New Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Otto Klemperer- The Flying Dutchman

Here is something I got this Memorial Day on discount at $4.80. I bought it to celebrate this years new season at the Houston Grand Opera and its return to the Wortham Center after last year’s Harvey damage. The first opera of the season is this one. Normally, I don’t like to know much about the music or story before I see a work. However, I decided to go against my norm and listen to this album before seeing the show.  Pretty much sped thru writing this post so if I missed a fact, let me know.  Spelling on the other hand is what it is. NOTE***I did not realize this until after I wrote this post and read an article in Houstonia magazine that pointed this out, but it is quite ironic and also accidental that the first opera at the Wortham after coming back from major storm damage would be about a giant storm at sea.

The Flying Dutchman is the first opera from the middle or romantic period from Richard Wagner. Performed in 1843, it came fresh off the heels of Renzi, Wagner’s first operatic success. It was a huge departure from its predecessor, however. Wagner, himself, commented that no other composer he knew of made such a dramatic shift between works. It contains his early use of leitmotifs as well as other poetic conventions that would become staple of his later/ mature period.

From what I read and can comprehend, it was not an immediate success. However, it was the start of a bold new wave of opera. It is also the earliest work included in the Bayreuth Cannon, which are works performed at the annual Wagner festival in the German town of the same name.

To put some back story to this, Wagner, who became the music director at the opera house in Riga in 1837, amassed large debts and was forced to flee with his tempestuous wife two years later. With his passport seized , Wagner found a ship that would take him to London. However, stormy weather turned the eight day trip into three weeks. The experience , which included hunkering down in Norway for a spell, influenced Wagner. He was also influenced by the writings of Henirich Heine as well as folk lore. It was during the writing of this, that Wagner found himself extremely poor and living on handouts.

It was already pretty well a departure from both Wagner’s earlier works as well as operatic convention, but , originally Wagner envisioned this work to be performed in one act. Bowing to popular convention, he split it into three. The story revolves around a cursed Dutch captain who is forced to sail the seas, appearing on land every seven years to search for the true love which can break the spell, Senta, a woman who is in love with a cursed, stranger she has never met, and her Norwegian father, Daland, who quickly pimps out his daughter when he sees the Dutchman’s gold (just a side note, between the Dutchman and the Steerman, I could not stop thinking about Always Sunny In Philadelphia). How does it end? Pretty quickly in my opinion, but I am not going to give it away. You can get a quick synopsis in the video below. Pretty good little synopsis.  Again, not spoil it but the narrator does point out that while it is an opera about sacrifice and redemption, it is the men who need all the redemption while the women who do all the sacrificing.

This performance, based on the original 1843 Dresden version features the New Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Otto Klemperer.  Klemperer (1885-1973) was a Jewish-German conductor who fled to the US in 1933 and returned to Europe after the war.  So kind of a counterweight to the antisemitic writings Wagner would later produce that leave me with a sense of guilt every time I post his work.

The role of the Dutchman was performed by still alive Theo Adam.  The great and also still alive, Anja Silja sung Senta and Martto Talvela handled the role of Daland.  Ernst Kozub, Annelies Burmeister and Gerhard Unger performed the roles of Erik, Mary, and the Steerman respectively.  The choral work was handled by the BBC Chorus under Peter Gelhorn.  For a sense of completion, the Orchestra was led by Desamond Bradley.  This was released in 1968 on Angel Records.

For samples, I went with the overture which presents the leitmotifs of the Dutchman, Senta, and the stormy ocean. I also decided to go with a musical number from each act as they seem to highlight different skills.  From Act I we have a piece between the Dutchman and Daland, whereas the cursed captain can not believe his luck at the chance of hooking up with Daland’s daughter to break his curses.  The two prepare to disembark to meet Senta while the crew prepares to sit out the storm.

The piece from the Act II is Senta’s Ballad where she sings about the cursed sailor she longs for not knowing that he is on his way to her house.  The final selection, from Act III  features the choruses, with the Norwegian Sailors, their cursed Dutch counterparts and the girls who brought them food and water. I thought this piece has really good choral parts , by the way.

Overall, I liked it. It was pretty short in terms of operas and moved along quite well. I could definitely see it in one act. I thought the music was great and kind of a precursor to Wagner’s later works. Kind of excited to see this now. Of course by the way I am banging out these posts. you probably will not hear about me seeing this until January. Satisfactory.

Fritz Reiner- Die Walkure Act II

This was $2.50. I meant to tie it to the Ring Cycle I saw at the Houston Grand Opera.  Over the last four years, the HGO has put all four operas the consist of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen.  I am not sure I totally picked up on the cycle aspect of this when I saw the first opera.  However, by the end, I was more clear to me.  It was a pretty big production for the HGO and my experiences at the operas  have been documented on this blog.

Well, despite the fourth, Gotterdammerung, being my favorite, the second, Die Valkure is perhaps the best known.  It tells the story of the twins Siegmund and Sieglinde who give birth to the hero of the cycle, Siegfried.  At the same time, it shows the exile of Brunnhilde, who is later rescued by Siegfried who also falls in love with her despite technically being his aunt.  This fact never seems to escape me.  Wagner wrote these operas in reverse order but so he would have written this third.

For not being an expert on Wagner or opera, where you might ask, is the basis for the claim that Die Walkure is the best known of the cycle?  I am basing this on the strength of “The Flight Of the Valkeries” perhaps the most famous piece not only of this cycle but in all of opera.  Most people either know this from Bugs Bunny or Apocayplse Now. I also did not put two and two together but it was also used quite cleverly in The Blues Brothers. Note both clips have profanity as well as a disregard for proper physics.

 

Well, here is this piece from 1936 and conducted by Fritz Reiner.  Reiner was a Hungarian Jew who moved to the US in 1922.  He would reach the height of his career as the conductor for the Chicago Symphony orchestra in the 1950’s/60’s. At the time of his death (1963 at age 74), he was preparing the Met’s version of Gotterdamerung.

Kirsten Flagstad (1895-1962), who plays Brunnhulde, was a Norwegian opera singer who ranks among the best voices in the 20th century.  Her performance as Isolde in Tristan und Isolde has become the stuff of legend.

Lotte Lehman (1888-1976) also appears on this record in the role of Sieglinde which is considered among her defining roles. She left her native Germany in the 30’s to emigrate to the US due to the fact that her step-children were Jewish.

 

The role of Wotan was handled by Friderich Schorr, an Austrian-Hungarian bass-baritone of Jewish decent, who became the Wagnerian bass-baritone of his generation. I point out the Jewish back grounds of these performers as a testament to the human spirit as at the same time of this recording while the Nazis were on the rise and Hitler was pushing the works and ideals of Wagner, the three of  best Wagnerian performers at the time (and of the century for that matter) were of had Jewish ties. Flagstad, on the other hand was widely criticized for returning to occupied Norway during the war years.

This album is the second Act which is noted for its prelude, a monolgue by Wotan, and Brunnhilde’s announcement of Siegmund’s death.  For sample, I went with that prologue followed by Wotan speaking with Brunnhilde and instructing her to protect Siegmund.  This piece does reference “Ride” pretty heavily.

Pretty good album.  Since it was three years since I seen this, I forgot a lot of the aspects about this work.  Overall, satisfactory.