Concert Streak Days 2, 3, and 4: Fidelio, Don Carlos, and Israel in Egypt
Saturday:
Fidelio: €9
Coffee and Obstplunder: €4
Sunday:
Tithe: €2.50
Don Carlos: €9
Monday:
Month Ticket for the U-bahn: €45
Ticket for Israel in Egypt: €40 (and worth every penny!)
Once again, too long! Well, Saturday began with Friday night upstairs with the boys, when I found out that they were doing Israel in Egypt at the Musikverein...I almost wet my pants, for seriously. It's my favorite oratorio ever, and it's never ever performed (especially in the states, where we never do oratorio except the gosh-darn Messiah) Well, I walked down to the Musikverein on Saturday before work, but of course both the Konzertkassa and Jeunesse were closed. I did also notice on the playbill of the month that it was playing Monday and Tuesday, which the Musikverein bulletin did not mention because Tuesday night's performance is through Jeunesse, so I guess they don't list that in their thing.....it's such a strange system.....anyway, I promised myself to get tickets first thing Monday morning and went to work, and was there from 10 until 4...after that I met Mike and Mark at the opera to see Fidelio. Mark is Mike's roommate from Northwestern who's studying at IES Milan and popped up to Vienna this weekend to see Mikey-poo, as he calls him. We happened to meet up with some other IES kids while there, and we all stood up in the Gallerie together. The opera was interesting. I enjoyed the music way more than I had expected, but frankly "Goodnight Moon" had a more interesting plot. OK, that's a bit of an overstatement, but nothing much happened in the 2.5 hour+ opera. The whole third act could be boiled down to "Florestan is released by the good guy, while the bad guy is punished." Of course, this all took about 45 minutes. The third act also came after a 15-minute orchestral interlude....basically a second overture. What it was doing in the middle of the opera I haven't the foggiest, but whatever. We love Beethoven! It was Seiji Ozawa's first performance (I think) since he came back from Japan touring with the opera, and I think that's why such a huge crowd was there.....I've never seen them go more nuts during an ovation, and it was more for the orchestra than the singers. (although the woman who played Leonore/Fidelio was not only an amazing vocalist, but a phenomenal actress) In any case, after the opera, we went back to Mike's place and hung out for a while, then I went home and talked to Andrew for hours, which was great!
Sunday morning I was able to get up early thanks to the extra hour of sleep I got from Daylight Savings Time, and I went to Stephansdom nice and early to see their program of early music. They did Palestrina, Schütz, Byrd, Tallis, and some other people. It was really really great. The choir was really good, and I really liked the conductor's interpretation, especially of the Palestrina and the Schütz (which was SO cute! auf daß al-le; alle-alle-alle!). The service itself was okay, I understood less of the German in the homily than I had at Augistinerkirche, but whatever. The people definitely seemed friendlier, maybe because they weren't going to a church which had basically whored itself out to the concert-going tourist crowd, as had the Augistinerkirche has done. I go back pretty soon to see Elias there, which should be fun. I threw down €40 for that concert, which in retrospect was probably a bit too much....whatever. I'll enjoy sitting in the front row, I'm sure! After church I went home, dicked around for a while, then went back to the opera to meet Mike and Mark there for Don Carlos. I wasn't terrificly enthused about it, but since I've made it my goal to see everything there I thought I might as well see it with friends. Mike had already seen it, and obviously liked it enough to go again. I actually really enjoyed it! It was a new production, so the staging was a bit....strange, but everything fit together nicely. This production was actually the debut of the five-act French version which was supposed to be the original premiere, but it ended up being premiered in Milan first, and by the time they did it in Paris they had to cut it. So not only was this production in French (which made it quite different, I'm sure, than the Italian version by that nature alone) but it was hecka