If we're aiming to focus on Hunding -- and we are -- then first we need to get him onstage

BUT FIRST WE'LL NEED TO GET OUR OTHER
WALKÜRE ACT I PRINCIPALS ONSTAGE

The "oil sketch" for Walküre Act I by the Austrian painter

and scenic designer Josef Hoffmann (1831-1904)

Revivified by the drink of water provided by Sieglinde,
Siegmund sings, "Kühlende Labung gab mir der Quell"

SIEGMUND: Cooling relief
the draught has given me;
the burden of my weariness
is lightened;
my courage revives;
my eyes enjoy
the pleasure of sight.
Who is it who has so restored me?

Lauritz Melchior (t), Siegmund; Vienna Philharmonic, Bruno Walter, cond. EMI, recorded June 20-22, 1935

Ramón Vinay (t), Siegmund; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Joseph Keilberth, cond. Testament, recorded live, July 25, 1955

Siegfried Jerusalem (t), Siegmund; Staatskapelle Dresden, Marek Janowski, cond. Eurodisc, recorded Aug. 22-29, 1981

Plácido Domingo (t), Siegmund; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli, cond. Live performance, July 27, 2000

by Ken

Right off the bat you're probably suspicious, and not just because this week's Sunday Classics offering is now slipping out late-ish of a Sunday that's already a full week overdue. You're thinking, "No, wait! If our announced goal is to get Hunding onstage, how come we're listening here to Siegmund?"

A fair question, to which the simple answer is that before we can get Hunding onstage, we've got to get Siegmund onstage -- and, really, Sieglinde as well. Technically speaking we managed in the last post ("Probably next week we'll hear what higher-class singing can mean for even a grim character like Hunding -- this week we've got some other business"). We could read in the stage directions about Siegmund making his appearance, stealing wordlessly into Hunding's house before collapsing by the hearth, but I ended the relevant audio clip just before we would have heard him.

We're going to fix that in a moment, but for now, if you think it would help get us on track -- I mean, to hear a bit of Hunding -- we can do that!


SURE, WE COULD HEAR A BIT OF HUNDING --
WE'LL JUST NEED TO JUMP AHEAD IN ACT I

Probably next week we'll hear what higher-class singing can mean for even a grim character like Hunding -- this week we've got some other business

STORMY WEATHER -- AS IF SIEGMUND DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH
TROUBLES! NO WONDER HE'S SO DESPERATE FOR SHELTER

Inside a dwelling. In the middle stands a mighty ash tree, whose prominent roots spread wide and lose themselves in the ground. The summit of the tree is cut off by a jointed roof, so pierced that the trunk and the boughs branching out on every side pass through it, through openings made exactly to fit. We assume that the top of the tree spreads out above he roof. Around the trunk of the ash, as central point, a room has been constructed. The walls are of rudely hewn wood, here and thre hung with plaited and woven rugs.

In the foreground, right, is a hearth, whose chimney goes up sideways to the roof; behind the hearth is an inner room, like a store room, reached by a few wooden steps. In front of it, half drawn, is a plaited hanging. In the background, an entrance door with a simple wooden latch. Left, the door to an inner chamber, similarly reached by steps. Further forward, on the same side, a table with a broad bench fastened to the wall behind it and wooden stools in front of it.

A short orchestral prelude of violent, stormy character introduces the scene. When the curtain rises, SIEGMUND from without, hastily opens the main door and enters. It is towards evening; a fierce thunderstorm is just about to die down. For a moment, SIEGMUND keeps his hand on the latch and looks around the room; he seems to be exhausted by tremendous exertions; his raiment and general appearance proclaim him a fugitive. Seeing no one, he closes the door behind him, walks to the hearth, and throws himself down there, exhausted, on a bearskin rug.

