Richard Wagner * Rienzi: Ouverture * Das Liebesverbot: Ouverture * Eine Faust-Ouvertuere * Symphony in E-Major * Wesendonck-Lieder^ Marjana Lipovsjek (Soprano)^ Philadelphia Orchestra/Wolfgang Sawallisch EMI CDC 556165-2 [DDD] Summary for the busy executive: None. Those who want the greatest love-story ever shall suffer it all. Else, not at all. In the whole music litterature, I think nothing puzzels me as much as the total imbalance of Wagners person and artistery. His art belongs to the finest an artist ever produced, and he could write long proto-Freudian analysises on his operatic characters, nothing with help him to get any right side on his private life. Roger Donington cathes this very well in his book "Wagners Ring and its Symbols" (1963). He writes: "Wagners artistic judgementwas as sure, as his personal judgement was erratic. Such confusion between inner and outer reality occurs to all of us, but too much of leads to the borders of insanity or beyond. Not that Wagner was insane; but there were times when could hardly have tried his contemporaries more as he had been. His megalomania was a burden to them and still more to himself; but there can be very little doubt that we owe to it Wagners ability to carry through so prodigious a feat of concentrated [artistic] insight and creativeness". And this circumstance is not very difficult to prove valid. Wagners biography shows that he quoted against himself unendlessly, and his work speak for themselves; Minimal distance to himself as person, large distance to himself as artist. Rossini or Puccini, to take other composers as example, had great distance to themselves as persons and their were both very social persons, they wrote great music also, with the limitation that Rossini had not distance to his own art enough to compose anything good else then Opera Buffa, and Puccini for the same reason was completely unable to come up with anything else then very serious opera. Distance. When I read that Janos Solyom in his analysises of Beethovens technique admits that the common saying that Beethoven had humour is true and he has proved it, with finding that the Trombones in bar 666 of the "Schicksalsinfonie" play a Tritone (=3D"The Devils Interval"), thats a telling example of lack of distance to art. Wagner had another approach to artworks, as he expresses it in his writings, and he was fascinated with the very witty thing that "Ein musikalischer Spass" and the last missed tones, which could to many make the work seem completely flawed, written by a pucko. He also loved the Turkish March in the "Alle Menschen werden Brueder" in the 9th symphony. As artist Wagner actually could be poking a lot of fun. Speaking of musical insults: the antagonist, Brahms, who by the way probably had no distance neither to himself as person nor artist, made fun about Wagner in his speeches, and he never tried composing opera himself and said that compsing light music was "the duty of Rossini and the Italian clowns". Symphony on the other hand was the true German artform, adn this was the highest serious issue. Wagner wrote his operamusic, which he considered be the serious music, but he also composed symphonies. He composed them in his youth, but at many occasions he planned to write more of them. Wagner however stated (may one suspect with address J.Brahms) that he found joy in the classicist symphony (opera was a romantic issue) was it in Rossinis style, then that was also good musicmaking. And he migth have meant it, as one of the last pieces he conducted was his youths work, the C-Major symphony (in Venezia). But OTOH, he also raged when a great philosopher claimed he found Rossini better than his future-music. Lack of Distance. Lets now have some fun over examples of Wagners neutoric behaviour. First, he can be quoted against himself in eterities, all these examples taken from a circumstance where he wrote much and intense on the topic: "Shakespeare is the truest image of the world" (CWT I 849; 09.03.1874) "An ignorant brute such as Shakespeare" (CWT II 442; 13.11.1879) (Eva later changed the pattern of 'ignorant brute' to 'great poet' etc) "Such rare genius as Frederick the Great" (CWT I 347: 26.01.1871) "I really detest Frederich the Great" (CWT II 377: 06.07.1879) "Goethe showed his great genius in the way he observed life" (CWT I 246: 16.06.1870) "Goethe played about with his genius as a blockhead" (CWT II 362: 07.06.1879) Should I make the list of examples complete, there is not archievespace enough. Wagner also seemed completely incapable of convincingly expressing anything but aggressitivetly on other composers (except for some dead masters like Beethoven, Bach and Haendel). Some examples: Cursing Brahms: "He makes me feel sick" (CWT II 303: 03.02.1879) Cursing Chopin: "I hate this kind of modern richly decorated music for the piano" (CWT I 864: 31.10.1874) Cursing Saint-Saens: "Such a wretched musician" (CWT II 955: 05.06.1882) Cursing Schumann: "The brooding fool horrifies me with his crude vulgarity" (CWT I 909: 10.04.1875 & CWT II 753: 27.06.1881) Cursing Schubert: "Third rate" (CWT I 286: 18.09.1870) Cursing all: "Faust, Le prophete, les