Just Seen... The Mastersingers Of Nuremberg

I admit I’m not a fan of Wagner. It’s generally loud and vulgar and, as someone said, while it has some beautiful moments it has some incredibly boring half hours! And loooong! Not to mention the composer’s antisemitism. 

My favourites tend to be Mozart - The Marriage Of Figaro, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Magic Flute... also, other composers’ work. Carmen. Rigoletto. Tosca. Aida. La Boheme. And operettas - pretty much anything by Offenbach. The Merry Widow. The Gypsy Princess. Some of the early music ones. 

But this one was part of the subscription and it does have a few tunes you can hum.

And I had seen it before, so I know that it’s the world’s longest romantic comedy. What the heck, I went. The actual opera is about 4 1/2 hours long, but naturally everyone - cast, crew, orchestra and audience - needs a dinner break. And afterwards you don’t get to leave till you have applauded at great length the cast and the orchestra. So they let us out about ten minutes later than advertised, after about six and a half hours! 

Next year, thankfully, there is no Wagner and there is a musical, West Side Story, and some Mozart they haven’t done in years. West Side Story should be interesting - it’s a dance musical. Tony and Maria, the leads, might get away without dancing, but pretty much everyone else has to do it, as well as sing. 

Okay, The Mastersingers! What did I think? It had been a long time since I last saw it. Last time, the lead role of Hans Sachs, the genial cobbler/Mastersinger, was played by a well-respected bass baritone best known for playing High Priests(what else can you play when you’re a bass baritone?). The comical character Beckmesser was played, that time, by a very popular baritone who had done a lot of humorous characters, including Marcello in La Boheme. 

This time I’d only heard of one of the cast, and the production was done in mostly 1940s costume - the original was set in the sixteenth century - although in Act 3, the two tenors both appeared wearing jeans, one carrying a backpack and the other with sneakers. 

Act 3 was musically the easiest to listen to. There was quite a bit of spectacle and even a ballet, something Wagner was not well known for. 

But on my second viewing, I came to the conclusion that the story was just as silly as any other opera I’ve seen.  I mean, really! This boy, Walther, turns up in town for no reason we’re told - he’s a knight, with a castle, maybe mortgaged? Who knows? Hardly a musician, anyway. The day he arrives is just before the locals celebrate St John’s Day, midsummer. And there’s this singing competition with a girl, Eva’s, hand in marriage as first prize. So, the two of them are madly in love five minutes after they meet! And before you say it, yes, I know, Romeo And Juliet, but what do you expect from teenagers? 

Fortunately this is a comedy, so they won’t come to the same sticky end. But yeah, instalove, only he can’t compete unless he, a. gets into the guild, something that usually requires years of training and b. comes up with a song for the competition. 

He auditions and as you might have guessed, flops. But not because he has no background or training in this skill, although he doesn’t - no, it’s because he does a Marty McFly and sings something totally against all the rules and those petty little Mastersingers are jealous of his talent and just don’t get it. All except one, Hans Sachs, who thinks the kid has talent. 

The girl is now desperate because the only other suitor is a total idiot called Bessmecker, with clearly no talent, who somehow managed to get into the Mastersingers guild anyway. How? Eva is even prepared to marry Sachs if he competes, though he is old enough to be her Dad. Hans Sachs wisely says, “No, thank you, I’m old enough to be your Dad.” 

So the kids decide to elope, but there is a riot late at night, after Beckmesser tries to serenade Eva with his woeful song. They can’t get away. 

Next morning, Walther gets up after having a fabulous dream which - you guessed it! - he turns into a brilliant song which is bound to win, with the help of Hans Sachs. 

So, get this, after messing up his audition only a day before, he comes up with a prizewinning song! And the other guy does a Malvolio and is humiliated in front of everyone. And Sachs sings this inspiring song about the vital importance of Art. Especially German Art. Well, this is Wagner. 

Interesting ending too, you can interpret it as you want. In the last production I saw, the disappointed Beckmesser got an affectionate hug from Sachs, because after all, we’re all Artists, right? And he smiled back. In this one, he slumps in grief after being laughed at by everyone but Eva - who tries to get someone, anyone, to help him and finally walks off in disgust while her new fiancé is being robed as a member of the guild, as the Mastersingers theme crashes and rolls and the curtain falls... I dunno. I think I preferred the other version, where no one really got hurt, but every director has his/her own ideas. 

Anyway, silly! No more Wagner for me, thanks! If it’s on the subscription list, I’ll swap my ticket for something else I’d be happy to see twice. 

Anything you’ve regretted seeing or reading again?