long and had a ballet in the middle (as all self-respecting French operas must) However, instead of a ballet, they did a dream sequence of one of the main characters who's in love with Don Carlos. (I mean that in both senses of that phrase....there are a few main characters who are in love with Don Carlos) Basically it was pantomime (no dialogue or singing during the ballet music!) and it was this woman dreaming about her and Carlos in married life á la typical 1950's sitcom. (keep in mind the rest of the opera, although sparsely decorated, was clearly period) It was hi-larious! Not only did it go along with the music, but it was interesting to see everyone's character being portrayed in an entirely different (and completely farcical) plot.....it was great. Afterwards many people bood, which I though was kind of shitty....I mean, come on, it was original, and it worked really well. Also, it made the high drama and tension of the end so much more effective, because afterwards you realized that the production had captured such a wide range of emotions. Anyway, during the intermission they set up steps and a platform through the pit that connected the house to the stage, and the auto-da-fé sequence took place as sort of a Hollywood-premiere-red-carpet-style procession through the foyet of the opera house and onto the stage, where the HUMONGOUS chorus was dressed in modern dress and having a good time. It was an interesting confluence of temporal parameters, since the leads were no longer wearing their simple black with fluffy 18th century Spanish collar, but tuxes and ball gowns and stuff. At some point (I missed what was happening dramatically) Carlos and his cronies started spreading these little photo-pamphlet things to the people on stage, and simultaneously people went through the audience distributing them. At a certain point, though, the people stopped passing them out and threw them from the balconies, creating a confetti rain over the Parkett. (it reminded me of that show "Five Guys Named Moe" that we saw at that theater.....what was it called?? The Doolittle? Was that it? or was that her name? or both? I can't remember.....) Anyway the production was amazing, and even some stodgy Viennese people didn't like it, I thought it was the most effective modern opera staging I've ever seen.
After the opera we went back to my place to pick up food, and then went to Mike's place to fix a late dinner. Park and Gretchen met us there, and after a short dinner we went out to this gay café near Mike's apartment. It was a pretty nice place, and although I didn't get anything, I tried the red wine, which was good. Mark ended up meeting this German guy from Köln and exchanging phone numbers. (now if he's ever in Köln, or if this guy is ever in Milan, they'll know someone......or something.....) I went home shortly after that and went to bed.
Monday began with Amanda coming at about 9 am to pick up her stuff....she brought me the cutest little ornament thing from Italy...it was so thoughtful! We talked for a while, and then I went to the Musikverein to get tickets for Israel in Egypt. What I didn't count on was the fact that it was a holiday, and therefore the Kassa was closed until an hour before the concert. I went home, took a nap, and then went back to the Kassa at 6:00 and, finding nobody there waiting for it to open, decided to walk around and try to find the Konzerthaus, which I knew was one stop down on the U4. I walked around for 20 minutes, finally found it, and then went back to the Musikverein. When I got there at 6:32 there was a huge line of maybe about 45 people waiting to get tickets. My heart sunk a bit, and I scolded myself for not just staying and waiting for it to open. As I moved up the line, I saw a man asking if anyone wanted one ticket. I called him over and asked him where it was, and he showed it to me. It was in the 9th row of the Orchestra level, right in the center. It was a €56 ticket, and he wanted €40. Thinking this fair, I bought it from him. He also gave me a printout he had made for his wife (whom the ticket was originally for) of the libretto translated into German, which was fun even though the oratorio was in English. Thanking him, I rushed back home to change into nicer clothes and made it back by around 7:15, at which time I took my seat.
