Starless and bible black
Johannes Erath directs Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Frankfurt (****)
Author : Jos Hermans
Black is the main aspect of Kaspar Glarner's scenographic solution for Frankfurt's new "Meistersinger von Nürnberg." Black is the absence of light. Black acts as a passe-partout : it reveals visible colors and hides the unwanted. Black is also the color of the black hole into which director Johannes Erath makes Richard Wagner's Nürnberg disappear. Erath will make even more disappear over the course of the evening and, on the other hand, try to reassess themes unintended by Wagner.
Black is also the central, transparent projection surface, which will often be crammed with cryptic numbers and symbols. Bordered by white neons, it is like Beckmesser's slate. The very brief connection to Nuremberg runs across Dürer: throughout the evening, a replica of Dürer's "Hare" will stand at the edge of the stage with a noose around its neck whose rope reaches into the stage tower. Is it a metaphor for the "abuse" of the Nuremberg master by the Third Reich? Later, Dürer's "praying hands" will be seen above the Katharinenkirche. Two silver stilettos stand demonstratively on a winner's podium. The entire piece seems to be summarized in this concentrated image even before Sebastian Weigle has given the upbeat to Erath's "Meistersinger ohne Nürnberg."
Already during the overture, Erath plays out the rivalry between Sachs and Beckmesser. They belong together like Vladimir and Estragon in "Waiting for Godot," he believes. Toward the end of the overture, we see how both are getting ready as if they are going to participate in a singing competition. Do the master singers embody diversity in their colorful plaid suits? Walther stands out with his white summer suit. David enlivens his enumeration of tunes with gags like lifting a stack of books (or are they shoe boxes?) that reaches into the stage tower.
The backdrop for the scene with the master singers is like a classroom. The master singers sit on high chairs like referees at tennis. Apprentices with student caps keep moving them around. This works nicely and Andreas Bauer Kaneba can immediately show how perfectly he has been cast as Veit Pogner: he has the voice and the natural authority for it. Where is his Gurnemanz, by the way? In the finale of the first act, the master singers, lurking on cigarettes, have descended back to the stage floor. It is Walther who now ventures onto one of the high chairs.
Having arrived in the second act, the houses of Sachs and Beckmesser are in constant motion, and so we see Sachs singing "Wie duftet doch der Flieder," suspended through the window of his mobile home. Beautifully done is the tempestuous duet between Walther and Eva, partly staged as a choreography and partly by the projection of abstract patterns. AJ Glueckert delivers one of his most powerful statements here. The crucial duet between Sachs and Eva comes out strong. Magdalena Hinterdobler now shows what she has to offer, which is quite a lot: a beautiful timbre and an open blossoming soprano without unpleasant undertones.
Funny is the scene where Sachs and Beckmesser throw shoes at each other through the window while their homes are turned 180 degrees. A pair of women's legs with stiletto heels, reminiscent of "Der Blaue Engel," descend from the stage sky during Beckmesser's serenade. He plays an ukulele but the sound rising from the orchestra pit is from an authentic 20-string Beckmesser harp.
Veteran Franz Mayer sings an excellent night watch. The nocturnal riot ends with a young girl as its victim, the younger version of Eva. It is the first chance for the chorus to really show off, the gentlemen in tuxedos holding a lady's shoe. Did Marlène Dietrich's legs trigger a hormone surge? This second act is the strongest and worth the journey by itself. The pain points of the performance are all concentrated in the third act which will fall prey to moral revisionism and lack of courage.
Sachs sings the Wahn monologue in the midst of exhausted master singers in wheelchairs. The scenic inventiveness now falls silent for a while. Unfortunately, the director tries to reinterpret some so-called "tricky" passages. After all, "Beckmesser is almost publicly executed and in a devious way," the director believes. We can't have that in the woke age and so Beckmesser is no longer a thief and an art reactionary. He does not have to steal the sheet with Sachs' alleged composition. It is handed to him by the mob that still agresses him and takes the pantomime from him. Die Meistersinger is, among other things, about authenticity, about how looted art can never be authentic. That's what Wagner teaches us through the figure of Beckmesser. Not so in this reading.