Hugenots, Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, Verdi, they all make me feel sick". (CWT I 356: 12.02.1871) With regard to his fellow human beings in general, Wagner is also, on the whole more contra then pro. On a principle he is contra everybody who is not unreservedly pro-Wagner. He challenges whatever and whoever crosses his path, and directly opens fire. Here are, picked from various sources, some eyewithnesses reports on reasons that made him, not just irritated, but raging of anger: * Finding, in the late summer, that the mountains in Abetone were green and bare, instead of having snow on their tops. (11.08.1880) * A bug flies around him when he is eating lunch, arousing his anger, and making him insult the other people at the table for the rest of the dinner session. (18.08.1880) * Summer guests. "They are so fat, morose and malicious. The spartan habit of killing off the superfluos was indeed a very good thing" (CWT I 1054: 11.06.1877) * The Austrian Emperors uniform has too short sleeves. (15.11.1881) * The weather. (26.07.1881) * Military music. "And my son shall one day march to that??" (CWT II 693: 16.02.1881) * A jew saying to Wagner that his dog Russ is a good one, and adding that he knew Wagner once had two dogs named Fips and Peps. Wagner: "The damned jews can sniff out everything" (04.10.1874) * The sight of a bat. (08.09.1871). And upon getting pain in his foot the next day, anger again: "It must have been a jew's pet-bat". Some of those reasons to anger, and perhaps most so the last remark, are so incredible that they take ones breath away. As are the foolowing reports (not haveing anger included) in Cosimas diary: "Richard tells me of a dog that was sold to an English master. In Dover, the dog escaped and swam and then trotted back to his first owner in Aschaffenburg." (CWT II 551: 23.06.1880) The dog swam? Across the channel? And then trotted 550 miles to Aschaffenurg? If Wagner could believe this, then he could belive anything. His dauther Eva attempted to make these lines illegible with inking over them, and also the following, also from Cosimas diary: "Richard notes that little Fidi frequently keeps his mouth open, so he says to him: "It is wisdom to be aware of that Beethoven had composed much more if he had kept his mouth closed"". (CWT II 597: 09.09.1880) One might understand Eva, who had seen her father make a fool of himself too many times, at least wanted to offer the 20th century a better wiew. But when he after meeting with Meyerbeer and Mendelsohn, could run around screaming that "These stupid family makes everything to destroy and sabotauge whatever I what to accomplish [...] May all jews burn to a performance of 'Nathan der Weise'", of course the papers soon snapped it up and found his personal background to being so obsessed with jewry. There are a lot of charicatures of Wagner where he is illustrated with the schablon looking of a jew. He was teased for antijewry, looking, megalomania, paranoia and homosexuality. The latter is never completely proven (as being a fact of actual sexual act), but Wagners conteporaries percieved him as an active homosexual, even before the Ludwig II-period. One thing showing that is that the papers even at a few occasions wrote that straight (and then it must have been a very commom understanding), like upon Wagners first arrival to Munich after Ludwigs invitation: "Lolette has arrived!". The background was that Ludwig I had had a scandalous loveaffair with a dancer Lola Montez, and this likeness haunted Wagner as long as Ludwig II lived. As late as 1886, the papers were still obsessed with it. Here is the papers summary (1886): "The repetetive History of the Bavarian Kings" Part I. King Ludwig I (1786-1868) 1. After a series of financial disasters, Lola Montez, the Irish dancer, arrives destitute in Bavaria. 2. The King recieves Lola Montez in his Munich residence. 3. She becomes the Kings favourite and showered with valuable presents. 4. The King puts an imposing Munich house at her disposal. 5. Lola Montez provokes the resentment of the cabinet, the press and the population. 6. The King refuses to give her up. 7. Ministers advocating the dancers banishment are dismissed. 8. The King sends her passionate poems. 9. The press satirizes their relationship. 10. The King bestows a title on her; "Countess von Landsfeld". 11. The people are so incensed at Lola Montez' priviligied position that the King fears an insurrection. She has to leave. 12. Lola settles in Switzerland. 13. The King consoles himself by building magnificent castles. 14. 1848: The King abdicates. Part II. King Ludwig II (1845-1886) 1. After a series of financial disasters, Richard Wagner, Saxon composer, arrives destitute in Bavaria. 2. The King recieves Richard Wagner in his Munich residence. 3. He becomes the Kings favourite and showered with valuable presents. 4. The King puts an imposing Munich house at his disposal. 5. Richard Wagner provokes the resentment of the cabinet, the press and the population. 6. The King refuses to give him up. 7. Ministers advocating the dancers banishment are dismissed. 8. The King sends him passionate poems. 9. The press satirizes their relationship. 