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
We're now at the point when Hunding has returned home and found a strange man -- a disheveled but virile, rugged-looking stranger, to whom he takes an instant dislike -- being entertained in Hunding's very own home by Hunding's very own wife. He is clearly unhappy, and yet, ironically, circumstances call on him to provide this guy, whoever the hell he is, at least for the night, with the hospitality required of a host by the customs of his tribe, customs that pretty much define the rules of his existence. He is quick and emphatic in provideing assurance of that hospitality.
Act I: Hunding, "Heilig is mein Herd: heilig sei dir mein Haus"
Sacred is my hearth:
may my house be sacred to you!
Emanuel List (bs), Hunding; Vienna Philharmonic, Bruno Walter, cond. EMI, recorded June 20-22, 1935
Ludwig Weber (bs), Hunding; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Wilhelm Furtwängler, cond. Live performance, Mar. 9, 1950
Karl Ridderbusch (bs), Hunding; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Berislav Klobučar, cond. Live performance, Feb. 24, 1968
Kurt Moll (bs), Hunding; Staatskapelle Dresden, Marek Janowski, cond. Eurodisc, recorded Aug. 22-29, 1981
If we call the above Hundings "Group I,"
here's our "Group II" --
Josef Greindl (bs), Hunding; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Joseph Keilberth, cond. Testament, recorded live, July 25, 1955
Kurt Böhme (bs), Hunding; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos, cond. Live performance, Feb. 2, 1957
Herbert Alsen (bs), Hunding; Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Rudolf Moralt, cond. Myto, from the live broadcast of a 1949 concert performance, part of a complete, one-act-at-a-time broadcast Ring
I don't mean to demean Messrs Greindl, Böhme, and Alsen, who were all in their ways respected performers. And yet, and yet --
Am I complaining that the Group II basses don't "sing as pretty" as the Group I ones? Well, in part, though not absolutely unequivocally -- I'm not sure it's unequivocally true that Emanuel List "sings better" than Herbert Alsen. But even setting aside the missed opportunity to give us the aesthetic pleasure of more songful singing, of the sort(s) ("sorts" plural because the particular aesthetic pleasures afforded are distinct in each case) provided by our Group I team, it seems to me that something of dramatic significance is lost in the drop from Group I to Group II.
I know there's an arguement that an outpouring of raw, juiceless bass tone -- the spécialité de maison of our Group II-ers -- makes Hunding sound more "evil," but even if we assume for the moment that "evil" is an appropriate label for Hunding, this isn't an argument I have much use for. So while Messrs Alsen, Greindl, and Böhme all sound duly, um, authoritative, and this matters for Hunding, I don't hear any lack of Hunding-appropriate authority in the singing of Messrs List, Weber, Ridderbusch, and Moll.
And it's not just that I would I rather listen to the Group I guys (not to mention any number of other basses I believe we'll be hearing before we're done with this work unit), though I sure as shootin' would, for me the remarkable beauty built into Wagner's vocal writing -- vocal beauty of an amazing variety of sorts but vocal beauty nevertheless (and I never forget Wagner's grounding in the world of bel canto, especially Bellini -- is a crucial tool in his creation of all his vastly complex characters.
In our immediate instance, for example, Hunding's "Heilig ist mein Herd," I think our Group II basses don't just provide greater aural pleasure but give us a more humanly disturbing character. There's a quality here I'm going to call provisionally "personhood," or maybe better "persondom" -- something I'm going to try to talk about more.
But if you want an example of a really neat touch, listen among our Group I-ers to Ludwig Weber (a singer about whom I've voiced some puzzlement, in that in some of his broadcast perfomances and recordings he sounds like the Bass of the Century while in others he sounds, well, far from it, but who's in splendid shape in this performance with Furtwängler). Note how, far from simply blast out this eminenetly blastable bit of bravado, he really concentrates the tone in the first half ("Heilig ist mein Herd"), and in the second half ("heilig sei dir mein Haus") he actually scales down the dynamic, still producing a tinglingly full, centered, beautiful sound -- an arresting effect that at least for me also produces the distinct sense of a man one would think twice before messing with.
