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Richard Wagner’s LOHENGRIN from the Metropolitan Opera in 1986.

This is a review of the DVD of a 1986 performance of Richard Wagner’s opera Lohengrin from the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Staging by August Everding and conducted by James Levine.

Premiered in August 1850, Lohengrin was a flop that only gained more favorable reviews over time. It is a transitional opera for Wagner, not a romantic German opera as Rienzi or Tannhäuser are, though not yet as fully developed into ‘musical drama’ as the Ring Cycle is. The story is basically a hybrid of Greek and German mythology set into historical time (Antwerp during the reign of King Henry the Fowler, around 933 AD). The music includes some of Wagner’s best loved melodies. The Preludes to Acts I and III are famous (the first paints a beautiful picture of Montsavat and the return of the Holy Grail), Elsa’s Act I prayer (Einsam in trüben Tagen) is a popular concert number, and the Act III bridal chorus is familiar to non-opera fans as 'Here Comes the Bride.'

In the Greek mythology, Zeus, the chief god, falls in love with the mortal Semele (the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia). He comes to her in a human form and they live as husband and wife, which naturally doesn’t sit well with Zeus’ goddess wife Hera, who approaches Semele in her own brand of disguise and plants doubt in Semele’s heart of her husband’s claim to immortality. Convinced that she should demand the truth from her husband, Semele asks Zeus to grant her an unconditional wish. Upon receiving his reluctant affirmation, she demands to see him in his true self. Apparently, the Greek god could lie, cheat, steal, and murder, but he couldn’t renege on a promise, and so he regretfully complies. Semele is struck dead by a thunderbolt the same moment Zeus fully reveals himself. He is able to rescue their unborn child, the immortal Dionysus, by planting him in his thigh, however. For those who aren’t familiar with Greek mythology, Dionysus is the Greek god of wine and the theater.

Another myth that Wagner drew the story of the opera from is found in the last section of Wolfram von Eschenbach’s epic poem, Parzival. Parzival, the custodian of the Holy Grail, retires to Montsavat with his son Loherangrin, who would be sent by the Grail to marry the Princess of Brabant, who had vowed to give herself only to a knight sent by god. Loherangrin warns her that he would have to leave her if she ever ask his name. They marry, have children, but some years later the princess got curious and asks the forbidden question, causing him to leave.

The moral of both stories is the same simple idea of a noble/high born (too good for you) man who seeks a wife who would love him unconditionally, regardless of his past or status. If the females among us don’t think much of this one way demand of blind faith, that is perfectly understandable.... What would you expect from that self-absorbed Richard Wagner, anyhow?

Synopsis
Wagner slightly modified the myths and set his story in Middle Age Germany. Elsa of Brabant finds herself in serious trouble when she is wrongly accused by her former suitor, Friedrich of Telramund, of having murdered her brother Gottfried, and no one around finds it a wise thing to do to duel Telramund to defend Elsa’s honor. So she prays to god. And, voila! A knight in shiny armor pulls into the port in his swan-powered boat. He agrees to defend Elsa and marry her if she promises to never ask for his name or origin. Of course, she agrees and he promptly humiliate Telramund by defeating him but sparing his life. Things look quite rosy until Telramund’s pagan witch of a wife, Ortrud, successfully talks Elsa into doubting the sincerity of her new husband’s love. Elsa pops the forbidden question, which prompts her knight, Lohengrin, to leaving via the swan boat he came in with. But Ortrud, in her maniacal ranting after Lohengrin had killed Telramund (in self-defense, I must add), let out that she was the one who turned Elsa’s brother into a swan to implicate her in his ‘murder’.... and the swan is none other than the one that is motoring Lohengrin’s boat. So the good knight turns the swan back into the human Gottfried before leaving. Ortrud falls dead (by a divine heart attack?), and so does Elsa (probably by a divine heart break.... a slightly different medical condition, to be sure). The moral of the story... Never ask your husband what his name is or where he’s been hanging out all night (just kidding, of course!).