10. The King bestows a title on him; "The Maximilian Order for Arts and Sciences". 11. The people are so incensed at Richard Wagners priviligied position that the King fears an insurrection. He has to leave. 12. Wagner settles in Switzerland. 13. The King consoles himself by building magnificent castles. 14. 1886: The King abdicates. But a person saying things like Wagner could do, and thereto in the very physical appearence itself being hard to stand. Mostly he talked, and endlessly, and if he not got total attention, he could open his mouth and just scream loud so all shocked turned the attention to him again, and he talked again, all the time gesticulating frenetically. If it hadn't been for him being an outstanding artist, he could hardly had had anything to await from anyone then just ridicule. And Wagner knew it very well. In 1878 he wrote: "I'm a sad mixture of Hamlet and Don Quixote". - - - - - Now lets make a jump to the music on this recording and the perforamnce, and first the timeline circumstances of its becoming. After having detested the capitalist society on a Bakhunian manner and taken part of the revolt in Dresden, Wagner was banned from Germany. He escaped to Switzerland, marking his first Switzerland period, which should last in about 12 years. In Zuerich he soon was appointed conductor of the local orchestra, which he started using his constructive energy to improve, programming as well Beethoven as Romantic works he liked. These days the rich merchant Otto Wesendonck returned from America to his homeland with his wife, Mathilde. They lived in Hotel Baur du Lac util finding a house for themselves. They liked music (And Otto was, although not a practicing musician, very musically talented), and often went to concerts. At such an occasion they and Wagner met. Wagner liked the kind, wellsuited gentleman, and his wife with the Romantically beautiful looking, too. As Wagner still liked to teach, and Mathilde wanted to learn, he gave her lessons in harmony and counterpoint. Her husband also had to take some songlessons. Herr Wagner needed movement and company in his life, and his often unwaited visits in the large empty hotel, brought him colour to his grey days. He read his "Drei Operndichtungen" for her, then the political writings, his latest essays, played Beethoven sonatas and fragements of the works he repeated with the Musikgesellschafts orchestra, and he gave her one of the 30 printed copies of the text to Niebelungen. They discussed music, and philosophy. Otto Wesendonck had much work as representant for the great New York firm, and was often traveling, and he thought that if Mathilde liked Wagners company so much, he was noble and unselfish loving enough to just want her happiness, and when he bought a house, he looked for that the family Wagner was inquartered on his land in a neighbouring house, and four unhappy people now lived on "The hill of Happiness". But luck should be found, then the Wesendoncks were understanding people, was looked for that no shadow should worry Wagner, whose whole life had been one long suffering (although the suffering might just too often have fallen back on them). Then there was no cowardy in the truthloving, honest, loving Mathilde. She was instead horribly honest and never let the compassion allow compromises, and much lesser weak then Richard. Her female instinct had a stength, which was not yet fully realized. He had in 20 years done nothing but calling death, but she sought for that this unhappy man found his peace. Wagner, who for long couldn't find any musical inspiration for his great Niebelung work, put it on ice, and sat in his composing hut (The Treibhaus), and started making sketches to his version of the Medieval Lovetale "Tristan and Isolde". He showed Mathilde his drafts, and they read them together. And Mathilde wrote five poems, which he immideately set music to. They didn't care about such shadows on the lifes canvas as visits, socializing, friends. Nothing could disturb their passionate discussions. "A Solemn Silence" imbedded the summer of 1857, during which Wagner wrote his "Tristan"-libretto. The poems of the "Wesendonck-Lieder" represent the lyrical thoughts, expressed with plenaty of lively temperament of a poetess well versed in Wagnerian vocabulary and prone to bouts of sentimantality. Creating this work was an eye-opener for Wagner, which he executed in full in the opera "Tristan und Isolde" (which Ludwig II (though he had private reasons) has hardly been alone in thinking it was Wagenrs masterwork above all), and what made him find new ways of expression, without which his later works hadn't been possible. The connection with the opera is clear in the music and the text as well. Song Nr.3 "Im Treibhaus", a melancholy genre-picture has much material of notes which Wagner quotes almost note-for-note in the perlude to Act III, and "Taeume", Nr.5, is a preparatory study for the love duet in act II. The music is constructed rather freely, much more so then his earlier songs. Romantic song traditions are replaced with forms designed wholly as veichles of expression. This quality raises them high above being studies. "Der Engel" in G-Major, 