THERE'S NO POINT TRYING TO EXPLAIN WHEN,
WHERE, AND HOW THIS POOR POST DERAILED
So I won't. (It's of consuming interest to me but, I realize, of no or next-to-no interest to anyone else.)
Suffice it to say that we're still not where I hoped we might get when I titled the post from two weeks ago "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." So we're not finished with Hunding, and I think we're going to want to make a detour to visit with that other great bass-voiced Ring "villain," Götterdämmerung's Hagen. By chance, my getting-to-know-Götterdämmerung period was the period of the release of the Solti-Decca and Karajan-DG recordings (made in 1964 and 1969-70, respectively), recordings I still love dearly, still marveling at the improbability of such a difficult opera being recorded so successfully twice in such a short time period.
And it happens that both feature outstanding Hagens: Gottlob Frick at his best with Solti, and Karl Ridderbusch at his best with Karajan. I listened a lot to both singing Hagen's Watch and the Act II "Hoi-ho! Hoi-ho!" call, and in time became even more fascinated with the hair-raising Act II-opening scene between the sleeping Hagen and the apparition of his father, Alberich. (Apparently nobody told Wagner that psychology hadn't been invented yet.) It didn't hurt that both recordings have outstanding Alberichs: Gustav Neidlinger with Solti and Zoltán Kélémen with Karajan. With the sounds of Frick and Ridderbusch lodged in my head, I don't see how the full dimension of Hagen, this extraordinary creation of Wagner, can happen without a singer of top bass caliber, and I'm hoping maybe I can show you what I mean.
NOW, TO GET HUNDING ONSTAGE, DON'T WE FIRST
HAVE TO GET SIEGMUND AND SIEGLINDE ONSTAGE?
We almost managed it last time when we listened to the tempestuous orchestral prelude to Die Walküre, and anyone who read the accompanying stage directions knows that technically speaking we actually had Siegmund onstage -- he just hadn't opened his mouth yet as he stole into Hunding's house seeking refuge from the storm. So why don't we try this again? Only this time we'll let the music run just far enough to hear Siegmund make his entrance and collapse, and then "see" Sieglinde, expecting that her husband has returned home, instead find the unconscious stranger. So let's take a few minutes to get Siegmund and Sieglinde in the picture.
Act I: Prelude to entrances of Siegmund and Sieglinde
Plácido Domingo (t), Siegmund; Deborah Polaski (s), Sieglinde; Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim, cond. Teldec, live recording of a concert performance of Act I, Nov. 28, 1993
Robert Schunk (t), Siegmund; Julia Varady (s), Sieglinde; Bavarian State Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond. EMI, recorded live at the Bavarian State Opera, November 1989
As we did last time, we've got a pair of performances that emphasize different ways that a storm can be projected in music, which I described as emphasizing "more menacing weight" or "more slashing drive." This week our "more menacing weight" guy is once again Daniel Barenboim, but this time in a concert performance of Act I from about the same time as the 1992 Bayreuth Walküre we sampled last time (a year and change later, actually), this time with his own orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin -- and notice how beautifully the Berliners play much of this astonishingly beautiful music. (I guess this is more notable later in the performance. Sorry!)
Our "more slashing drive" guy this week is Wolfgang Sawallisch, from a complete Ring recording that I return to fairly regularly. It's actually the soundtrack of a video Ring (not in fact recorded by EMI, but happily licensed by them from the Japanese company that made the video recording). From Sawallisch I don't expect earth-shaking profundities, but he has a terrific track record for "getting" and bringing to life the core of each individual scene. For example, I don't know that I've heard anyone make such confident, unostentatious sense of the succession of ever-weirder scenes that make up Act II of Siegfried.
WHEW, NOW WE CAN (FINALLY) MOVE ON: IN DUE
TIME SIEGLINDE'S HUSBAND DOES RETURN HOME
As we already know! Let's pick up just before we left off, as Siegmund regains consciousness.
