The Flying Dutchman, February 15, 2008 Wiener Staatsoper
Ok....so hate to admit it, but I pretty much know nothing about Wagner operas. Let me rephrase, I know a lot about Wagner and his style and the elements in his operas, but play Brunhilde singing and I probably wouldn't run for my Norsk set of horns. That's why it was such an event for me to see "Der Fliegende Hollaender".
Most people respond with, "Well?? Was it just incredible? Did it not just blow you away?"...uh...not really. I mean, there were definitely moments of greatness! When Senta and the Dutchman are making their vows together everyone is at full power and it kinda just blows you over, but as usual, my main issue with opera is that everyone just takes too long to get their feelings out!!
I suppose you could wonder how an opera singer could actually say that, but I am a big fan of short and sweet arias..."Nessun dorma", "Quando m'en vo", "Un aura amorosa"... Right to the point and we're moving on! So, if you know anything about Wagner, you know that the phrase "short and sweet" was not in his musical vocabulary. First of all, the opera was actually played as Wagner originally intended, without intermission. It is scarcely longer than a movie (130 minutes -- and this is one of his shortest!), but in the oven-esque standing room it feels like a "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. I think Wagner, maybe for once, was NOT thinking about the people when he thought up his "endless melodies".
However, what I remember most of all -- besides training my opera glasses on the Watchman cutey pie tenor Cosmin Ifrim (on whom I was totally crushing) --was what my pianist friend expressed well when he said, "Wagner can leave you feeling a bit cold." Because there really are no arias or memorable tunes to take with you in the end. It could just be attributed to the fact that I've never heard this music before, however, I beg to argue that when I left the productions of "La fille du regiment" and "Manon" I wasn't humming the soprano arias I already knew, but rather other arias I had not previously known. And it's true, you do acquire a certain feeling of warmth from those haunting melodies....but ask me to sing a piece of the Dutchman and....yeah, I got nothin.