4/4, con molto tranquillio, evokes once more the essence of the mood of "Lohengrin", with its floating harmonies and vibrated colour of sound. "Stehe still!" in G-Minor, 6/8, con moto, the restlessness music surfaces when agitated semiquavers runs indicate the "humming, whirring wheels of time". The influence of Schopenhauer can be felt in the way activity is contrasted with stillness, desire with desirelessness. After a middle section, the music fades and unfolds in a C-major which is slow and gradually increasing in impetus at "Erkennt der Mensch des Ew'gen Spur/ Und loest dein Raetsel, heil'ge Natur!". "Im Treibhaus" in D-Minor, 6/8, slow and heavy, anticipates the Prelude to act III of "Tristan und Isolde". "Weit in sehnendem Verlangen/ Breitet ihr die Arme aus/ Und umschlinget wahnbefangen/ Oeder Leere nicht'gen Graus". In the opera the parallell minor mood refers to the sea that separates the two lovers, here it lies like an oppressive load on an otherwise simple and sentimantal picture of the tropical plants bein locked up in a greenhouse.= The fourth song "Schmerzen" also owes much to the essence of the concept of the opera as image, with the same painful mood created by the piercing dissonance of the major seventh interval. At the end, it changes from C-Minor to C-Major, which is the neutral key that in "Sehe still" represented the state of non-activity. "Traeume" in Ab-Major, 3/4, moderately but not dragging, we not find only melodic elements and textual liknesses from the lovescene in act II, but also the throbbing repeated quaver chords, the harmonic changes and the pianissimo calm. It is actually as much Tristan-Music as "Tristan und Isolde" is itself. At "Sanft an deiner Brust vergluhen/ Und dann sinken in die Gruft", we have the utter expression of the Romantic trinity of love, night and death. [For reference to the Wesendonck texts including with English translation, see: http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/merge.cgi?287] I bought this disc as I many times prefer the Wesendoncklieder to "Tristan und Isolde" in the way that having experienced how emotionally stong this opera actually can be, in old recordings like those perfect ones with Max Lorenz as outstanding Tristan, carrying that fine true Tristan-tradition of Ludwig Schorr von Carolsfeld of Wagners lifetime to its highest peak of performance, before perforance practice went too modern for my taste. Now should I listen too often to such music, I guess I would eventually actually go mad, but the Wesendoncklieder allows me to listen every day with greatest joy, staying on the Earth. The work the Wesendoncklieder, also is interesting as they are unique in the way that they are the only example (except one youth-work) of Wagner setting music to texts he had not written himself, and also in music that was of so great importance to him, and then also building parts of his "Tristan und Isolde" upon it. That is for me the evidence of the great harmony and understanding that must have existed between Wagner and Mathilde Wesendonck, and that he loved her as much as he was capable of loving another human being. That should also explain why he moved away to Venezia (note the act a rarely good insight by Wagner), when he should compose the music to the opera.... The perfomances on this disc are very beutiful. The early orchestral ouvertures comes out with flash, with marked dotted rythm and fresh in spirit. The contrasting Faust-Ouvertuere given perhaps too little attention to the resting-points. In the Symphony in E the hopes and longings of a young artist can be clearly senced, as the playing is vivid and energic, yet with sensualism in the melodies more then distinctive markings, and most curiously a treatment of short notes which has something of HIP over it. Marjana Lipovsjek sings the Lieder passionate and romantic, with a warm timbre, and catches well the different moods which turn in the caleidoscope, doing perhaps absolutely best in the last song. The Philadelphia Orchestra is in good form, play securely and allow all aspects of the music come out. Their strings sound warm and thick, and their brass is heavy, what is always good for Wagner. Wolfgang Sawallisch has a firm grip on the scores, and makes with the music seemingly exactly what he wants it to. I guess some might feel inclined to comment on his choices of outer tempi, but his inner tempi are relatively flexible, making it sound Wagnerian enough for me to be very satisfied actually. - - - - - My very long introduction to this review, I now want to tie back to and justify, after we have "listened" to the recording, as it is an attempt to come to understand Wagner better. It seems to me that Wagners music is so emotionally strong and direct, as was his way of being himself expressed so frank and extremely audacity, the qualities and defects exhibithed without concealment, acted upon few people like a great charm, but many were very repelled by it. It seems to me that those who found his music too strong found expression for their dislike with denouncing his flawed charater in moral terms with words like "disguisting", "vulgar", "excessive", "self-indulgent" and "sick" - and those who couldn't accept him as person denounced his music with the same vocabulry, both actually telling Wagner both about a great obsession with his artistery as phenomeon, and that he had no love for his person to find. Living in 19th century, before the time of the recording medium, many people had heard about him and his idiosyncracies, thereby having differnet bias about him, but when they came to the concert hall, Wagner was an artist gigantic enough to entspellen his sympathants, melt the most, and even imaginarily "buy" his most ardent haters to admit their adoration for his magically powerful music. But all the time he sought to be loved for the clown that was inside the clothes of the divine artist, and seemingly only once he found it. Not in Minna who showed her disappontment every second day with him not using his great artistic talent to achieve a high position in the society for them. Not in Cosima who in blindness for his artistic supremancy hailed his shortcomings (just read her diary!) as being part of just that. Not in Judith Gautier who, when she abandoned her family and went to Bayreuth, claimed openly she did it only to be mentioned in Wagners biography. In noone. But Mathilde Wesendonck. The time of his friendship with Mathilde, also reveals she locked out the kind heart Wagner actually had, not just infor her, but also showing other people a kindness which could as in the following example be so cute so one simply must capitulate infor it. Here is a part of a letter Wagner wrote a child from this period (dated 1859): "My dear little Myrrha. You have sent me a truly wonderful letter. I wish I could write so beautifully, but I fear I am too old for that. Yes, I too wept with you your dear little brother Guido who died last year. When you visit him and give him flowers, give him my love. I am very pleased that your youngest brother Karl is growing so well. Don't worry if he doesn't have Guidos face. Just take him for Guido all the same. You see, when it comes to really important things like laughing or crying, one face is as good as another...". If you don't want to judge Wagner from a thing like this, which is one of many in his biography, you have a lot of other judgements to confess to. Some examples again of Wagner being inresisting driving people mad: "He [Wagner] is the greatest artist of all times" - Richard Strauss "Is Wagner human at all? Is he not rather a disease? Whatever he touches, he infects". - Friederich Nietzsche, 1888 "Wagner awakens the swine rather the angel. It is the music of a demented eunuch". - "Le Figaro", 1876 "After hearing 'Lohengrin', I had a splitting headache and dreamt all NIght about a stupid ...goose!" - Mili Balakriev, 1868 "I'm a sad mixture of Hamlet and Don Quixote". - Richard Wagner, 1878 You pick. But when reading about Wagners last years in Venezia, and when he seemed to be more irritative and mad then he ever was, rousing to anger and opening fire for anything, it is very hard to believe this stemmed from a feeling of not having accomplished as much as any artist could most happily accomplish. The Ring is certainly one of the greatest artworks of all time, and most his other works belonging to the top of what Western music can show, and accoplishing the Bayreuth miracle, hailed as the greatest musiscian by most, he had actually won all battles and in has lifetime had been showed more signs of admiration then most of artist. He was actually "Richard der Einzige". Wasn't then all this unhappiness stemming from the fact that he so seldom was loved for the one he actually was, and so seldom had a chance to give someone of all his love, the only who could come in question those loved him for what was actually himself. And not even not being loved, is so hard to stand as not love others. Hinc illae lacrimae. Then I pick from this event: "When "Tristan und Isolde" was played as general repetition in Bayreuth 1882, Wagner sat on a chair beside the stage (he was no longer regulary conducting due to heart problems), with his closed seemingly enjoying it immensely. The rehersal went on unabrupted, until the soprano who sang Isolde sung right the passage whichs text was his version of Mathildes poem. Then Wagner, interrupted it, with his eyes brimming of tears under great alarm rousing onto the stage and gave the soprano a big embrace, saying it was just absolutely wonderful". "So stuerben wir, um ungetrennt, ewig einig, ohne End', ohn Erwachen, ohn Erbangen, namenlos in Lieb umfangen, ganz und selbst gegeben, die Liebe nur zu sehen!" "I die for you and you for me, deathless to Infinity, without waking, without sighing, wondrously in Love undying, one on one depending our Love shall be Unending!" ("Tristan und Isolde": Akt II, Scen II) Upon "absolutely wonderful" I actually don't think Wagner meant the performance per se, not his own music either, but it was absolutely wonderful for him to so beautifully remember upon the time in his life which inheld the event of the friendship with his "magic muse" Mathilde Wesendonck. An event in which also the greatest artist ever, once got one the chance to experience True Love. Mats Norrman [log in to unmask]