Act I, from Siegmund,"Ein Quell! Ein Quell!,"
to Hunding's entrance
[(1) 0:11; (2) 1:19; (3) 3:00; (4) 3:34; (5) 4:17; (6) 5:31; (7) 7:16; (8) 8:08; (9) 9:07; (10) 11:02; (11) 11:57] Plácido Domingo (t), Siegmund; Waltraud Meier (s), Sieglinde; Philip Kang (bs); Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli, cond. Live performance, July 27, 2000
[(1) 0:11; (2) 1:04; (3) 2:55; (4) 3:30; (5) 4:14; (6) 5:23; (7) 7:07; (8) 7:59; (9) 8:24; (10) 10:43; (11) 11:33] Lauritz Melchior (t), Siegmund; Lotte Lehmann (s), Sieglinde; Emanuel List (bs), Hunding; Vienna Philharmonic, Bruno Walter, cond. EMI, recorded June 20-22, 1935
Günther Treptow (t), Siegmund; Hilde Konetzni (s), Sieglinde; Ludwig Weber (bs), Hunding; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Wilhelm Furtwängler, cond. Live performance, Mar. 9, 1950
I don't know that there's much that needs to be said about the performances. I know I must have had something in mind when I went to the considerable trouble of establishing my own "reference points" and logging them in for our first two clips. (You'll notice that by the time I made the third clip I'd given it up. My recollection is that I also meant to bring several more recordings into this discussion, and that didn't happen either.) Probably I meant to be looking at individual moments of the unfolding scene across our expanded reservoir of performances; this has been scratched from the program. At least the reference points can help reader-listeners keep track of where they are in the two recordings I did "track."
I have to say, though, that glancing quickly at the reference-point list, I do remember the decision, and the effort it required, to make a point of (5), Siegmund's "Die Sonne lacht mir nun neu" (in our translation "the sun smiles on me now anew," with the stipulation that "lacht" means "laughs" really, not "smiles," so it's really a laughing rather than smiling sun), on the ground that even in an opera chock full of music of transcendent beauty, this line engraves itself permanently in memory. We're going to encounter it in another set of audio clips in addition to this one, and it's certainly worth listening for.
As for the performances, as I recall I happened to be playing with the Sinopoli-Bayreuth broadcast at the time. Neither the Siegmund nor the Siegmund is quite what we expect -- a Heldentenor in the first case, a dramatic soprano in the second, but they're both singers of some appeal, while our Hunding is of the sort you get if you can't get someone better.
Then we dip back into the classic 1935 recording of Act I, with the obvious appeal of the Siegmund of Melchior (and for many listeneres of the Sieglinde of Lehmann), and we hear more of the 1950 Furtwängler-La Scala performance with Weber as Hunding.
WE COULD TAKE THIS A STEP FARTHER AND
PUT TOGETHER WHAT WE'VE GOT SO FAR
Well, why don't we?
Act I: Prelude through Hunding's entrance
Ramón Vinay (t), Siegmund; Gré Brouwenstijn (s), Sieglinde; Josef Greindl (bs), Hunding; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Joseph Keilberth, cond. Testament, recorded live, July 25, 1955
James King (t), Siegmund; Régine Crespin (s), Sieglinde; Gottlob Frick (bs), Hunding; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded Oct.-Nov. 1965
Jon Vickers (t), Siegmund; Gundula Janowitz (s), Sieglinde; Martti Talvela (bs), Hunding; Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. DG, recorded Aug., Sept., and Dec., 1966
Siegfried Jerusalem (t), Siegmund; Jessye Norman (s), Sieglinde; Kurt Moll (bs), Hunding; Staatskapelle Dresden, Marek Janowski, cond. Eurodisc, recorded Aug. 22-29, 1981
Though there's a lot we could say about these performances, I'm not sure they really need much.
In Ramón Vinay, Jon Vickers, and James King, I think we've got the most notable of the post-Melchior Siegmunds -- but I also like Siegfried Jerusalem a lot (you may have noticed when we first heard him in "Kühlende Labung" at the top of this post, that he handled the opening passage's baritonal depths as well as anybody, Melchior included). In fact, I like the Janowski-Eurodisc Walküre a lot. For me it doesn't get much better than Jessye Norman's Sieglinde, with that luxuriant vocal richness from top to bottom, with a special nod to that bottom range, and Kurt Moll similarly does everything I could ask for in a Hunding. They both sang their roles in other Walküre recordings, but not better than here, and isn't it handy to have them both in such a good recording?
