classics place in 1876, but did nothing to reduce his increasing nun lacht ihm sein heller Schein, now its bright sheen smiles at him, of Italy, the works of Shakespeare, and of course, of the personal debts. seine Schärfe schneidet ihm hart. its sharp blade cuts strong. literature of his own country. In Leipzig Wagner took Wagner died during the course of a visit to Venice (das Schwert vor sich schwingend) (brandishing the sword) the opportunity of furthering his own interests in music, in 1883. In his lifetime he had inspired equally fanatical Nothung! Nothung! Neidliches Schwert! Nothung! Nothung! Trusty sword! stimulated by the performances of the famous devotion and hatred, both of which continued after his Zum Leben weckt’ ich dich wieder, To life have I wakened you again, Gewandhaus Orchestra and Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, death. His principal achievement must be seen in the tot lagst du in Trümmern dort, you lay there dead in ruins, which he heard in 1829. He borrowed books from the creation of massive and stupendous masterpieces for the jetzt leuchtest du trotzig und hehr! now you shine defiant and glorious! music lending library of Robert Schumann’s future theatre, such as his German epic cycle The Ring of the Zeige den Schächern nun deinen Schein! Show thieves now your brightness! teacher and father-in-law, Friedrich Wieck, and took Nibelung, and his expansion of traditional harmonic and Schlage den Falschen, fälle den Schelm! Strike the false, fell the rascally! private music lessons at the Thomasschule, where J.S. constructional devices in music. Schau, Mime, du Schmied: See, Mime, you smith: Bach had been employed a century earlier. The opera Lohengrin was first performed in (Er holt mit dem Schwert aus.) (He holds the sword up.) The later career of Wagner was a turbulent one. His Weimar in 1850 under the direction of Liszt, who had so schneidet Siegfrieds Schwert! so does Siegfried’s sword cut! income never matched his ambitions, and he was driven helped Wagner in his flight from Dresden. The work (Er schlägt auf den Amboß, welcher von oben (He strikes on the anvil, which breaks in two from on by an aggressive and ruthless urge to create a new opens with King Henry the Fowler hearing the bis unten in zwei Stücke zerspaltet, so daß top to bottom, with a great clatter. Mime, who, in form of music, the music of the future, particularly in accusation of fratricide brought by Telramund against er unter großem Gepolter auseinander fällt. Mime, the greatest rapture had swung himself onto a the conjunction of all arts in a series of great music Elsa of Brabant, to whom he had served as guardian welcher in höchster Verzückung sich auf einen stool, falls to the ground in fear. Siegfried dramas. He worked first as conductor at the after the death of her father, suggesting that she had Schemel geschwungen hatte, fällt vor Schreck jubilantly raises the sword high. The curtain falls.) undistinguished opera-house in Magdeburg, married a killed her brother Gottfried in order to assume control sitzlings zu Boden. Siegfried hält jauchzend singer, Minna Planer, moved to Königsberg and later to over the land with a secret lover. The King decrees das Schwert in die Höhe. Der Vorhang fällt.) English version by Keith Anderson Riga. From there, pursued by creditors, he sailed for mortal combat to discover her guilt or innocence, and England, and thence a week later to Paris, where she declares that her champion will be a knight that she success continued to elude him. Recognition was finally has seen in a dream. As the herald summons the to come from his native Saxony, with a production for combatants and Elsa prays for help, a swan is seen the opera Rienzi in Dresden and an official appointment drawing a boat, from which steps an unknown knight. to the royal court. His own tactless espousal of Telramund is defeated but the knight spares his victim, revolutionary notions led to his flight from Saxony in while the heathen Ortrud, Telramund’s wife and fellow 1849, at first to Liszt in Weimar, and then to conspirator, wonders if her powers are waning. Switzerland. Further troubles were to follow as the Reproached by Telramund, now condemned to result of the political suspicions he had aroused, the banishment, she tells him that the knight’s power can constant attention of creditors and his selfish only be broken if he is made to reveal his name. She 8.555788 2 31 8.555788 555788 bk Wagner EC 27/05/2003 10:16 am Page 30 Siegfried Siegfried arouses the pity of Elsa and at the same time casts doubt dove, and Elsa sinks lifeless into her brother’s arms. Hoho! Hoho! Hahei! Hoho! Hoho! Hahi! on the origin of the mysterious knight. A herald Siegfried is the third part of the great Wagnerian Schmiede, mein Hammer, ein hartes Schwert! Forge, my hammer, a hardy sword! announces Telramund’s banishment and the tetralogy, The Ring, and was first staged at Bayreuth in Hoho! Hahei! Hahei! Hoho! Hoho! Hahi! Hahi! Hoho! appointment of the knight to rule Brabant, as husband to 1876. As the work opens, Mime sits by the forge in his Der frohen Funken wie freu’ ich mich; How I rejoice at the joyful sparks; Elsa. Telramund seeks to learn the knight’s name and cave in the forest, hammering out a sword and es ziert den Kühnen des Zornes Kraft: the strength of anger decks out the brave: rank but is denied an answer by the knight, who seeks complaining about his endless labour. He can make lustig lachst du mich an, happily you laugh to me, Elsa’s assurance of trust in him as they proceed to their swords strong enough for giants yet Siegfried breaks stellst du auch grimm dich und gram! though you stand grim and aggrieved! wedding. them in two like children’s toys, but if he could join Heiaho, haha, haheiaha! Hiaho, haha, hahiaha! 1 The Prelude to the third act depicts the wedding together the blade of the great sword Nothung, Siegfried Durch Glut und Hammer glückt’ es mir; Through fire and hammer I have succeeded; celebration. 2 The King and his men escort Lohengrin, would be able to kill the dragon giant Fafner, and then mit starken Schlägen streckt’ ich dich: with strong blows I have straightened you: and the ladies of the court Elsa to the bridal chamber, Mime could gain possession of the ring. He continues nun schwinde die rote Scham; now let red-faced shame depart; before leaving them alone together. 3 They exchange his work and his complaint. Siegfried comes cheerfully werde kalt und hart, wie du kannst. become as cold and hard as you can. avowals of love. 4 Lohengrin explains the feelings that in from the forest. He is leading a bear, jokingly Heiaho! Heiaho! Heiahohoho! Heiah! Hiaho! Hiaho! Hiahohoho! Hiah! had brought him to become her champion, but she provoking it to attack Mime, who cowers in fear. (Er schwingt den Stahl und stößt ihn in den (He brandishes the sword and thrusts it into the returns to the mystery of her husband’s name.