Tannhauser. Deutsche Oper Berlin
April 2nd 2018
My views on this performance were radically different at the end of the evening compared to what they were at the end of Act 1 – so the comments on each act reflect this change of view as the performance unfolded.
I thought that Act 1 was awful in so many ways. The overture seemed lumpy and lacking in lyricism (surprising as Runnicles was conducting who is a very fine Wagnerite). The version used was the original Dresden one with no Venusberg ballet and I now realise that this later version is the one to see – even if the harmonic language of post-Tristan Venusberg is very different from the majority of the rest of the opera). The stage was virtually blank and very darkly lit and the two performers in the first part (Stefan Vinke and Ricarda Merbeth – playing both Venus and Elizabeth) conveyed no sensual chemistry and seemed to have been given virtually no instructions about movement or even physical acting. I did at the end of this act, and to an extent after Act 2, wonder exactly what the director had been paid for! Venusberg came across as the dullest place ever and one could completely understand Tannhauser’s desire to get away from there – although perhaps this was part of the central idea…By the end of this opening scene I was serious beginning to wonder if the performance was going to be worth staying for.
The second part of the act ,which admittedly does have an awful lot of expository narrative, was equally unimpressive in staging. Figures in impressive-authentic looking armour and on horseback came on and remained in one position for the duration of virtually the whole of the rest of the act. So at this stage very disappointing indeed – there seemed to be no sense of either ideas or communicating anything through staging and drama here. However, the singing was of a good quality and Vinke has a fine and powerful tone that copes well with the musical demands of the role with an attractive sweetness to the tone and an unforced top. The stage again was largely darkly black although the realistic costumes did begin to convey something of a sense of time and place.
Act 2 however was much more encouraging. Merbeth was more impressive in her ‘Dich Teure Halle’ although the voice did have a slight tendency to spread when under pressure. Again this opening scene made less impact than I felt that it should have done and I was still not involved in the drama being unfolded. Vinke however was very fine (warmed up perhaps?) with a marvellous glowing, ringing tone coming through more and more frequently.
There was a little more on the stage in terms of a set with a series of large, very deep steps filling most of it. The drop on the steps though was considerable and it made the performers look awkward and clumsy when they had to move up and down them – to jump of would be absurd but it did was clearly not possible to step down except in a clumsy manner – which seemed pointless and must have irritated the performers. Again, there did not seem to be any reason for the scale of these steps. However, these steps came into their own when the chorus appeared and were arrayed in serried ranks upon them (and their singing was stunning – resonant, powerful, musical, and richly-toned - as usual). They were dressed in spectacularly coloured authentic looking medieval clothes whose vibrancy and positioning on the stage, distinctly recalled the brilliance of illuminated MSS. Cleverly, the way they were arranged recalled the lack of perspective that one saw in MSS of that time. Perhaps the high steps had something to do with that but it was certainly effective and it gave a stronger sense of a society in which the events took place and perhaps how rigid and unyielding it was. Consequently, the impact the Tannhauser’s passionate song had (which marked the start of a completely wonderful performance form Vinke hereon). The stage was again static but now this somehow seemed effective with more physical action at the very front of the stage. These actions were observed by the unmoving chorus who filled much of the rest of the stage space. Were they perhaps conservative society rigidly judging everyone? There were still some oddities – the apparently random raising and lowering of the male chorus’s armour facemasks at various stages and odd clapping motions. However, by the end of this act, I was far more involved and invested in the drama as it seemed finally that there had been some drama to invest in.
Act 3 was stunning in every way. It took off from the opening notes with fire and passion from every single performer and did not let up until the final note had died away. The staging and more importantly, the actions and interactions of the characters was passionate and involving. It had to be well done as the stage was still relatively sparsely furnished. Very effective use was made of colour washes by the lighting (the first time lighting had been effectively used I felt). The transformation of the dead Elizabeth to the living Venus was neatly and effectively done and at the end, the Pilgrim’s Chorus (surely one of the all-time great musical themes like the Ode to Joy) was riveting. It sent shivers up the spine and the chorus was utterly astonishing in it – at the end they and the chorus director, rightly got passionate ovations.
So thinking about it overall perhaps the aim was to show the spiritual growth of Tannhauser. He started from a place of black ignorance in Venusberg, moved through the coldly and dogmatically static ‘real’ social world (reflected in the more rigid setting in the second part of Act 1 and then Act 2), and finally culminates (and achieves salvation) in his acceptance into a post-physical world of spiritual truth at the end. If looked at like this then the staging and its development does have more to it than meets the eye. Interestingly though, it is only at the end that all parts seem to fit together.
Great time then.