Vinay is heard in the long-delayed release of the 1955 Bayreuth Ring conducted by Joseph Keilberth, which we knew as far back as the publication of Ring Resounding, the book producer John Culshaw wrote about the ground-breaking recording of the first commercial Ring cycle, that while he was at Bayreuth for other Decca recording projects in 1951 and 1955, he had in fact, of his own volition, taped both the 1951 and 1955 Rings, the latter in stereo! He even prepared the tapes for the 1951 Götterdämmerung conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch for release before yielding to the reality that there was just no way of getting clearance to do so. It wasn't till 1999 that Testament managed to achieve it (I don't think we've heard anything more about the rest of the 1951 Knappertsbusch Ring), and Testament followed up in 2006 with the complete 1955 Keilberth Ring -- in stereo, just as Culshaw had told us.
Vinay himself of course is best known for his Otello, a role he had the distinction of singing with both Toscanini and Furtwängler, but the flood of broadcast-performance issues has bolstered his Wagnerian credentials -- in addition to Siegmund, he was a notable Tristan and Parsifal as well as Siegmund. In "Kühlende Labung" the voice's baritonal core is much in evidence. He not only began his career as a baritone but reverted to baritone (and even bass) roles at the end -- Philips's 1962 Bayreuth recording of Lohengrin, for example, he's heard not in the tenor title role but as the baritone Telramund. And partnering Vinay, Gré Brouwenstijn, who would later sing Sieglinde in the 1961 Leinsdorf-RCA-Decca Walküre, while certainly not a proper-weight-class dramatic soprano, and even with the distraction of that fluttery quick vibrato, seems to me quite a lovely Sieglinde, while our old pal Josef Greindl is, well, himself.
For me the other two Rings that are represented here are more historic: the final installment (1965) of the Solti-Decca Ring and the first installment (1966) of the Karajan-DG. If the Decca Ring, which tapped most of the best-available singers -- in a none-too-abundant marketplace -- for their roles, was more a producer-driven than a conductor-driven enterprise, there's no question who the driving force of the DG Ring is, and with all its imperfections it still seems to me one of the great things Karajan did. Cast-wise, all six singers in these two Walküre Act I performances seem to me really, really good, definitely including Gundula Janowitz, another too-light-voiced Sieglinde who nevertheless is one of the recorded Sieglindes who moves me most.
SO WHERE ARE WE NOW?
As I noted earlier, having only just gotten Hunding onstage, we're by no means finished with him, and I think we're also going to want to take some of the basses we hear as Hunding and hear them as well as Hagen in Götterdämmerung, where the case for high-quality singing as a key component of "persondom" is even more blatant.
We almost managed it last time when we listened to the tempestuous orchestral prelude to Die Walküre, and anyone who read the accompanying stage directions knows that technically speaking we actually had Siegmund onstage -- he just hadn't opened his mouth yet as he stole into Hunding's house seeking refuge from the storm. So why don't we try this again? Only this time we'll let the music run just far enough to hear Siegmund make his entrance and collapse, and then "see" Sieglinde, expecting that her husband has returned home, instead find the unconscious stranger. So let's take a few minutes to get Siegmund and Sieglinde in the picture.
Act I: Prelude to entrances of Siegmund and Sieglinde
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.
SIEGMUND: Whoever may own this hearth,
I must rest here.
[He sinks back and remains for a while stretched out and motionless. SIEGLINDE enters from the door of the inner room, thinking that her husband has returned. Her grave look changes to one of surprise when she sees a stranger on the hearth.]
SIEGLINDE [still at the back]: A stranger!
I must question him.
[Quietly, she comes a few steps closer.]
Who came in the house
and is lying there by the hearth?
[As SIEGMUND does not move, she comes a little closer and looks at him.]
He lies there weary
and travel-worn --
is he unconscious?
Is he ill?
[She bends over him and listens.] He is still breathing;
he has fallen asleep.
He looks to me a brave man,
though he is now so exhausted.
SIEGMUND [suddenly raising his head]: Drink! Drink!
SIEGLINDE: I will bring you refreshment.
