Très chers amis et amies, dearest friends, liebe Freunden,
Veuillez, je vous prie, pardonner mon absence prolongée de mon bien-aimé blogue, but I have been such a buseeeeh ladeeeh in the last couple of weeks!
In exchange for your patience and your love for my blog, je m’engage à vous révéler des détails juicy et croustillants à propos de… la production Das Rheingold qui fut présentée au Bayerische Staatsoper de Munich samedi soir dernier, le 4 février 2012.
Quoi? Comment? Why would I know anything about it? Well, because I was part of the production! I’d love to say that I was singing one of the Rhine maidens, but nope, not yet, unfortunately! Ma première expérience sur la magnifique scène de l’Opéra de Munich was completely mute, as I was part of the 100 extras/figurantes/Statistinnen on stage. We’ve been rehearsing our staging since late December 2011, and let me tell you that the Munich State Opera has a lot o’ moooney!
Unlike in Canada or in the States, the German State Opera Companies (There are more than 80 overall Germany! ) bénéficient du soutien du gouvernement allemand. L’opéra est à la culture allemande ce que le hockey est à la culture canadienne! (Dommage que notre gouvernement ne prenne pas exemple sur les pays européens en matière de financement de la culture, mais bon, ça, c’est une autre histoire!) That is why poor students and opera lovers can have tickets for often less than 12 Euros! (Mostly standing places, but you can always switch place for the vacant first row seats after intermission!)
Since I arrived here in Munich, I saw more than 20 operas and ballet productions as well as symphonic concerts and Liederabend sans devoir casser mon petit cochon-tirelire! Also, as an employee of the Bayerische Staatsoper, I have the incredible chance to see the dress rehearsals of multiple performances… for free! It’s amaaaazing! I loooove Munich! Quand est-ce que l’Opéra de Montréal offrira des billets réduits aux étudiants en musique et l’accès gratuit à ses générales aux étudiants en chant des divers facultés de musique montréalaises? Never ever in my 5 years at the Schulich School of Music have I had the chance to see an opera performance at Wilfrid-Pelletier Hall for less than 35$… Don’t you think this is way too expensive for a poor, but super dooper motivated music student? I totally do!
Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle has always been an extremely important event in Munich throughout the years. Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold ou «L’or du Rhin») is the first of the four operas that constitute Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung ou «L’anneau de Nibelung»). It was originally written as an introduction to the tripartite Ring, but the cycle is now generally regarded as consisting of four individual operas.
Das Rheingold was presented for the first time at the National Theatre in Munich on September 22nd, 1869, with August Kindermann in the role of Wotan, Heinrich Vogl as Loge, and Karl Fischer (not to be confused with Karl von Fischer, the first architect of the opera house!) as Alberich. Wagner wanted this opera to be premiered as part of the entire cycle, but was forced to allow the performance at the insistence of his patron King Ludwig II of Bavaria. On August 13th, 1876, the opera received its premiere as part of the complete cycle in the Bayreuther Festspielhaus. Considerably shorter than its three successors, Das Rheingold consists of four scenes performed without a break (approximately 3 hours).
L’or du Rhin, tel que présenté par Andreas Kriegenburg, le metteur en scène du Ring 2012 de Munich, est très différent de celui imaginé par Wagner. (Synopsis: http://isabellenicolas.wordpress.com/opera-2/das-rheingold/) His staging is very modern, minimalist, but nevertheless very interesting to perform and to watch, of course! For example, at the very beginning of the opera, all of the extras are on stage, dressed up in white clothes, representing a Sommergesellschaft, soit une société de jeunes gens se délectant de la douce brise estivale tout en faisant un pique-nique (Oui, oui! On se bourre réellement la fraise de Kaffee und Kuchen sur scène!). Tout le monde parle, parle, jase, jase et soudainement, on arrête de parler pour se mettre à claquer de la langue en coeur. That noise produced by a 100 people really sounds like water drops and everybody in the audience is wondering where it comes from. Then, the magnificent prelude starts.
