(Scrambling to rescue favorite opera articles from Oberon’s Grove and post them here at The Glade before the Grove disappears.)
Sunday November 7th, 2021 matinee – Normally I would have wanted a seat with a view for the Met’s beloved production of DIE MEISTERSINGER, but between economizing a bit and wondering if I might need to leave early if my my lower back acted up during such a long sit, I took a score desk.
I felt a curious excitement whilst en route to the Met today; I love the Met’s production of this very long Wagner opera (made even longer nowadays by two extended intermissions) and I have especially fond memories of the performances of it I saw during the Levine years – it was one of the Maestro’s greatest successes.
Arriving early, I found the curtain was open and the set for Act I being prepared while I listened to the tuba player warming up with phrases from today’s opera. Soon after, he was making lovely contributions to the opera’s Vorspiel.
Antonio Pappano was on the podium this afternoon. This run of MEISTERSINGER marks the maestro’s first Met appearances since his debut performances of EUGEN ONEGIN in 1997. Pappano’s take on the overture was somewhat brass-heavy, but very well-paced. As the opera progressed, he sometimes allowed the orchestra to cover the singers. The many solo opportunities that Wagner’s score affords to the Met’s principals were gorgeously played, and overall the orchestra sounded terrific – and they were hugely applauded. For all that, there was a feeling of…magic…that was not quite attained today.
Above: Michael Volle as Hans Sachs and Johannes Martin Kränzle as Beckmesser; photo by Richard Terimine
Before the performance, Michael Volle passed by me en route to the stage door; I saluted him and brandished my score; he gave me a big smile and a hearty wave. That brief encounter seemed like a good luck charm to me. He gave a simply magnificent performance.
The Volle voice sounded on top form this afternoon; his two monologues (Flieder- and Wahn) were surely highlights of the performance. But Mr. Volle never throws a line away: everything counted in his singing of the beloved cobbler of Nuremberg. His defense of Walther’s trial song in Act I was especially moving, and in Act II, his thunderous cries of “Jerum! Jerum!” were a real jolt; at the opposite end of the singer’s expansive dynamic range was a heavenly piano at “Johannisnacht…” in Act III.
Mr. Volle had ample voice left at the end of this very long role for Sachs’ controversial passage in defense of ‘holy German art…”: savour it before cancel culture demands it be banished. A great roar went up when Mr. Volle stepped out for a solo bow in this: one of the very few productions still in the Met repertory where the time-honoured tradition of taking bows before the great gold curtain is still upheld.
Johannes Martin Kränzle seemed like a perfect Beckmesser to me when he sang the role here in 2014. And he seemed perfect again today. His singing was full of subtleties of tone and expression, and he deftly managed the ‘koloratur” of his Act II serenade. And when power was needed, it was easily summoned: he nailed his “Fanget an!” in Act I. The Kränzle Beckmesser is a masterpiece that I was glad to experience again. In the interim between these two MEISTERSINGERs, Mr. Kränzle showed us another aspect of his artistry with a powerful and thrilling performance as Bartók’s Bluebeard with the New York Philharmonic. Read about it here.
All afternoon, Mssrs. Volle and Kränzle kept us under a spell with their marvelous singing. In some productions, Sachs and Beckmesser are reconciled at the end of the opera. I wish that had happened today, it would have been the frosting on this delicious Wagnerian cake.
Klaus Florian Vogt’s Walther was not to all tastes, but I enjoyed his rather adolescent tone quality in this music. He sang tirelessly and with great commitment in this arduous music. In Act III, the tenor sings the themes of the Prize Song endlessly: first in the building of the song with Sachs, then as a treat for Eva, and finally to the assembled Nurembergers on St. John’s Day. Mr. Vogt was still sounding well at the end, when he rejects the masters’ invitation to join their guild. This was my third time hearing this tenor in a demanding Wagner role at the Met: his Lohengrin and Parsifal were both unique experiences.
To me, Lise Davidsen seemed miscast as Eva. In my view, this role is best served by a Pamina-type voice: Irmgard Seefried, Arlene Saunders, Pilar Lorengar, Karita Mattila (in her younger days), and Hei-Kyung Hong all spring immediately to mind. Ms. Davidsen’s voice is larger that the music requires, and though she scaled it down successfully, much of the role of Eva is conversational and lies low. Finally, in Act III, the soprano gets to soar. With “O Sachs! Mein Freund! Du teurer Mann!” and in the ensuing quintet, Eva gets her chance to shine vocally. Ms. Davidsen’s powerful top-B seemed a bit harsh (a later high-A as far more lovely) and her ending phrases of the quintet had the kind of glow we want to hear in this music. I’m not sure why she wanted to take on Eva anyway, but I think her upcoming Met Ariadne and Chrysothemis will show her to far greater advantage. At any rate, today’s audience gave her Eva a vociferous ovation.
Some of the afternoon’s finest singing came from basso Georg Zeppenfeld (above) as Pogner. His is a proudly beautiful voice, of effortless power and very expressive. Would that he would come to the Met more often (his only previous Met appearances had been as Sarastro in 2009). He was so impressive today, his singing warm and affecting. Mr. Zeppenfeld studied with Hans Sotin, which says a lot.
The roles of Madgdalene and David were in the very capable hands (and voices) of Claudia Mahnke and Paul Appleby. Ms. Mahnke, physically dwarfed by Ms. Davidsen’s Eva, made a very fine ‘Lene, whilst Mr. Appleby not only handled David’s long discourse on the art of singing most attractively, but really made something of David’s scene at the start of Act III.
Martin Gantner was sang well as Kothner (his second Met engagement in this role), and Alexander Tsymbalyuk was magnificent in the brief role of the Night Watchman. Miles Mykkanen as Vogelgesang made his every line count vividly, and the company of of meisters further included such favorites of mine as Scott Scully and Richard Bernstein. Mark Delavan, who sang pretty regularly at The Met between 2001 an 2016, was back as Nachtigall.
A long and deeply pleasing afternoon at the Met, marred only by the absurdly long intermissions. How I missed my score desk haven during the long months of the pandemic; it felt so good to be there again, and to escape, at least for a time, the woes and worries of daily life.
~ Oberon
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