-- stage directions translated by Andrew Porter,
sung text (mostly) by G. M. Holland and Peggie Cochrane
Plácido Domingo (t), Siegmund; Deborah Polaski (s), Sieglinde; Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim, cond. Teldec, live recording of a concert performance of Act I, Nov. 28, 1993
Robert Schunk (t), Siegmund; Julia Varady (s), Sieglinde; Bavarian State Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond. EMI, recorded live at the Bavarian State Opera, November 1989
As we did last time, we've got a pair of performances that emphasize different ways that a storm can be projected in music, which I described as emphasizing "more menacing weight" or "more slashing drive." This week our "more menacing weight" guy is once again Daniel Barenboim, but this time in a concert performance of Act I from about the same time as the 1992 Bayreuth Walküre we sampled last time (a year and change later, actually), this time with his own orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin -- and notice how beautifully the Berliners play much of this astonishingly beautiful music. (I guess this is more notable later in the performance. Sorry!)
Our "more slashing drive" guy this week is Wolfgang Sawallisch, from a complete Ring recording that I return to fairly regularly. It's actually the soundtrack of a video Ring (not in fact recorded by EMI, but happily licensed by them from the Japanese company that made the video recording). From Sawallisch I don't expect earth-shaking profundities, but he has a terrific track record for "getting" and bringing to life the core of each individual scene. For example, I don't know that I've heard anyone make such confident, unostentatious sense of the succession of ever-weirder scenes that make up Act II of Siegfried.
WHEW, NOW WE CAN (FINALLY) MOVE ON: IN DUE
TIME SIEGLINDE'S HUSBAND DOES RETURN HOME
As we already know! Let's pick up just before we left off, as Siegmund regains consciousness.
Act I, from Siegmund,"Ein Quell! Ein Quell!,"
to Hunding's entrance
At the height of a raging storm, SIEGMUND -- completely exhausted, his appearance indicating that he was fleeing, stole into HUNDING's dwelling, moved to the hearth, and collapsed on the bearskin rug. A startled SIEGLINDE, entering the room, approached the seemingly lifeless stranger, bent over him, and discovered that he was still breathing.
SIEGMUND [suddenly raising his head]: Drink! Drink!
SIEGLINDE: I will bring you refreshment.
(1) Sieglinde: "Labung biet' ich dem lechzenden Gaumen"
[She fetches a horn filled with water.]
I proffer relief
for your parched mouth --
the water you called for.
(2) Sgm: "Kühlende Labung gab mir der Quell"
[SIEGMUND drinks, and as he gives SIEGLINDE back the horn, he fixes his eyes on her with growing interest.]
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?
(3) Sgl: "Dies Haus und dies Weib sind Hundings Eigen"
SIEGLINDE: This house and this woman
are Hunding's own;
as a host he will grant you rest:
tarry until his return.
SIEGMUND: I am unarmed;
the wounded guest
your husband will not rebuff.
SIEGLINDE [anxiously]: Quick, show me your wounds!
(4) Sgm: "Gering sind sie, der Rede nicht wert"
SIEGMUND: They are slight,
not worth speaking of,
my limbs are still
in good trim.
Had shield and spear but held out
half as well as my arm,
I should never have fled from the foe
but spear and shield were shattered.
The enemy's horde
harried me to exhaustion,
the force of the storm
wore me out;
but quicker than I fled from the foe,
my tiredness has fled from me;
night closed on my eyelids . . .
(5) Sgm: "Die Sonne lacht mir nun neu"
. . . the sun smiles on me now anew.
SIEGLINDE [fetching a drinking horn filled with mead from the storeroom and offering it to SIEGMUND]:
You will not refuse
a sweet draught of honeyed mead?
SIEGMUND: Will you taste it first?
[After SIEGLINDE has sipped the drink, SIEGMUND takes a long draught. He gazes at her with growing interest, then sighing deeply lowers his eyes to the ground.]
(6) Sgm: "Einen Unseligen labtest du"
You have restored an unfortunate man --
m my wish
avert misfortune from you.
[Starting up and going towards the door]
I have halted and rested well;
now I must wend my way farther.
(7) Sgl: "Wer verfolgt dich, dass du schon fliesst?"
SIEGLINDE: Who pursues you, that you flee so soon?
SIEGMUND: Ill luck follows me
wherever I fly;
ill luck approaches
whereever I stay;
may it stay far from you!
I will turn both step and glance away!
(8) Sgl: "So bleibe hier!"
SIEGLINDE [calling after him impetuously, as he is about to lift the door latch]: Then stay here!
