Austria Wagner, Tannhäuser: Soloists, Refrain and Orchestra of Vienna State Opera / Philippe Jordan (conductor). Broadcast reside (directed by Dominic Kepczynski) from the Vienna State Opera, 25.5.2025. (JPr)
Maybe I’ve not seen Tannhäuser as a lot as another Wagner operas over 50 years and extra operagoing, however this one stands out for the primary time I’ve seen and heard Wolfram’s ‘O du mein holder Abendstern’ – an introspective aria supposedly mourning the demise of his unrequited beloved – sung exhibiting how his true emotions could lay elsewhere. Whereas we hear Martin Gantner’s unpoetic but heartfelt rendition we see him think about Tannhauser’s return from in search of absolution in Rome and getting embraced and kissed by him.
Each time I see a brand new manufacturing of Tannhäuser my thoughts goes again to the Covent Backyard fiasco in 1977 when legendary tenor Jon Vickers belatedly withdrew from The Royal Opera’s new manufacturing which had been mounted particularly for him and regardless of plans for the performances having begun in 1974. Vickers introduced he now thought of the position to be ‘blasphemous’ and refused to sing it. Plans for additional performances on the Met had been additionally cancelled and this battle of private non secular conviction with contractual skilled obligations created a substantial furore on the time. The position of Tannhäuser was thought of, even then, to be one of the troublesome within the repertory, and his cancellation was dismissed by many as an admittance that he was – at finest – unable to attach with it, or at worst, was unable to sing it. Nevertheless, Vickers was adamant that his withdrawal was as a consequence of his Christian beliefs, the story of the opera and its phrases.
On the finish of his life, Wagner nonetheless felt he owed the world a Tannhäuser and tinkered with the rating – which was all the time certainly one of his hottest – leaving us with the 1875 Vienna model the place the unique 1845 Dresden music has accreted revisions from ill-fated performances in Paris in 1861 (together with the Venusberg ballet) and a variety of subsequent post-Tristan refinements. Appropriately that is the Tannhäuser model we now hear in Vienna; though it stays an uneasy mixture of German Romantic opera and Franco–Italian opera; two distinctly opposing traditions.
Tannhäuser, is supposedly a medieval thirteenth-century knight, with conflicting sensual and religious sides to his character. He needs each Venus and Elisabeth although can not have both and solely finds redemption in demise. Wagner ‘plots’ this out in a sometimes subtle means and it may be seen finest in Tannhäuser’s Act I ‘Hymn to Venus’. In a sequence of dialogues with Venus, the tenor sings in D-flat, then D, and at last E-flat. By transferring the music up half a tone every time Wagner calls for increasingly from the tenor’s voice such that the bodily pressure attributable to the music mirrors the knight’s dilemma over the selection he should make between the erotic and spiritual realms. He praises the goddess along with his lips, his eyes and his coronary heart, while a part of his coronary heart, nonetheless lies elsewhere. This ‘elsewhere’ is revealed when Tannhäuser sings a 3rd time and it’s not in Venus’s key (E main) however the important thing of Elisabeth (E-flat). Then in Act II as Tannhäuser passionately reprises the hymn once more throughout the music contest to win Elisabeth’s hand, it’s now in E main and so Tannhäuser is singing for Elisabeth however in the important thing of Venus. This position is way from an ‘simple sing’ and, as in all the things in Wagner’s oeuvre; a fancy character is illuminated by his music.
Vickers mentioned in 1986, ‘I’m a dedicated Christian. Tannhäuser is, I feel, an try and strike on the very root of the Christian religion’. Whether or not it’s Christian or anti-Christian can the theology of this opera be ignored? Probably not, for the medieval story is one thing of a Christian morality play; it consists of Marian theology, in addition to a number of mentions of religion and the redeemer. Tannhäuser goes to Rome hoping the Pope will pardon him, however he refuses his plea and Tannhäuser is ultimately redeemed when Elisabeth sacrifices herself for him on earth after which intervenes with God on his behalf in heaven. Regardless of this Tannhäuser dies anyway and though it’s the love of girl that lastly units him free, all of the Christian references should imply one thing and definitely did to Jon Vickers within the Seventies.
Within the first Tannhäuser performances in Vienna for over ten years, American-born director Lydia Steier now cleanses it completely of Christianity. This leaves considerably of a gaping gap on the centre of the battle between all of the bacchanalia, sensuality, irreligious behaviour and religious spirituality: she fills this void with an allegory (units by Momme Hinrichs and in Alfred Mayerhofer’s costumes) of cultural hedonism within the early-twentieth century. In Act I there’s a lavish Nineteen Twenties Weimar Cabaret setting – it jogged my memory of one thing I noticed as soon as on TV a couple of legendary Berlin venue of that point known as Moka Efti – and the clientele current and their couplings had all of the gender and sexual fluidity of the laissez-faire, carefree interwar years. There may be additionally a suggestion of Paris’s Moulin Rouge – and even Las Vegas – in Venus as a glittery and pink ostrich-feathered showgirl along with her similar-looking refrain line together with 4 excessive up on trapeze. (The Venusburg ballet at occasions appeared just like the Venice Carnival after everybody had eaten an excessive amount of Magic Mushroom risotto.) On the finish of the primary act the Younger Shepherd (plaintively sung by Ilia Staple) seems on excessive as a baroque fantasy whereas a Ronald MacDonald-like clown performs the cor anglais on the stage. The Landgrave’s Bavarian searching social gathering quickly arrives.
