Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

photo by Dan Rest
by Richard Wagner
Lyric Opera of Chicago

Imagine Steven Spielberg decides to tackle a comedy and then imagine that it is 5 1/2 hours long and then imagine that the storyline is basically American Idol meets the Bachelorette and then imagine its opera equivalent in German - and you've basically got Die Meistersinger.

I actually did not want to go to this. Because I already saw James Morris do this less than six years ago (probably) at the Met and I really don't like to do things twice. But, through a quirk in our personal calendar and a sold out run of Streetcar, we were left with the option of donating tickets, Craigslist or just setting aside an afternoon, no - pretty much an entire Sunday, and showing up at Lyric for this.

And, I had forgotten. I really had forgotten why this had so much buzz when it was at the Met several years ago. The buzz was all around James Morris, which Chicago press did not really pick up on. And, I forgot that he did not just make a very good Hans Sachs, he makes an extraordinary Hans Sachs. He has this exceptional, beautiful voice that can make music out of a single note and he fully, utterly inhabits the role, relaxes into it, becomes this character in such a way - the likes of which you would be lucky to capture twice in a lifetime (which, wow!, I did) and I find unlikely I will ever see once James Morris moves on and stops doing the international tour of this opera.

I also forgot Johan Botha was in this production, a tenor I really enjoy listening to - and when he came on stage in the first act, I thought, "Okay, I can do this. I can sit here through this entire opera. This will be fine." I may have even seen it a few years ago with Botha. It's possible. I can't remember.

I personally love Wagner, but this is one of my less favorite operas of his. I do and I don't like magical creatures that appear in the other mature operas, but something about his music necessitates them. Their absence is noticeable in this opera. The story line reads, in terms of the libretto, more like a quirky term paper than an actual story - of how to write a song, the state of modern music and consistency and change in the world of music with a dose of German nationalism for good measure. Without the oodles of talent Wagner had, this opera would have been set aside years ago. However, the melodies are good, the roles are juicy for singers and they do manage to show someone like James Morris incredibly well.

I think at the end of the day, I'm glad Lyric brought this production to Chicago. I'm glad my partner got to see it. Surprisingly, he enjoyed it. Does this mean he is ready for his first Ring Cycle? Maybe, just maybe...at least those nights individually are shorter than this afternoon, so maybe...
I would be lucky to see another one soon.

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