You cannot bring misfortune
where misfortune dwells already!
(9) Sgm, "Wehwalt hiess ich mich selbst: Hunding will ich erwarten"
[SIEGMUND looks searchingly at SIEGLINDE, who lowers her eyes. He returns.]
SIEGMUND: Wehwalt ["Woeful"] I named myself:
I will await Hunding.
[They gaze at one another with deep emotion; then SIEGLINDE, hearing the sound of a horse's hooves, opens the door to HUNDING, who is armed with spear and shield.]
(10) Entrance of Hunding
[HUNDING enters and, perceiving SIEGMUND, pauses on the threshhold, then turns to SIEGLINDE with a look of stern inquiry.]
SIEGLINDE: Worn out, by the fire,
I found this man;
need brought him into the house.
HUNDING: You gave him refreshment?
SIEGLINDE: I gave him to drink;
I tended to him as a guest.
SIEGMUND: For the shelter and the drink
I thank her:
would you rebuke your wife for that?
(11) Hunding: "Heilig ist mein Herd!"
HUNDING: Sacred is my hearth:
may my house be sacred to you!-- translation (mostly) by G. M. Holland and Peggie Cochrane
[(1) 0:11; (2) 1:19; (3) 3:00; (4) 3:34; (5) 4:17; (6) 5:31; (7) 7:16; (8) 8:08; (9) 9:07; (10) 11:02; (11) 11:57] Plácido Domingo (t), Siegmund; Waltraud Meier (s), Sieglinde; Philip Kang (bs); Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli, cond. Live performance, July 27, 2000
[(1) 0:11; (2) 1:04; (3) 2:55; (4) 3:30; (5) 4:14; (6) 5:23; (7) 7:07; (8) 7:59; (9) 8:24; (10) 10:43; (11) 11:33] Lauritz Melchior (t), Siegmund; Lotte Lehmann (s), Sieglinde; Emanuel List (bs), Hunding; Vienna Philharmonic, Bruno Walter, cond. EMI, recorded June 20-22, 1935
Günther Treptow (t), Siegmund; Hilde Konetzni (s), Sieglinde; Ludwig Weber (bs), Hunding; Orchestra of the Teatro alla Scala, Wilhelm Furtwängler, cond. Live performance, Mar. 9, 1950
I don't know that there's much that needs to be said about the performances. I know I must have had something in mind when I went to the considerable trouble of establishing my own "reference points" and logging them in for our first two clips. (You'll notice that by the time I made the third clip I'd given it up. My recollection is that I also meant to bring several more recordings into this discussion, and that didn't happen either.) Probably I meant to be looking at individual moments of the unfolding scene across our expanded reservoir of performances; this has been scratched from the program. At least the reference points can help reader-listeners keep track of where they are in the two recordings I did "track."
I have to say, though, that glancing quickly at the reference-point list, I do remember the decision, and the effort it required, to make a point of (5), Siegmund's "Die Sonne lacht mir nun neu" (in our translation "the sun smiles on me now anew," with the stipulation that "lacht" means "laughs" really, not "smiles," so it's really a laughing rather than smiling sun), on the ground that even in an opera chock full of music of transcendent beauty, this line engraves itself permanently in memory. We're going to encounter it in another set of audio clips in addition to this one, and it's certainly worth listening for.
As for the performances, as I recall I happened to be playing with the Sinopoli-Bayreuth broadcast at the time. Neither the Siegmund nor the Siegmund is quite what we expect -- a Heldentenor in the first case, a dramatic soprano in the second, but they're both singers of some appeal, while our Hunding is of the sort you get if you can't get someone better.
Then we dip back into the classic 1935 recording of Act I, with the obvious appeal of the Siegmund of Melchior (and for many listeneres of the Sieglinde of Lehmann), and we hear more of the 1950 Furtwängler-La Scala performance with Weber as Hunding.
WE COULD TAKE THIS A STEP FARTHER AND
PUT TOGETHER WHAT WE'VE GOT SO FAR
Well, why don't we?
Act I: Prelude through Hunding's entrance
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.
SIEGMUND: Whoever may own this hearth,
I must rest here.