-- translation by Andrew Porter

This storm has more menacing weight:

Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim, cond. Teldec, recorded live, June-July 1992
While this storm has more slashing drive:

Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi, cond. Decca, recorded 1992

by Ken

The above should provide a gentle reminder that coming off last week's post ("Last week I stuck up for Josef Greindl as Wagner's Daland, and this week too, as both Daland and Hunding -- but only up to a point"), we're lodged in Act I of Die Walküre, with particular focus on that shrouded-in-darkness householder Hunding, into whose house we have just slipped, mere minutes in advance of Siegmund. The idea for this week was that we were going to listen closely to Hunding's contributions to the grisly little domestic scene. We're looking to see what singing of real vocal distinction, allied with seriousness of purpose, of course, can add to the character's dimension.


I STILL WANT TO DO THAT -- JUST NOT RIGHT NOW

Last week I stuck up for Josef Greindl as Wagner's Daland, and this week too, as both Daland and Hunding -- but only up to a point

"Ich weiss ein wildes Geschlecht" ("I know of a wild race") -- Josef Greindl as Hunding, from the video of the June 1963 Knappertsbusch-Vienna Philharmonic concert performance of Act I of Die Walküre (with Fritz Uhl as Siegmund and Claire Watson as Sieglinde)

"Ich weiss ein wildes Geschlecht"
HUNDING: I know of a savage family [race?]
who hold nothing sacred
that others honor.
Everyone hates them, as I do.
I was called to vengeance
to make amends
for family blood.
I came too late,
and now, returning home,
the tracks of the villain who fled
I discover in my own house.

"Mein Haus hütet, Wölfing, dich heut' "
[He walks upstage.]
My house will shelter you,
Wolf-Cub, for today;
for this night I put you up.
But with stout weapons
arm yourself tomorrow.
I choose the day for fighting.
You must pay me for those deaths.
[SIEGLINDE walks anxiously between the two men.]
[to SIEGLINDE] Leave the room!
Don't dally here.
Prepare my night drink
and wait till I come to bed.
[SIEGLINDE remains standing and undecided for a time. Then she moves slowly and with dragging footsteps to the store room. There she pauses again and stands lost in thought, her face half turned away. Quietly but firmly she opens the cupboard, fills a drinking horn, and sprinkles spices into it from a pot. Then her eyes turn to SIEGMUND so as to meet his, which are continually on hers. She realizes HUNDING is watching her and at once goes towards the bedroom. On the steps she turns round again, looks passionately at SIEGMUND, and with a fixed, eloquent glance indicates a spot on the trunk of the tree. HUNDING rises and drives her away with a violent gesture. After a last glance at SIEGMUND, she goes into the bedroom and closes the door behind her. HUNDING removes his armor from the tree.]
With his armor a man protects himself.
[Turning to SIEGMUND as he goes]
You, Wolf-Cub, I will meet tomorrow.
You heard what I said.
Take good care of yourself.
[He goes, with his armor, into the bedroom and is heard closing the bolt on the other side.]

["Mein Haus hütet, Wölfing, dich heut' " at 1:01] Josef Greindl (bs), Hunding; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Hans Knappertsbusch, cond. Live performance, Aug. 14, 1956

by Ken

Hunding's exit leaves us right at the start of Siegmund's monologue, which we happen to have been listening to recently (as sung, twice each, by Jon Vickers, James King, and Plácido Domingo). And we happen also to have heard Hunding's "Ich weiss ein wildes Geschlecht" sung (in bass mode, and closer-cropped) by bass-baritone Gerd Nienstedt, while also hearing him (in baritone mode) clearing the mists with his hammer as Donner in Das Rheingold, both from Philips's 1966-67 live Ring cycle from Bayreuth conducted by Karl Böhm.


["Mein Haus hütet, Wölfing, dich heut' " at 0:47] Gerd Nienstedt (bs-b), Hunding; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. Philips, recorded live at the 1967 festival


NOW I'D MUCH RATHER LISTEN TO GERD, BUT ESPECIALLY
AFTER WATCHING JOSEF G. IN THE 1963 CONCERT VIDEO . . .