Number 202: July 2011 - Wagner Society of England

DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG AT GLYNDEBOURNE
2nd June 2011
Jeremy D Rowe
Everyone knows about Glyndebourne: the glamorous frocks and dinner jackets, the
posh picnics, the air of well-to-do self-satisfaction and so on, but what about the opera? As
long as it feels good, that will do, it appears, and this production of Meistersinger rarely rose
above the level of comfort-food for those who like opera to be “nice” rather than challenging.
The orchestra was a bit woolly, with a very unfocussed overture setting the scene for
this dull production. Vladimir Jurowski worked hard, but failed to galvanise his band. The
conventional staging by David McVicar was dreary. Apparently the opera was set in Regency
times, with very pretty costumes in Act I, although Beckmesser was made to look like
Disraeli – the only character in black with a frightful black wig – a crude attempt to make
him look “Jewish”? The rest of the cast were dressed in co-ordinating autumnal colours.
In Act II a big statue (like the one in Nuremburg of Hans Sachs?) dominated the
stage. All the sets were very cluttered, leaving insufficient room for the huge chorus. The riot
scene was very unsuccessful with far too many people all squashed together on the stage
unable to move. The chorus managed to sing extremely well, but were sadly lacking direction
in their movement.
In Act I there was some strange fan vaulting, architecturally unrealistic, and far too
dominant. It was left to overwhelm the Act II market place and it was even odder to find this
heavy and unattractive ceiling still there in the Act III meadow. In Act III we found Hans
Sachs in his library – a huge and overwhelmingly cluttered room. At least this made it clear
that he's a poet and bookworm, but hardly a shoemaker. The gimmick of Beckmesser poking
around with drawers opening and closing on their own (a cheap laugh straight out of Blythe
Spirit) was irrelevant to the story, and an inappropriate attempt to find low-level comedy.
Sachs had a bust of Wagner on his desk – in Regency times?
Hans Sachs (Gerald Finley) was well sung with great intensity, in a rather Italianate
style, turning him into a tragic figure, foolish not wise in his loss of Eva. The rest of the cast
were adequate, but no-one was stunning, and I had an uncomfortable feeling that
Beckmesser (Johannes Martin Kranzle) actually could outsing Walter (Marco Jentzsch).
It was in the final scene that I became the most unsure of this production. There was
an uneasy feeling that McVicar was lampooning German culture rather than celebrating it.
The Mastersingers arrived in their Regency clothes, wearing Tudor cloaks and oversized top
hats, looking like Ken Dodd’s Diddymen. They proceeded to mess about and be generally
silly – completely lacking in any sense of gravitas. Then poor Walter appeared in a toy soldier
uniform – the silliest idea in the whole show. If this was to show that he’s a high-born
German, it failed: he looked like a fugitive from a comic opera.
The relationship between Sachs/Eva/Beckmesser was the only interesting or
investigative aspect of the production. Within the superficial jollity of the midsummer
celebrations, this was a tragedy at heart; Sachs and Beckmesser failing to get the girl, she
clinging reluctantly to Walter, but clearly at the end, unsure and perhaps regretting the
outcome of the song conquest, stuck with the chocolate soldier. In conclusion, Sachs and
Beckmesser embraced in recognition of the sadness of their mutual failure. This was an easylistening,
undemanding, crowd-pleasing production and the audience gave it a tremendous
ovation at the end. So that’s alright then!
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