[He sinks back and remains for a while stretched out and motionless. SIEGLINDE enters from the door of the inner room, thinking that her husband has returned. Her grave look changes to one of surprise when she sees a stranger on the hearth.]
SIEGLINDE [still at the back]: A stranger!
I must question him.
[Quietly, she comes a few steps closer.]
Who came in the house
and is lying there by the hearth?
[As SIEGMUND does not move, she comes a little closer and looks at him.]
He lies there weary
and travel-worn --
is he unconscious?
Is he ill?
[She bends over him and listens.] He is still breathing;
he has fallen asleep.
He looks to me a brave man,
though he is now so exhausted.
SIEGMUND [suddenly raising his head]: Drink! Drink!
SIEGLINDE: I will bring you refreshment.
[She quickly takes a drinking horn and goes out of the house with it. Returning with it filled, she offers it to SIEGMUND.]
I proffer relief
for your parched mouth --
the water you called for.
[SIEGMUND drinks, and hands SIEGLINDE back the horn. As he signals his thanks with his head, his glance fastens on her features with growing interest.]
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?
SIEGLINDE: This house and this woman
are Hunding's own;
as a host he will grant you rest:
tarry until his return.
SIEGMUND: I am unarmed;
the wounded guest
your husband will not rebuff.
SIEGLINDE [with anxious haste]: Quick, show me your wounds!
SIEGMUND [shakes himself and sits up quickly]: They are slight,
not worth speaking of,
my limbs are still
in good trim.
Had shield and spear but held out
half as well as my arm,
I should never have fled from the foe
but spear and shield were shattered.
The enemy's horde
harried me to exhaustion,
the force of the storm
wore me out;
but quicker than I fled from the foe,
my tiredness has fled from me;
night closed on my eyelids;
the sun smiles on me now anew.
SIEGLINDE [goes to the storeroom, fills a horn with mead, and offers it to SIEGMUND with friendly eagerness]:
You will not refuse
a sweet draught of honeyed mead?
SIEGMUND: Will you taste it first?
[After SIEGLINDE sips from the horn and gives it back to him. SIEGMUND takes a long draught, while his gazes rests on her with growing warmth. Still gazing, he takes the horn from his lips and lets it sink slowly, while the expression on his face tells of strong emotion. He sighs deeply and gloomily lets his eyes fall to the ground. With trembling voice:]
You have restored an unfortunate man --
May my wish
avert misfortune from you.
[Starting up and going towards the door]
I have halted and rested well;
now I must wend my way farther.
[He moves towards the back.]
SIEGLINDE: Who pursues you, that you flee so soon?
SIEGMUND [arrested by her cry, slowly and sadly]: Ill luck follows me
wherever I fly;
ill luck approaches
whereever I stay;
may it stay far from you!
I will turn both step and glance away!
[He strides swiftly to the door and lifts the latch.]
SIEGLINDE [calling to him with impetuous forgetfulness]:
Then stay here!
You cannot bring misfortune
where misfortune dwells already!
[SIEGMUND, deeply moved, remains where he is; he gazes intently at SIEGLINDE, who lowers her eyes in embarrassment and sadness. A long silence. SIEGMUND returns into the room.]
SIEGMUND: Wehwalt ["Woeful"] I named myself:
I will await Hunding.
[He leans against the hearth; his eyes fix themselves with calm and steady sympathy on SIEGLINDE. Slowly, she raises her eyes again to his. They gaze into one another's eyes during a long silence, with an expression of the deepest emotion.
[Suddenly SIEGLINDE starts, listens and hears HUNDING, who is leading his horse to the stable outside. She goes quickly to the door and opens it. HUNDING, armed with shield and spear enters and pauses at the threshold on perceiving SIEGMUND. He turns to SIEGLINDE with a look of stern inquiry.]
SIEGLINDE [in answer to his look]:
Worn out, by the fire,
I found this man;
need brought him into the house.
HUNDING: You cared for him?
SIEGLINDE: I gave him to drink;
I tended to him as a guest.
SIEGMUND [watching HUNDING calmly and firmly]:
For the shelter and the drink
I thank her:
would you rebuke your wife for that?