And what a seat it was! Very rarely have I sat that close...it was amazing. The concert itself was just amazing....although there were tiny little interpretative things I didn't like, for instance his constant punching of syllables like "he gave them hailstones for rain" with little sense of arc or line, mostly everything was great. The orchestra was FANTASTIC, and I realized that I need to learn more about bowing practices for early/baroque music....they were doing a lot of re-takes for the dotted rhythm, which made a big difference in their sound. The strings as a whole sounded just fantastic, and managed to pull off a surprisingly unified sound. It was also probably the largest orchestra of period instruments I've seen, but I liked the effect a lot. The winds sounded great (I love the baroque oboe sound) and the brass gave a cool effect. The timpani was a bit loud, but I think that's in keeping with the style. The choir was incredible, despite a couple of really egregious mistakes in their English diction. W's and soft TH's tend to be problematic, I guess. In the "he rebukéd the red sea," they instantly changed from a bright, strident, proclamatory sound to a soft, spinny, pulled-back sound for "and it was driéd up." The contrast was completely unanimous, and it was an awesome effect. There were a couple of places when the lack of line really got on my nerves, like "and the locusts came in a thunder" which I'd rather hear as a long flowing line over the fast tremelo-like runs in the strings; he instead chose to punch each syllable, so the effect wasn't as breathtaking as it could have been. (usually when I hear that movement I get REALLY verklempt.....) The soloists were really good, except for the tenor. I don't know what was up with him. He had more vibrato than the whole choir put together, and he had TERRIBLE diction. "Nou zere araz a niu king offe Eegypt, vhich new not Jiosef," for example. Despite my good knowledge of the piece inside and out, it took all my energy to understand what he was saying. The sopranos were great, and the countertenor was amazing! The bass duet was OK....they kept breathing a measure early, and I was constantly afraid they were going to come in early....it was weird. They also grimaced A LOT, which was really distracting. For the soprano solo at the end, where she sings "Sing ye to the LORD for he hath triumphéd gloriously" acapella and then the entire chorus and tutti orchestra respond with a ff proclamation of "The LORD shall reign forever and ever," they had the soprano soloist on the organ balcony thing, which was an amazingly powerful effect....it was as if she was really in front of the people leading them through the desert and singing, just as Miriam ("the prophetess, the sister of Aaron") had done. Well, the concert was amazing, and I feel like I learned a lot about the piece and about different ways to articulate and phrase the music. I'll never forget that night.......
After the concert I went down to Hietzing to say Hi to Gretchen on her birthday, and then went home and was up until about 4:00 writing my papers for Classical Symphony. And that's the end of THAT chapter!
Fidelio: €9
Coffee and Obstplunder: €4
Sunday:
Tithe: €2.50
Don Carlos: €9
Monday:
Month Ticket for the U-bahn: €45
Ticket for Israel in Egypt: €40 (and worth every penny!)
Once again, too long! Well, Saturday began with Friday night upstairs with the boys, when I found out that they were doing Israel in Egypt at the Musikverein...I almost wet my pants, for seriously. It's my favorite oratorio ever, and it's never ever performed (especially in the states, where we never do oratorio except the gosh-darn Messiah) Well, I walked down to the Musikverein on Saturday before work, but of course both the Konzertkassa and Jeunesse were closed. I did also notice on the playbill of the month that it was playing Monday and Tuesday, which the Musikverein bulletin did not mention because Tuesday night's performance is through Jeunesse, so I guess they don't list that in their thing.....it's such a strange system.....anyway, I promised myself to get tickets first thing Monday morning and went to work, and was there from 10 until 4...after that I met Mike and Mark at the opera to see Fidelio. Mark is Mike's roommate from Northwestern who's studying at IES Milan and popped up to Vienna this weekend to see Mikey-poo, as he calls him. We happened to meet up with some other IES kids while there, and we all stood up in the Gallerie together. The opera was interesting. I enjoyed the music way more than I had expected, but frankly "Goodnight Moon" had a more interesting plot. OK, that's a bit of an overstatement, but nothing much happened in the 2.5 hour+ opera. The whole third act could be boiled down to "Florestan is released by the good guy, while the bad guy is punished." Of course, this all took about 45 minutes. The third act also came after a 15-minute orchestral interlude....basically a second overture. What it was doing in the middle of the opera I haven't the foggiest, but whatever. We love Beethoven! It was Seiji Ozawa's first performance (I think) since he came back from Japan touring with the opera, and I think that's why such a huge crowd was there.....I've never seen them go more nuts during an ovation, and it was more for the orchestra than the singers. (although the woman who played Leonore/Fidelio was not only an amazing vocalist, but a phenomenal actress) In any case, after the opera, we went back to Mike's place and hung out for a while, then I went home and talked to Andrew for hours, which was great!
