WAGNER SEASON

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 124, 29 May 1933, Page 2

WAGNER SEASON

IN GERMAN OPERA

EARLY WORKS PRODUCED

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY

Wagner has relieved German operatic managers of all anxieties for the season of 1933.- At the moment they; need not worry over the state of German and foreign opera, or whether there are any new composers of importance. They give us nothing but Wagner, and make a merit of doing honour to a great genius. No opera houso in Germany could fail to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary. of tho passing of the master. ■ During tho weeks round about February IS there were therefore not only Wagner j performances, Wagner cycles, Wagner revivals, but also lectures and articles 011 Wagner, Wagner festivals, and Wagner exhibitions. The niost important celebrations were held in Leipzig, Wagner's birth place. There were photographs which showed how utterly bored somo of tho official guests of the festival-' raiist have been (writes Alfred Einstein, from Germany to tho "Christian Scienco ■ Monitor").- • ■ .•.'■■■.■' Berlin was equally thorough. Tha Stadtischo Oper gave a revival of "Tho Flying Dutchman." The coil-, ductor (Herr Fritz Stiedry) the artists with Herr Wilhelm Rode at their head, Heir Carl Ebert the producer, and Herr Caspar Ncher the scenic artists were all responsible for the astonishing cohesion which characterised the whole performance. It was a celebration ia the genuine. sense. "TANNHAUSER." The Staatswiper. unter den Linden .. gavo the so-called German version— tho only right one—-of "Tannhauser,' 1 without the Paris trimmings of 1861! The performance, under the management of Herr Jurgen Fehling, appeared unhampered by the scenic directions laid down by Wagner. The "Sangcrkrieg," the festive procession of tha - guests, and the last act before the gates of Wartburg acquired an almost solemn, medieval aspect, ■without any loss of their effectiveness, strength, and beauty. Herr Otto Klemperer, as conductor,' gave full power to the or- . chestral parts. It was a pity that only tlio minor roles were allotted to firstrate singers, and that th© chief rol« in particular should have been so in* adequately filled. "Tannhauser" without a Tannhauser! In Germany good: heroic tenors are as rare as dratnatio sopranos. Is it necessary to mention, that, owing to the political tension in Berlin, this performance gave rise to the most violent "Kulturpolitischen'' explosions? And that there were many; critical Salomes who immediately demanded the head of the director? To satisfy the Teutonic love of thoroughness the Staatsoper gave a. performance of Wagner's second opera, "Liebesverbot." We shall probably be spared his. first opera, tho <(Feen," though "Rienzi" is to follow. It is knpwri that Wagner . himself dubbed this\ "Liebesverbot" a youthful folly, that it survived one badly prepared and precipitate performance in 1836 in. Magdeburg, and that though efforts were* made to insure a performance in Paris, Wagner finally withdrew it. It waa resuscitate! in Munich in 1923. Though. tho work does not enrich ; a repertory, it is. a valuable contribution to a full knowledge of Wagner. ANTI-NATIONAL OPERA. • For what did^Wagner make, of hi* text, taken from Shakespeare's •sure, for Measure"? He'seems ; tohav#, followed, the main points'^and- yet ig^ - nored the , Duke who, in. Shakespeare, . controls and readjusts the action of tha play under the disguise: of.' an. incognito. Wagner unravels the. situation . with a revolution. The action of the play serves him as a glorification of frank materiality and as a mockery of Puritanism. The work is also coni seious>ly international, or rather antinational. Of the.music, which is in sharp contrast to that of the "Feen,^ he writes: "I made no effort what-: soever to avoid echoes from French,' . or Italian music."..'. ". Only he can, become master who composes neither in French, Italian, or even in German." Alas, it is not a question of. simple echoes! All the Worst French: and Italian mannerisms of 1830 find a common meeting ground in this music. How unoriginal was Wagner the musician in those days! Yet the genuine Wagner existed even then. The pendulum may swing wildly, but the pendulum, is, there. £ am not speaking of the melodic presentments, possibly of "Tannhauger,^ nor the surprising over-virtuosity of the -technique of the "Bemembrancemotif." The poet and the musician in Wagner were, in spite of all routine, still wholly immature. The. theatrical side of him stood revealed in all its vigour. '.. 'He was quite right' when he , spoke later of "the vivid and in many , ways daring conception of ,scenia effects." ■' ■■'■■.. ■ The Berlin performance with Herr. Erich Kleibcr reduced the work to half its length, and mad© a i short opera buffa out of a long comic opera with the principal character completely, changed. In spite" of this there was plenty of colour and life) and the Berlin public were not little astonished at this. Wagner. ;'.. ■'■~' OTHER COMPOSERS. 1 The Staatsoper also brought out % j youthful work of Mozart 'a-nona which, | is' not a "youthful folly "—"Ido-j rneneo" arranged* by. Dr. Biehard. Strauss and Dr. Lothar Wallerstein, I director of the Vienna Opera. "Ido- | meneo'' shows. Mozart as 'a perfectly mature musician. He has scarcely written anything more beautiful us pure music; but the, dramatist.in him >' is not yet awakened. Drs. Wallerstem ; and Strauss endeavoured to remedy this shortcoming, but overdid it. With new- [ music to all the recitatives, Dr. Strauss has turned "Idonieneo" into ..an «n- I tirely different style of opera; it is no , longer an opera of Mozart's but more like one of Gluck's. Apart front other ! alterations there is a new Finata. How- j ever, with Herr Leo Blech conducting and Frau Helge Koswange in the title role, the performance was very effec- , tivc. ' . y / A revival of Berg's "Wozzeck" . with Herr Klciber achieved only a i single performance. This was in December. It is, from a cultural-political point of view, an interesting fact that i no director would dare to give a public | performance of thisclover work, today. ' The Stadtisehcn Oper was content j with productions of Flotow'a j "Martha" in gayer apparel, an oper- j ette, Offenbach's "Prinzessin yon Tra- , pczunt,y Weber's "Freischutz," and Strauss's. "Salome." The last was a : failure from start to finish, but "Freischutz" presented us with two triumphs ', of decor. "Martha" was able to boast of really fine singers, Mme. Maria Ivogun and Herr Koloman V. Pataky. In Dresden Herr Fritz Busch introduced ;i short-lived opera of Heir Arthur Kusterer's. As Wagner did with "Measure for Measure," so Herr Kustcrer has turned Shakespeare's "As You Like It" into an opera. At times he takes advantage of lyrics from Shakespeare's magical comedy; arabesque, or uses the spoken "dialogue, minus Malvolio, while sentimental and robust scenes alternate. Tlio sentimental becomes elegiac and long-winded in style, while jazz does . duty for comedy. It is inconceivable how the Dresden Opera, which, is on© of the best and richest in traditions, ' could accept and produce such a^' work. ■ ■'*