Marlies’Artbeat: Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde” starts Live-at-the-Met Season

Richard Wagner’s powerful Music Drama, Tristan und Isolde, comes to us in a new production, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and starring Nina Stemme who “owns” the role of Isolde, and Stuart Skelton tackling the challenging part of Tristan.

To most, the iconic legend of Tristan and Isolde is the ultimate presentation of love, even eclipsing that of Romeo and Juliet. And, when it comes to operas depicting the tragedies, there simply is no comparison.

(You will be able to judge for yourself, since Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette in HD, is scheduled in the same movie venues in January of 2017. It, too, is a new production.)

Wagner (1813-1883) based this quintessential operatic tragedy on a Celtic legend that describes the doomed love between a Cornish Knight and an Irish Princess. He transforms it into a psychologically charged masterpiece, with a rapturous libretto and a musically highly innovative score.

The ever yearning, (to today’s ears) mildly dissonant music -- with its famous “Tristan Chord” -- is said to be 50 years ahead of its creative time. It is described as the gateway to modern music.

After the 1849 unsuccessful Saxony Revolution, in which Wagner participated, he fled to Zwitzerland to escape arrest. Totally bereft of funds, he became the guest of the wealthy Wesendoncks, living on their estate. It is said that he and Mathilde Wesendonck fell deeply in love, but it is possible that no physical affair ever ensued.

While their guest, however, he interrupted work on the 4-part Ring in order to compose Tristan und Isolde and set a number of Mathilde’s poems to music: the thrilling Wesendonck Lieder. (His stay ultimately caused the separation from Minna, Wagner’s first wife.)

Wagner had a propensity for having love connections with the wives of men, who were willing to overlook these indiscretions and advance Wagner’s musical prowess.

Tristan und Isolde had a difficult production start. After several failed attempts, it was finally premiered in 1865, conducted by Hans von Bülow, whose wife Cosima was having an open affair with Wagner. After fathering a couple of illegitimate children with her, he and Minna divorced, and Cosima and he married, and had more children.

Some reviews of the opera at the time were downright hostile, others ecstatic, but many of the public took offense because of the open, rapturous eroticism. Though the latter is hard to understand when you look at the photographs of the enormously overweight singers who premiered at this first production.

And thereby is the famous account, that the Tristan, Ludwig Schnorr, sang the part only four times before dying suddenly. This perpetuates the theory that the role of Tristan is a “killer.” It almost is, possibly because of its tremendous vocal demands. I recall a Met performance for which a different tenor had to fill in for each of the three acts.

Through the years, however, this opera has not only survived, but for many stands as the zenith of operatic achievement. How is this possible, when Wagner, is considered a monster on several moral levels? At the same time as he was working on Tristan, he was writing a series of anti-Semitic diatribes that would cause immeasurable hardship to many, even before Nazi times.

Adoration, and deep enjoyment for all of his Music Dramas, is consummated by divorcing the composer from the work. It seems most discerning opera lovers are able to do this.

All of Wagner’s Music Dramas, with his aim to give the words and the music equal value, make striking demands on the singers. When no Super-Wagnerian singers are about, Wagner performances decline in the world’s repertoires. But when they are around, these singers are idolized and kept very busy.

We all know that the world of operatic performance is built on comparing voices. So how does the Swedish soprano, Nina Stemme, compare?

Extremely favorably! The Swedish soprano, who during this run of the opera will be singing Isolde for the 100th time, gave an exemplary performance. A clever actress, her truly mellifluous delivery (for a “Helden-Soprano”) goes from the hate-filled viper to a perfectly convincing potion-besotted lover -- all the while soaring above the huge Wagner orchestra.

The soprano, who last season gave us a fabulous preview as Electra, and an exciting Turandot, matches her effortless delivery with pithy diction. All around her performance was a triumph.

Our Tristan, the Australian tenor Stuart Skelton, may not have the silvery ping of a Melchior, but he, too, has a magnificent instrument, which never delivered a false or forced note during this vocally wicked challenge. Paced successfully, his notes in the touching death scene were as charged as those in the first act. That is not always achieved…

The loyal, well-meaning Brangåne, the Russian Mezzo-Soprano Ekaterina Gubanova, struck me as the best in this role I have ever heard. A spirited actress as well as possessing magnificent vocal equipment, the singer is not only a wonderful Wagnerian but is world-renowned for her Italian repertoire.

The German Bass, René Pape, again gave us the dignified King Marke with which he is identified in the best opera houses across the globe. A great favorite at the Met, Pape has sung almost 200 times starring in 22 roles. Since he is only 52 years old, this basso’s horizon surely is unlimited.

During an intermission interview with host Deborah Voigt, Evgeny Nikitin, the Russian bass-baritone, confessed that he had feared tackling the role of Kurwenal. He said he dared not turn it down lest it harm his career. (Sometimes I feel these revealing interviews, remove some of the magic of the opera world. Just as media exposure of the British Royal family has robbed it of its mysterious potency.)

Sir Simon Rattle was in excellent command of all the musical wonder of this Tristan und Isolde, and during his interview, enthusiastically expressed his admiration for the cast and our fantastic orchestra. It’s great to have him back.

But opera is not only a musical experience. Its partner, the production, can enhance or diminish its impact. Here, unfortunately, although obviously most carefully considered, it managed to do the latter. All under the aegis of the talented director, Mariusz Trelinski, commanding a slew of skillful experts, the opera is offered in an unspecified modern time, with mostly, (sometimes very unflattering) black leather costuming, and realistic sets emphasizing militaristic implications.

This really does not work. You simply cannot have "a magic love potion" accomplish its goal in a modern setting. But then, Mr. Trelinski may be telling us that this couple fell madly in love, spontaneously, without the help of any potion.

Evidently infusing the well-known theory that the opera is based on the light of life and the darkness of death, this production uses a constantly radiating, radar-like device, with its center showing video projections to explain what is going on in all three acts. We see everything from a warship heaved by heavy seas, to what looked like dandelion wisps. But mostly we are exposed to churning waves, all shown in alternating black and grayish-white. The use of a cigarette lighter to remind us of the light/dark interpretation, seemed clumsy at best.

Fully to be recommended is Trelinski’s direction of the cast’s acting. But attention must be paid to his inventions of material that is disturbing and often distorting Wagner’s intent. For instance, during the ethereal, absolutely glorious introduction to the third act, a young boy – Tristan in his orphaned youth – wanders around the comatose man on his realistic hospital bed. Then he climbs on the bed, and fingers the hero's eyes to see if he is dead. It was an interesting diversion that robbed full attention to the music.

The "Liebestod" is delivered without any "friends" being present. That's just foolish since it is specifically addressed to them in the text. But the most offensive transgression is Isolde’s slashing her wrists to commit suicide. This contradicts the poignant idea that she succumbs mystically, in a supernatural redemption for their rapturous love. She will join her Tristan forever, not via realistic means.

Despite these indiscretions, don’t miss your chance to see this new production, which encores on Weds. Oct. 12th at 7:00 PM (EST) and at 1:00 PM for the Matinee on Oct. 13th 2016.