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

I've got a consolation prize, which we'll listen to after just listening to Act I of Die Walküre, now that we've literally got the stage set. The whole act, I mean.

We're going to hear it in the form of the famous 1935 recording of the complete Act I with Bruno Walter conducting the Vienna Philharmonic and the distinguished vocal trio of tenor Lauritz Melchior, soprano Lotte Lehmann, and Emanuel List. You say, everyone's heard that recording? Maybe so, but when's the last time everyone listened to it? I'm not quite as crazy about as some folks, but it's still a pretty impressive job, all the more so for the circumstances in which it was recorded. It can't be easy to maintain just continuity, let alone momentum, when the hour-plus act is chopped up into four-minute-or-so 78-rpm side lengths. And the Siegmund of Melchior remains unique. Even though we've had a number of quite good Siegmunds since (unlike the cases of, say, Tannhäuser and Tristan), and even a couple of first-rate ones (like two we've been hearing, Jon Vickers and James King), no one's come close to Melchior's achievement in the role.

WAGNER: Die Walküre: Act I (complete)


Lauritz Melchior (t), Siegmund; Lotte Lehmann (s), Sieglinde; Emanuel LIst (bs), Hunding; Vienna Philharmonic, Bruno Walter, cond. EMI, recorded June 20-22, 1935


THE PLAN: IN THE NEAR FUTURE I'LL ADD TIME CUES --
HUNDING-CENTRIC, OF COURSE, TO HELP ORIENT YOU

Hunding-centrically focused time cues, of course, which I've still got to work out precisely. I may even add another performance, or maybe more than one. I had a number of broadcast performances in mind, and actually spent a fair amount of time performing technical feats on one that climaxed in: (a) my blowing up the file with my special technial wizardry, and (b) my realizing I wasn't so sure the performance, apart from maybe not being worth all that effort, isn't really all that worth sharing in the first place.

WISH I HAD A BETTER IDEA FOR TEXT TRANSLATIONS

I can't help thinking there are a bunch of serviceable German-English Walküre accessible free online, but I haven't yet found one. Here's a side-by-side German-English libretto, with the catch that the translation is for singing, and so both stilted and unreliably accurate. Then there's this side-by-side German-and-English libretto, or libretto-in-progrss; every now and then a couple of German words have been left "native," presumably awaiting further attention from the translator -- or possibly they've been left untranslated by the machine that seems to have whiffed on those word pairings while spookily literally look-up-translating the rest. Or there's this ghostly photo-reproduction of an ancient (1904) German-English libretto, so faint that it's just barely readable, or readable-ish. Sorry! If I find something, I'll let you know.

AS TO THAT CONSOLATION PRIZE I MENTIONED . . .

Which may not be so much a consolation prize as an explanation of sorts of the meager forward progress toward what was supposed to be this week's Walküre post. Most of you will know who's singing here, and when and why, and even with what result. I think it might be fun, though, if you don't know.

For now one thing you need to know is that the work our extract comes from exists in both German and English versions, which we'll talk about when we get around to a proper, or more proper, post on the subject. Which, honestly, I could have sworn I've already done at some misty point in the low-visibility past. I have a clear memory of grapply with s number of specific issues that would have been involved, and still will be, seeing as how they don't seem to have been dealt with. And I can't find any of the normal signs of a memory-shrouded post lurking somewhere in the archive, signs like archived audio files.

Now I just have to figure out which performances to include here. After a frenzy of file-making, I've got something like a half-dozen of each version. I do know that we're going to start with the English versions, and despite the disparagement I just dished out on using singing translations in place of actual one, the singing English version is all the Englishing we're going to do.

The English version

It is enough! O Lord, now take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers! I desire to live no longer: now let me die, for my days are but vanity.

I Kings XIX:4, Job VII:16

I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts, for the children of Israel have broken Thy covenant, and thrown down Thine altars, and slain all Thy prophets, slain them with the sword. And I, even I only am left: and they seek my life to take it away! It is enough! O Lord, now take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers. Now let me die, Lord, take away my life.

I Kings XIX:10

It is enough! etc.

Bryn Terfel, bass-baritone; Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Paul Daniel, cond. Decca, recorded 1996

Harold Williams, bass-baritone; Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Albert Coates, cond. EMI, recorded 1947

Willard White, bass-baritone; London Symphony Orchestra, Richard Hickox, cond. Chandos, recorded Apr. 21-25, 1989

The German version


Friedrich Schorr, bass-baritone; New Symphony Orchestra, Albert Coates, cond. EMI, recorded April 1930

Alistair Miles, bass; Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Kurt Masur, cond. Teldec, recorded Jan. 7-11, 1992

José van Dam, bass-baritone; Symphony Orchestra of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie (Brussels), Antonio Pappano, cond. Forlane, recorded June 1994


OKAY, SO WE STILL HAVE TO FINISH WITH HUNDING, AND
GET BACK TO FIDELIO, PLUS A BUNCH OF OTHER STUFF

All in good time. Probably. I think.

UPDATE: The homing-in-on-Hunding didn't happen, or as it turned out begin, "next week" but rather the week following, in a post called "If we're aiming to focus on Hunding -- and we are -- then first we need to get him onstage." Hey, I did say "probably next week" (emphasis added), didn't I?

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