Over time, this opera is now one of the staple diet of German opera at all the major opera houses around the world. It also inspired Ludwig II of Bavaria to build Neuschwanstein (New Swan Rock), one of the most famous castles in the world (and would turn out to be the model for Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom Castle).

CAST:
Elsa (Duchess of Brabant) ::: Eva Marton (soprano)
Lohengrin (Knight of the Holy Grail) ::: Peter Hofmann (tenor)
Friedrich von Telramund ::: Leif Roar (baritone)
Ortrud (Telramund’s pagan-witch wife) ::: Leonie Rysanek (mezzo soprano)
King Henry (Henry the Fowler of Germany) ::: John Macurdy (bass)
Herald in Arms ::: Anthony Raffell (bass)
Conductor ::: James Levine / Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Stage Director ::: August Everding

For a clip of this DVD, go to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Av1pz9S0QI (Act I duel between Lohengrin and Telramund)

The traditional staging by August Everding's production (using sets and costumes by Ming Cho Lee and Peter J. Hall) is quite dark and gloomy, very fitting of Middle Age Antwerp. I’m a bit miffed about the lack of the swan boat that pulls Lohengrin in, though. The use of spot lights that moves around the stage while the ‘onlookers’ follow it as if they’re watching an approaching flying saucer doesn’t quite work when Lohengrin simply walks in from behind the stage without even a swan feather in his hair. But other wise, the coldness of the set keeps the audience’s attention on the singing actors instead, which is not a bad thing for an opera performance.

Eva Marton is quite good as Elsa, though I prefer a more youthful, lyrical, and less vibrato-ridden voice for the role rather than this big dramatic one (she sounds like she could sing Ortrud instead!). She is very dramatically convincing on stage, and that really counts for a lot in Wagner opera. Peter Hofmann’s Lohengrin, certainly looks the part of the godly knight in shiny white armor (he is a splendid Siegmund in the Boulez Ring Cycle from Bayreuth). His singing is more tentative than usual, however, courtesy of a rather worn voice (that isn’t a merely wide vibrato he’s showing in the upper register, it’s positively a wobble!).

As Telramund is the German baritone Leif Roar. He is theatrically quite convincing, but vocally... not quite. As King Henry is John Macurdy, who takes a while to warm up his smooth voice, but when he does he is quite kingly. Anthony Raffell is a Herald with a powerful voice that sticks in my ears even though he has very little to sing.

The star of the show, however, is Leonie Rysanek’s Ortrud. Never mind if she goes off-pitch a bit (Ok! Ok! A lot) too often, when you can see her as well as hear her, this gal can sing ‘improvised’ notes all opera long and still convinces you that you have never seen or heard a more deliciously sinister and witchy pagan hag in all her majesty in all of your opera-going years.... well... unless you’ve heard how Astrid Varnay does in the Sawallisch recording, that is. The bottom line is, you have to watch her as well as listen to her, though. Without the visual elements, she is not nearly as good. Her vocal acting is superb, but the voice isn't powerful enough down low to make her Ortrud sound as menacing as she looks. And the off-pitch singing really is noticeable when one isn't distracted by her stage charisma.

Maestro James Levine’s conducting of the Met orchestra is beyond reproach.... as usual. The man is our modern day Mr Dependable from that orchestra pit, and wrangles his orchestra and chorus to reveal nuances in the music that are often left unexplored by other conductors. The long Wagner opera aren’t my usual cup of tea, but with Levine’s conducting, each note has a meaning and compels me to anticipate the next one, and the next, and the next. It is a wonderful trick, considering how short it makes a 220 minutes long opera feel!


All in all, this is a very good DVD of the opera Lohengrin. Sure, the singing could be better (especially from the boys), but as a whole, the cast is engaging and the music is very pleasant. I wouldn’t recommend it to those who haven’t tried watching an opera before (or even the newbies), but for the lovers of the German opera, this is a good buy.

This review is my official entry to CaptainD’s excellent The Good Movies Write-Off. Get a good show or two in, folks!!

2 DVD. Play-time: 220 minutes. Sung in German with subtitle in: English, Spanish, German, French.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12