Die Meistersinger

[jwg]

We went to see Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg last night. It was the HD encore performance of Saturday's Met performance. It was a splendid production with some very fine singing. SIx hours including intermissions. And you get to see them constructing/changing the set during the intermissions. I prepared by reading the synopsis several times ahead of time (and we heard some of it on the radio on Saturday). WIth the words displayed on the screen it was easy to get all the nuances of the story.

One surprising thing was that in this huge theatre (AMC Revere) there were only about a dozen viewers. I also noted that there were a few empty seats in the Met.

It is really a brilliant work. Some aspects of the plot are somewhat Wagner self-referential since it is about a singing contest and judgement of adherence to musical standards.

Comments

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Perhaps, the six hour length of the production daunted potential viewers. I heard terrific feedback concerning the production, but have to admit, Wagner is not my favorite. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[jwg.livejournal.com]

I had shunned Wagner for a long time - especially the Ring. My encounters with the Ring were those of Anna Russell. And then I got interested. We went to NYC for a week to see the whole cycle in 2004; it was wonderful. (When I looked up the date for that in my iCal I also found a note from 2004: "Ring Ugh" it said.

Meistersinger is very different in structure, humor, and musically. I'm glad I saw it and I hear that they are disbanding this production at the end of this year.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

I imagine (I would hope!) they had better crowds for the live broadcast on Saturday afternoon. I can see how a 6-hour commitment on a Wednesday evening would be especially daunting (we didn't get home until after 1:00, but we don't generally have to get up until we feel like it¹).

¹Ironically, the next morning at about 8:30 our doorbell rang -- it was the gutter-cleaners, who had given us a window of "7:30-3:00" for their arrival time. Well, I said, at least they didn't come at 7:30.