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Sep. 25th, 2005 12:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
danuvI've spent the weekend alternating between taking care of a sick child, listening to the audiobook version of Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys (which is great fun) and watching the Ring Cycle. The Ring Cycle (as you'd know if you followed the link) is really four operas written by Wagner in the middle of the 19th century. I've been renting my discs from Netflix and they carry three different productions.
The first opera in the cycle is called Das Rheingold. Netflix carries two versions of this. There is the Staatsoper Stuttgart version which seems to be set in a 1930's or 1940's bathhouse of some sort. I also watched a version performed at Bayreuther (or Bayreuth or whatever, I can't figure out what to call it) which apparently has some notoriety. Netflix calls it the Pierre Boulez version. This one is set on some kind of Industrial era dam and the Rheinmaidens are all whores. Bonus points for this. It also has Heinz Zednik playing Loge and I've become fond of him. He shows up as Mime in the Met's version of Siegfried which I'll get to in a minute. I think between the two I enjoyed the Staatsoper Stuttgart version better but that probably had more to do with the way that it was filmed. It was just easier to watch. The translation seemed a little less formal as well.
The second part of the cycle is called Die Walküre. So far it has been my least favorite. I watched the Staatsoper Stuttgart version because when I added them all to my Netflix queue they had the "Pierre Boulez" version listed as the Chereau who was the director. I'll probably go back at some point and watch that one. The Stuttgart version was annoying. It didn't seem to have any continuity with their version of Rheingold. The person playing Siegmund looked a lot like Al Bundy and Sieglinde looked like Glenn Close. It added an extra layer of ick to an already icky story involving incest. I'd been looking forward to the Valkyries in the third act but they modernized them to look like club girls wearing very stupid looking wings strapped to their arms. It just looked ridiculous. It got even worse when Wotan went to put his rebellious daughter into the ring of fire he'd cursed her to sleep in until rescued (?) by Siegfried at the end of the third opera. The scary ring of fire was supposed to be represented by a stage light Wotan drags onto the stage and shines at her. Ooooo. Frightening. Dramatic.
Part three is Siegfried and in this I think Wagner has created one of the most unlikable characters ever. From the first moment that he appeared on stage I wanted nothing more than to see him die horribly and painfully. It hasn't happened yet but I still have one opera left to go and I'm told that there's still hope. For this one I managed to get the Metropolitan Opera's version which is the traditional one as far as I can tell. The characters and setting all look much more like what I imagine they did when Wagner created it. I'd love to see the other operas from this production but Netflix decided we don't need to see them. Siegfried is played by a man who seems to be about 25 years too old and look sort of like Richard Burton or something but he is trying his best to pull off brash, arrogant obnoxious teen and manages to do pretty well with that. Heinz Zednick plays Mime, a scheming dwarf, and is a lot of fun to watch. Their Erda is incredibly creepy. I tried to figure out for a long time if she was being projected onto a scrim but they managed to make her look very ghostly with makeup and lighting.
The last opera in the cycle is Götterdämmerung which I hope lives up to its incredibly awesome name. Just say it out loud. What a fantastic word. I'm going to be watching the "Pierre Boulez" version which should be better than the Staatsoper Stuttgart one though I'd prefer to be watching the Met's. Alas Netflix has failed me.
It is really a wonderful and entertaining tale and I wish that I could watch it with someone who knows more about all of the leitmotifs in the music because I feel like I'm missing out on a big part of it. In general it has been a lot less painful to get through than one would think 15 hours of German opera would be. I'm watching a documentary along with it called Sing Faster: the Stagehands' Ring Cycle that I've seen before. I thought it would be entertaining to stop and start it along with the operas.
Tonight I'll be attempting to make Cornish pastries. I've never had one or made one. I have had an Australian meat pie and I'm thinking they are similar. I've always been intrigued by the idea of a meat pie. It seems like a very good idea and a recipe I'd like to add to my repertoire.
The first opera in the cycle is called Das Rheingold. Netflix carries two versions of this. There is the Staatsoper Stuttgart version which seems to be set in a 1930's or 1940's bathhouse of some sort. I also watched a version performed at Bayreuther (or Bayreuth or whatever, I can't figure out what to call it) which apparently has some notoriety. Netflix calls it the Pierre Boulez version. This one is set on some kind of Industrial era dam and the Rheinmaidens are all whores. Bonus points for this. It also has Heinz Zednik playing Loge and I've become fond of him. He shows up as Mime in the Met's version of Siegfried which I'll get to in a minute. I think between the two I enjoyed the Staatsoper Stuttgart version better but that probably had more to do with the way that it was filmed. It was just easier to watch. The translation seemed a little less formal as well.
The second part of the cycle is called Die Walküre. So far it has been my least favorite. I watched the Staatsoper Stuttgart version because when I added them all to my Netflix queue they had the "Pierre Boulez" version listed as the Chereau who was the director. I'll probably go back at some point and watch that one. The Stuttgart version was annoying. It didn't seem to have any continuity with their version of Rheingold. The person playing Siegmund looked a lot like Al Bundy and Sieglinde looked like Glenn Close. It added an extra layer of ick to an already icky story involving incest. I'd been looking forward to the Valkyries in the third act but they modernized them to look like club girls wearing very stupid looking wings strapped to their arms. It just looked ridiculous. It got even worse when Wotan went to put his rebellious daughter into the ring of fire he'd cursed her to sleep in until rescued (?) by Siegfried at the end of the third opera. The scary ring of fire was supposed to be represented by a stage light Wotan drags onto the stage and shines at her. Ooooo. Frightening. Dramatic.
Part three is Siegfried and in this I think Wagner has created one of the most unlikable characters ever. From the first moment that he appeared on stage I wanted nothing more than to see him die horribly and painfully. It hasn't happened yet but I still have one opera left to go and I'm told that there's still hope. For this one I managed to get the Metropolitan Opera's version which is the traditional one as far as I can tell. The characters and setting all look much more like what I imagine they did when Wagner created it. I'd love to see the other operas from this production but Netflix decided we don't need to see them. Siegfried is played by a man who seems to be about 25 years too old and look sort of like Richard Burton or something but he is trying his best to pull off brash, arrogant obnoxious teen and manages to do pretty well with that. Heinz Zednick plays Mime, a scheming dwarf, and is a lot of fun to watch. Their Erda is incredibly creepy. I tried to figure out for a long time if she was being projected onto a scrim but they managed to make her look very ghostly with makeup and lighting.
The last opera in the cycle is Götterdämmerung which I hope lives up to its incredibly awesome name. Just say it out loud. What a fantastic word. I'm going to be watching the "Pierre Boulez" version which should be better than the Staatsoper Stuttgart one though I'd prefer to be watching the Met's. Alas Netflix has failed me.
It is really a wonderful and entertaining tale and I wish that I could watch it with someone who knows more about all of the leitmotifs in the music because I feel like I'm missing out on a big part of it. In general it has been a lot less painful to get through than one would think 15 hours of German opera would be. I'm watching a documentary along with it called Sing Faster: the Stagehands' Ring Cycle that I've seen before. I thought it would be entertaining to stop and start it along with the operas.
Tonight I'll be attempting to make Cornish pastries. I've never had one or made one. I have had an Australian meat pie and I'm thinking they are similar. I've always been intrigued by the idea of a meat pie. It seems like a very good idea and a recipe I'd like to add to my repertoire.