Sunday morning I was able to get up early thanks to the extra hour of sleep I got from Daylight Savings Time, and I went to Stephansdom nice and early to see their program of early music. They did Palestrina, Schütz, Byrd, Tallis, and some other people. It was really really great. The choir was really good, and I really liked the conductor's interpretation, especially of the Palestrina and the Schütz (which was SO cute! auf daß al-le; alle-alle-alle!). The service itself was okay, I understood less of the German in the homily than I had at Augistinerkirche, but whatever. The people definitely seemed friendlier, maybe because they weren't going to a church which had basically whored itself out to the concert-going tourist crowd, as had the Augistinerkirche has done. I go back pretty soon to see Elias there, which should be fun. I threw down €40 for that concert, which in retrospect was probably a bit too much....whatever. I'll enjoy sitting in the front row, I'm sure! After church I went home, dicked around for a while, then went back to the opera to meet Mike and Mark there for Don Carlos. I wasn't terrificly enthused about it, but since I've made it my goal to see everything there I thought I might as well see it with friends. Mike had already seen it, and obviously liked it enough to go again. I actually really enjoyed it! It was a new production, so the staging was a bit....strange, but everything fit together nicely. This production was actually the debut of the five-act French version which was supposed to be the original premiere, but it ended up being premiered in Milan first, and by the time they did it in Paris they had to cut it. So not only was this production in French (which made it quite different, I'm sure, than the Italian version by that nature alone) but it was hecka long and had a ballet in the middle (as all self-respecting French operas must) However, instead of a ballet, they did a dream sequence of one of the main characters who's in love with Don Carlos. (I mean that in both senses of that phrase....there are a few main characters who are in love with Don Carlos) Basically it was pantomime (no dialogue or singing during the ballet music!) and it was this woman dreaming about her and Carlos in married life á la typical 1950's sitcom. (keep in mind the rest of the opera, although sparsely decorated, was clearly period) It was hi-larious! Not only did it go along with the music, but it was interesting to see everyone's character being portrayed in an entirely different (and completely farcical) plot.....it was great. Afterwards many people bood, which I though was kind of shitty....I mean, come on, it was original, and it worked really well. Also, it made the high drama and tension of the end so much more effective, because afterwards you realized that the production had captured such a wide range of emotions. Anyway, during the intermission they set up steps and a platform through the pit that connected the house to the stage, and the auto-da-fé sequence took place as sort of a Hollywood-premiere-red-carpet-style procession through the foyet of the opera house and onto the stage, where the HUMONGOUS chorus was dressed in modern dress and having a good time. It was an interesting confluence of temporal parameters, since the leads were no longer wearing their simple black with fluffy 18th century Spanish collar, but tuxes and ball gowns and stuff. At some point (I missed what was happening dramatically) Carlos and his cronies started spreading these little photo-pamphlet things to the people on stage, and simultaneously people went through the audience distributing them. At a certain point, though, the people stopped passing them out and threw them from the balconies, creating a confetti rain over the Parkett. (it reminded me of that show "Five Guys Named Moe" that we saw at that theater.....what was it called?? The Doolittle? Was that it? or was that her name? or both? I can't remember.....) Anyway the production was amazing, and even some stodgy Viennese people didn't like it, I thought it was the most effective modern opera staging I've ever seen.
After the opera we went back to my place to pick up food, and then went to Mike's place to fix a late dinner. Park and Gretchen met us there, and after a short dinner we went out to this gay café near Mike's apartment. It was a pretty nice place, and although I didn't get anything, I tried the red wine, which was good. Mark ended up meeting this German guy from Köln and exchanging phone numbers. (now if he's ever in Köln, or if this guy is ever in Milan, they'll know someone......or something.....) I went home shortly after that and went to bed.
