Act II
A wild, craggy summit
In the background, a gorge slopes up from below to a high ridge of rocks, from which the ground again sinks to the front.
Scene 1
Wotan, armed for battle, carrying his spear: before him Brunnhilde, as a Valkyrie, likewise fully armed.
Brunnhilde, shouting as she leaps from rock to rock up to the heights on the right.
On a high peak she stops, looks into the gorge at the back and calls back to Wotan
Brunnhilde disappears behind the mountain height at the side. Fricka, in a chariot drawn by two rams, comes up from the gorge to the top of the rocky ridge, where she tops suddenly and alights. She strides impetuously towards Wotan in the foreground.
Scene 3
Arrived at the rocky pass, Brunnhilde, looking into the gorge, perceives Siegmund and Sieglinde: she watches their approach for a moment and then goes into the cave to her horse, disappearing from the audience.
The above are substantial extracts from the stage directions for Wagner's The Valkyrie (in Andrew Porter's translation). Having, on Friday, attended Midsummer Opera's terrific performance of Acts 2 and 3 of the opera, I had cause to read the stage directions as I listened to the singers. I was very struck by Wagner's quite detailed visual images, which would seem almost completely unrealisable on stage. I never saw the previous Ring Cycle at the New York Met, but did see it on TV and don't remember the settings, attractive though there were, being anything like as finely detailed as Wagner requests. I'm not really sure its quite possible on stage.
Which brings me to the point of this post. Why hasn't anyone ever tried it on film. A film version of The Valkyrie which corresponded quite exactly to Wagner's requirements would make rather a thrilling counterpoint to the music. If modern film techniques can manage The Lord of The Rings, then surely they can do the same for Wagner.
Tuesday 28 February 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Septura I first became aware of the brass septet, Septura , when noting their 2017/18 concert series Kleptomania at St John's Smith...
-
Bach: Brandenburg Concertos - title page Six Concerts avec plusieurs instruments: Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann; London Handel Players, director ...
-
The Afghan Youth Orchestra On Thursday 7 March 2024, the Afghan Youth Orchestra makes its debut at the Southbank Centre at the start of its ...
-
Ben Goldscheider Jörg Widmann, Beethoven, Schumann, Huw Watkins, York Bowen; Ben Goldscheider, Richard Uttley; Wigmore Hall Reviewed 17 Marc...
-
Retrospect Opera's recording of Stanford's Shamus O'Brien in rehearsal Charles Villiers Stanford’s opera Shamus O'Brien pre...
-
Stravinsky: The Rake's Progess - Act Three, scene one: the graveyard Frederick Jones, Jerome Knox - English Touring Opera (Photo: © Ric...
-
Henry Brewster (HB) in 1897 Beethoven: Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt , Smyth: The Prison , Brahms: Nänie : Rebecca Bottone, Alex Otterbu...
-
Listening to the sublime closing duet of Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea it is perhaps difficult for us to accept that this music ...
-
Norwich Cathedral Organ (Photo: Bill Smith/Norwich Cathedral) From an epic concert featuring three Cathedral Choirs to the ‘Battle of the Or...
-
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra I get all sorts of mail, people sending my information on concerts and recordings. Everything gets gl...
No comments:
Post a Comment