The bond between Sachs and Eva has fairly erotic overtones, and yet Walther can bear to watch how she throws herself into Sachs' arms. The procession of the guilds we get to hear but not to see. We have to make do with some uninspired images and wedding photos of Sachs on the video wall. The fact that Sachs falls asleep on a mattress on the front stage feels forced after having shouted "Auf nach der Wies, schnell auf die Füß." Consequently, the "Wach auf" chorus is meant for Sachs! And yet there are so many reasons to wake up from the nightmare of our world coming apart. German identity is far lost in this Nuremberg. On the festival meadow we see a colorful parade of the pop greats of the last century: Beatles, Presley, Kiss, Heino ... The people seem to have made their choice, the master singers are relegated to the margins, as it were.
Equally problematic is that Sachs reads his closing speech, "Ehrt eure deutschen Meister," with visible discomfort from a piece of paper the master singers provide him. He even delivers the second part of his speech in front of the closed curtain, caught in a tracking spotlight and flanked by Beckmesser, who seems to end up as a moral authority! If the director dislikes Wagner's nationalistic statements that much why does he have " Germania" descend from the stage tower in large neon letters during the finale? Only to extinguish the first three letters during the final bars so that only "mania" remains? How lame and childish. It is incongruities and contradictions like these that greatly dilute the power of the final apotheosis.
To me, Nicholas Brownlee does not sound like a bass baritone, rather like a heroic baritone. The voice is clear, it projects well, the timbre is beautiful but without the depth one might expect from a bass baritone. Brownlee's command of German, moreover, is superb, consonants included. His delivery is nuanced and intelligent. He articulates the Flieder monologue beautifully with a great emphasis on "Lenzes Gebot," all the way as it should be. His "Jerum! Hallahallohe!" was fantastic. The Wahn monologue was a bit rougher. He sustained the killer part to the bitter end without signs of fatigue, judging by the way he projected the coda of his closing speech into the hall. What a great debut !
For Annika Schlicht, the part of Magdalene is a little too low which causes her problems quite often. Michael Porter sings David with a moderately projecting voice. AJ Glueckert's performance as Walther is uneven like his Lohengrin in June. He lacks some vocal power, warmth and brilliance. Michael Nagy sings an excellent Beckmesser with a nice baritone timbre and with all the attention to his choppy singing style. Thomas Faulkner was fine as Kothner.
Sebastian Weigle practiced transparency with the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester which was almost always guaranteed, especially in the Prügelfuge and the music on the festive meadow. But there was also immense poetry to be heard as during the Flieder monologue and the unearthly beautiful prelude to the third act. This was a very balanced reading offering exquisite soloistic moments and a good balance between soloists and orchestra.
For many, nationalism is the cause of two world wars. Utter nonsense, of course. Nationalism does not lead to war. Imperialism leads to war. Wagner's nationalism has nothing to do with imperialism. And yet directors continue to project this misunderstanding onto Die Meistersinger. Sachs' closing monologue is always to be criticized in this regard when it is not even a political-nationalist statement but one in which Wagner prioritizes art over politics. The advancing left-liberal globalist construct, on the other hand, is a form of imperialism. In his book "The virtue of Nationalism," Yoram Hazony writes : “ Liberals too have their grand theory about how they are going to bring peace and economic prosperity to the world by pulling down all the borders and uniting mankind under their own unversal rule. Infatuated with the clarity and intellectual rigor if this vision, they disdain the laborious process of consulting with the multitude of nations they believe should embrace their view of what is right.”
As a vassal state of Washington and its imperialist Pax Americana, Germany today finds itself embroiled in an economic suicide scenario with a population barely able to pay the gas bill. This is where lack of national consciousness leads. Only a world of sovereign nation-states has a future.