HUNDING: Sacred is my hearth:
may my house be sacred to you!-- stage directions translated by Andrew Porter,
sung text (mostly) by G. M. Holland and Peggie Cochrane
Ramón Vinay (t), Siegmund; Gré Brouwenstijn (s), Sieglinde; Josef Greindl (bs), Hunding; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Joseph Keilberth, cond. Testament, recorded live, July 25, 1955
James King (t), Siegmund; Régine Crespin (s), Sieglinde; Gottlob Frick (bs), Hunding; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded Oct.-Nov. 1965
Jon Vickers (t), Siegmund; Gundula Janowitz (s), Sieglinde; Martti Talvela (bs), Hunding; Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. DG, recorded Aug., Sept., and Dec., 1966
Siegfried Jerusalem (t), Siegmund; Jessye Norman (s), Sieglinde; Kurt Moll (bs), Hunding; Staatskapelle Dresden, Marek Janowski, cond. Eurodisc, recorded Aug. 22-29, 1981
Though there's a lot we could say about these performances, I'm not sure they really need much.
In Ramón Vinay, Jon Vickers, and James King, I think we've got the most notable of the post-Melchior Siegmunds -- but I also like Siegfried Jerusalem a lot (you may have noticed when we first heard him in "Kühlende Labung" at the top of this post, that he handled the opening passage's baritonal depths as well as anybody, Melchior included). In fact, I like the Janowski-Eurodisc Walküre a lot. For me it doesn't get much better than Jessye Norman's Sieglinde, with that luxuriant vocal richness from top to bottom, with a special nod to that bottom range, and Kurt Moll similarly does everything I could ask for in a Hunding. They both sang their roles in other Walküre recordings, but not better than here, and isn't it handy to have them both in such a good recording?
Vinay is heard in the long-delayed release of the 1955 Bayreuth Ring conducted by Joseph Keilberth, which we knew as far back as the publication of Ring Resounding, the book producer John Culshaw wrote about the ground-breaking recording of the first commercial Ring cycle, that while he was at Bayreuth for other Decca recording projects in 1951 and 1955, he had in fact, of his own volition, taped both the 1951 and 1955 Rings, the latter in stereo! He even prepared the tapes for the 1951 Götterdämmerung conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch for release before yielding to the reality that there was just no way of getting clearance to do so. It wasn't till 1999 that Testament managed to achieve it (I don't think we've heard anything more about the rest of the 1951 Knappertsbusch Ring), and Testament followed up in 2006 with the complete 1955 Keilberth Ring -- in stereo, just as Culshaw had told us.
Vinay himself of course is best known for his Otello, a role he had the distinction of singing with both Toscanini and Furtwängler, but the flood of broadcast-performance issues has bolstered his Wagnerian credentials -- in addition to Siegmund, he was a notable Tristan and Parsifal as well as Siegmund. In "Kühlende Labung" the voice's baritonal core is much in evidence. He not only began his career as a baritone but reverted to baritone (and even bass) roles at the end -- Philips's 1962 Bayreuth recording of Lohengrin, for example, he's heard not in the tenor title role but as the baritone Telramund. And partnering Vinay, Gré Brouwenstijn, who would later sing Sieglinde in the 1961 Leinsdorf-RCA-Decca Walküre, while certainly not a proper-weight-class dramatic soprano, and even with the distraction of that fluttery quick vibrato, seems to me quite a lovely Sieglinde, while our old pal Josef Greindl is, well, himself.
For me the other two Rings that are represented here are more historic: the final installment (1965) of the Solti-Decca Ring and the first installment (1966) of the Karajan-DG. If the Decca Ring, which tapped most of the best-available singers -- in a none-too-abundant marketplace -- for their roles, was more a producer-driven than a conductor-driven enterprise, there's no question who the driving force of the DG Ring is, and with all its imperfections it still seems to me one of the great things Karajan did. Cast-wise, all six singers in these two Walküre Act I performances seem to me really, really good, definitely including Gundula Janowitz, another too-light-voiced Sieglinde who nevertheless is one of the recorded Sieglindes who moves me most.
SO WHERE ARE WE NOW?
As I noted earlier, having only just gotten Hunding onstage, we're by no means finished with him, and I think we're also going to want to take some of the basses we hear as Hunding and hear them as well as Hagen in Götterdämmerung, where the case for high-quality singing as a key component of "persondom" is even more blatant.
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