Hörgeduld
So last night I went to see the Deutsch Oper Berlin play Richard (Dick) Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. It was quite good. Most of the singers were spot on, with only a couple flashes of pitchiness (I think I heard one of the judges one time on American Idol (the one time that I watched American Idol) refer to sloppy pitch as "pitchiness") from one of the female leads. The orchestra, as seems to be the norm for Berlin, was fucking rad. The Deutsch Oper's hall is well bigger than the Staatsoper's (a reminder that there are actually three opera companies/houses in Berlin, all three of which are quite quite good (although I've yet to go see the Komische Oper)) and the akoustik, was a bit whack, but mostly not nearly so intimate as the Staatsoper, which is a little bit too bad.
It's been my oft-stated opinion that most of Strauss' music is a terrible waste of time (the list of good music is as follows (in no particular order): Tod und Verklarung, the 4 last Lieder, and Metamorphosen, and maybe (only maybe) Also sprach Zarathustra (I just happen to have a soft spot for that particular piece)), but I think I'm ready now to reconsider Strauss as a writer of operas. I find that his musical language and symbolism works quite well in the Operatic context. Reasons: 1) When the music is subsurvient to not only a dramatic context, but also a text, Strauss is a bit more reigned-in, focused. z.B. The second act of Rosenkavalier is great - music works really well, and the whole thing is concise, well-paced. 2) Strauss writes very well for voice, especially female voice. The vocal lines are very fun to listen to, often quite moving, and in Rosenkavalier often quite beautiful. z.B. The trio that closes the Third Act. 3) Opera is stupid, and Strauss' music is stupid, so the go wonderfully together. I do not mean that two wrongs make a right, but just that, really, Opera is stupid. And so is much of Strauss' compositional style.
I'm going at the end of this week, to see the Staatsoper do Elektra, so that'll bring me to 3 Strauss operas for the trip, so my changed-man opinion of Strauss as Operist should be well congealed danach. It'll also make 4 Strauss operas in Europe,including Die Frau ohne Schatten back in Wien, back in the day, with Nate.
I think also, with Der Rosenkavalier, I've regained 50-50 status with my opera-going, in terms of how many operas I've fallen asleep during and how many I haven't.
It's been my oft-stated opinion that most of Strauss' music is a terrible waste of time (the list of good music is as follows (in no particular order): Tod und Verklarung, the 4 last Lieder, and Metamorphosen, and maybe (only maybe) Also sprach Zarathustra (I just happen to have a soft spot for that particular piece)), but I think I'm ready now to reconsider Strauss as a writer of operas. I find that his musical language and symbolism works quite well in the Operatic context. Reasons: 1) When the music is subsurvient to not only a dramatic context, but also a text, Strauss is a bit more reigned-in, focused. z.B. The second act of Rosenkavalier is great - music works really well, and the whole thing is concise, well-paced. 2) Strauss writes very well for voice, especially female voice. The vocal lines are very fun to listen to, often quite moving, and in Rosenkavalier often quite beautiful. z.B. The trio that closes the Third Act. 3) Opera is stupid, and Strauss' music is stupid, so the go wonderfully together. I do not mean that two wrongs make a right, but just that, really, Opera is stupid. And so is much of Strauss' compositional style.
I'm going at the end of this week, to see the Staatsoper do Elektra, so that'll bring me to 3 Strauss operas for the trip, so my changed-man opinion of Strauss as Operist should be well congealed danach. It'll also make 4 Strauss operas in Europe,including Die Frau ohne Schatten back in Wien, back in the day, with Nate.
I think also, with Der Rosenkavalier, I've regained 50-50 status with my opera-going, in terms of how many operas I've fallen asleep during and how many I haven't.
2 Comments:
It was in finally viewing Strauss as exclusively an opera composer that I was able to make terms with him, and enjoy his music as a musician, years after my brass player's Enjoyment of his music wore off. Strauss consciously modeled himself after Mozart later in life, and building an analogy from there (strictly in terms of opera - and all the way through the Mozart/Da Ponte vs. Strauss/Hoffmansal comparisons)I find to be terribly useful - few other composers 'spoke music' as well. I've recently gone back on Metamorphosen, however, and am finding that more a waste of time than previously thought. Check out all of the middle and later operas that are usually neglected (though Cappricio, for more than one reason, might be found to be hard to stomach). Rosenkavalier and Ariadne auf Naxos keep me thinking of this guy as a valuable composer.
Hey, Dan! You check our blog often?
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