The Thirties in Germany was a time of accelerating social and political instability, ultimately resulting in the rise of Nazism. It’s one other cabaret setting however it’s now a way more formal event of society’s nice and good dressed of their finery – a lot hopefully fake fur – and males carrying regalia (Freemasons?). For the music contest in regards to the nature of affection, it’s as if they’ve come to look at a celebration of their (Aryan?) heritage because the Minnesingers all have blond wigs and put on medieval garb. As tensions rise between the knights and Tannhäuser’s ideas flip to Venus, then the lighting turns pink and she or he lowers on a glittery crescent moon and her troupe seem too, although solely seen to him.
We appear to have moved ahead a number of a long time by Act III, although typically set within the milieu from earlier than, now it’s a darkish, presumably war-blighted world. Males sit silently watching old-style TV units and a picture of the Virgin Mary is displayed on a jumble of TVs and what seem like microwaves, and it’s to this that Elisabeth prays. Earlier the Pilgrims (carrying shabby robes) returned however Tannhäuser who went with them just isn’t amongst them, and a distraught Elisabeth dies. Venus once more reappears on her moon and in pressure – together with a number of of the Act I revellers and the aerial artists – and makes an attempt to lure Tannhäuser again to her earlier than Elisabeth’s funeral procession means he has been redeemed by her sacrifice. We now see Elisabeth as a imaginative and prescient in white and she or he is reunited with Tannhäuser underneath an enormous heavenly bower.
In fact, all the things I heard was via (good) audio system and should have sounded completely different within the opera home. Clay Hilley’s Tannhäuser introduced again reminiscences of the late Johan Botha who I noticed within the position nevertheless he isn’t (but?) pretty much as good as he was. While he trumpeted some stable excessive notes and each phrase was clearly sung, I assumed his phrasing was uneven and there was simply an excessive amount of – aforementioned bodily – pressure on the high of his voice at occasions. His Act III ‘Inbrunst im Herzen’ was the spotlight of his efficiency as he convincingly deserted himself to Tannhäuser’s repentance and struggling. Nevertheless, Hilley just isn’t (but?) an incredible singing actor and who this Tannhäuser was I wasn’t certain. Smoking and consuming from a hip flask he appeared extra of an outsider than common all through the opera. I simply marvel if he was little greater than a star performer as a result of when he waved a white handkerchief and sang on the finish of the primary act, I bought distinct Pavarotti vibes.
Malin Byström made a formidable position debut as an intense Elisabeth, she portrayed her as pining for real love, considerably scared mentally by being initially abandoned by Tannhäuser and at last incapable of coping along with his betrayal. Byström’s expressive soprano voice had some attention-grabbing mezzo-ish colors, and her Act III ‘Allmächt’ge Jungfrau’ was the heartrending prayer it must be. Ekaterina Gubanova’s alluring-looking Venus was well-characterised though her dusky mezzo-soprano didn’t sound as seductive as some I’ve heard within the position. Günther Groissböck was an aristocratic Landgrave (the lodge’s Grand Grasp?) and although his voice is sort of as commanding of earlier years, his lowest bass notes sounded somewhat skinny. The Minnesingers had been properly forged and made a robust contribution all through; if I had to decide on, I might say that Simon Neal’s fey Biterolf stood out.
To be truthful all of it ended with extra profundity and spirituality than I anticipated after Act I and that, and the success of the night elsewhere, was principally as a consequence of Philippe Jordan – bidding farewell as music director in Vienna – who has developed right into a high-quality Wagner conductor. Jordan’s wonderful Tannhäuser had the foundations of the virtuosic musicianship of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and his interpretation had authority, a robust grip of general construction, persuasive grandeur, seamless move, and beautiful consideration to element. He was supported by Thomas Lang’s excellent refrain which made a collective sound nearly the equal of that I as soon as often heard at Bayreuth.
Jim Pritchard
Featured Picture: Vienna State Opera’s Tannhäuser Act I © Michael Poehn/Wiener Staatsoper
Creatives:
Manufacturing – Lydia Steier
Units and Video – Momme Hinrichs
Costume – Alfred Mayerhofer
Choreography – Tabatha McFadyen
Gentle – Elana Siberski
Refrain grasp – Thomas Lang
Forged:
Landgraf Hermann – Günther Groissböck
Tannhäuser – Clay Hilley
Wolfram von Eschenbach – Martin Gantner
Walther von der Vogelweide – Daniel Jenz
Biterolf – Simon Neal
Heinrich der Schreiber – Lukas Schmidt
Reinmar von Zweter – Marcus Pelz
Elisabeth – Malin Byström
Venus – Ekaterina Gubanova
A Younger Shepherd – Ilia Staple