Monday began with Amanda coming at about 9 am to pick up her stuff....she brought me the cutest little ornament thing from Italy...it was so thoughtful! We talked for a while, and then I went to the Musikverein to get tickets for Israel in Egypt. What I didn't count on was the fact that it was a holiday, and therefore the Kassa was closed until an hour before the concert. I went home, took a nap, and then went back to the Kassa at 6:00 and, finding nobody there waiting for it to open, decided to walk around and try to find the Konzerthaus, which I knew was one stop down on the U4. I walked around for 20 minutes, finally found it, and then went back to the Musikverein. When I got there at 6:32 there was a huge line of maybe about 45 people waiting to get tickets. My heart sunk a bit, and I scolded myself for not just staying and waiting for it to open. As I moved up the line, I saw a man asking if anyone wanted one ticket. I called him over and asked him where it was, and he showed it to me. It was in the 9th row of the Orchestra level, right in the center. It was a €56 ticket, and he wanted €40. Thinking this fair, I bought it from him. He also gave me a printout he had made for his wife (whom the ticket was originally for) of the libretto translated into German, which was fun even though the oratorio was in English. Thanking him, I rushed back home to change into nicer clothes and made it back by around 7:15, at which time I took my seat.
And what a seat it was! Very rarely have I sat that close...it was amazing. The concert itself was just amazing....although there were tiny little interpretative things I didn't like, for instance his constant punching of syllables like "he gave them hailstones for rain" with little sense of arc or line, mostly everything was great. The orchestra was FANTASTIC, and I realized that I need to learn more about bowing practices for early/baroque music....they were doing a lot of re-takes for the dotted rhythm, which made a big difference in their sound. The strings as a whole sounded just fantastic, and managed to pull off a surprisingly unified sound. It was also probably the largest orchestra of period instruments I've seen, but I liked the effect a lot. The winds sounded great (I love the baroque oboe sound) and the brass gave a cool effect. The timpani was a bit loud, but I think that's in keeping with the style. The choir was incredible, despite a couple of really egregious mistakes in their English diction. W's and soft TH's tend to be problematic, I guess. In the "he rebukéd the red sea," they instantly changed from a bright, strident, proclamatory sound to a soft, spinny, pulled-back sound for "and it was driéd up." The contrast was completely unanimous, and it was an awesome effect. There were a couple of places when the lack of line really got on my nerves, like "and the locusts came in a thunder" which I'd rather hear as a long flowing line over the fast tremelo-like runs in the strings; he instead chose to punch each syllable, so the effect wasn't as breathtaking as it could have been. (usually when I hear that movement I get REALLY verklempt.....) The soloists were really good, except for the tenor. I don't know what was up with him. He had more vibrato than the whole choir put together, and he had TERRIBLE diction. "Nou zere araz a niu king offe Eegypt, vhich new not Jiosef," for example. Despite my good knowledge of the piece inside and out, it took all my energy to understand what he was saying. The sopranos were great, and the countertenor was amazing! The bass duet was OK....they kept breathing a measure early, and I was constantly afraid they were going to come in early....it was weird. They also grimaced A LOT, which was really distracting. For the soprano solo at the end, where she sings "Sing ye to the LORD for he hath triumphéd gloriously" acapella and then the entire chorus and tutti orchestra respond with a ff proclamation of "The LORD shall reign forever and ever," they had the soprano soloist on the organ balcony thing, which was an amazingly powerful effect....it was as if she was really in front of the people leading them through the desert and singing, just as Miriam ("the prophetess, the sister of Aaron") had done. Well, the concert was amazing, and I feel like I learned a lot about the piece and about different ways to articulate and phrase the music. I'll never forget that night.......
After the concert I went down to Hietzing to say Hi to Gretchen on her birthday, and then went home and was up until about 4:00 writing my papers for Classical Symphony. And that's the end of THAT chapter!
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