And the Eurotrash staging takes place, as would my North American colleagues say! We all take off our clothes and start putting blue paint on each other: we represent the River Rhine. (But wait a minute! We actually wear color skin granny underwear, so no, we’re not naked on stage!) The wonderful Swiss choreographer Zenta Hartner has accomplished an amazing job with all of us. We do really look amazing! La chorégraphie qu’elle nous a concoctée nous fait onduler tantôt doucement et sensuellement, tantôt furieusement et fougueusement, telles les vagues du Rhin. Je vous jure: on a eu des supers commentaires de la part du public et des critiques! En fait, on vole la vedette aux chanteurs, tssss!!!
Je ne peux vous révéler le reste de la mise en scène, car ce serait trahison envers ma maison d’opéra, mais je vous suggère fortement de cliquer sur le lien suivant afin d’en découvrir davantage à propos de la production!
Premier vidéo en haut de la page à regarder absolument!
Shot during the dress rehearsal on February 2nd, 2012:
http://www.bayerische.staatsoper.de/866–~Staatsoper~bso_aktuell~aktuelles.html
De plus, si vous comprenez l’allemand und Sie haben Lust, mehr über diese Vorstellung zu wissen, I highly recommend that you listen to this entrevue radiophonique avec Andreas Kriegenburg (stage director), Kent Nagano (conductor) et Johan Reuter (Wotan):
http://www.br.de/radio/br-klassik/sendungen/leporello/vorbericht-auftakt-zum-muenchner-ring100.html
Les prochaines performances de Das Rheingold auront lieu le 12 février 2012 ainsi que les 3 et 10 juillet 2012. But I believe it’s already sold out. Sorry!
Mais pour vous consoler, je vais vous donner encore plus de détails croustillants! Oui, je suis comme ça: généreuse et magnanime, pour votre plus grand plaisir! Alors, vous êtes prêts?
Les soirs de première sont toujours très excitants! In the business, we usually say that when the dress rehearsal goes well, the premiere will go bad. Well, the dress rehearsal went super dooper well, and the premiere was… a bit hectic! Everybody performed very well, don’t get me wrong! However, at the very beginning of the opera, part of the huge wooden wall in the very back of the stage fell off the floor, producing a loud Kaboom, followed by even louder feminine screams and German swear words from my fellow Statistinnen (extras/figurantes) that had decided to drink way too much Prosecco before the show. Yes, our dear mother opera house is so caring and loving towards her Mitarbeiter (employee) that she rewards us with candies, chips, nuts, and alcohol for our own entertainment during the multiple pauses we have through the opera. Some of the ladeeez however decided to have fun just a little too soon…
Germans know how to celebrate. Ils se foutent de notre gueule en entendant que nos bars ferment leurs portes à 3 heures du mat’! Here, people don’t show up in the clubs before 2 AM, because they don’t close before 6 or 7 PM… Seriously! Some places even offer breakfast if you can stay long enough! Malaaaaade!
Well, as an opera singer, I NEVER go out. NEVER! (Cough, cough.) It’s really bad for the voice. And so are noisy restaurants, coffee, and dairy products. I always wear a scarf around my neck and I speak very high in my head resonators to enhance the projection of my voice and therefore save it for later.
Soooo, when I heard that there would be a gigantic cast party after the premiere of Das Rheingold, I said:
”Noooooo! I can’t!! I must stay home and rest my voice… I… God!
What am I going to wear?”
Yep. That’s what happened. And I don’t remember the rest. Not a single thing. I know there were a lot of free drinks involved throughout the night… Oh, and the DJ was great! And that guy was really cute… And that other one too! Damn it! Oh yes! And I remember that at one point, I went to the ladies’ room and noticed that the floor was covered with blood… One of the Prosecco girls had broken a wine glass and, since she wasn’t wearing her super high heels anymore, she malencontreusement stepped on it and… well, you know… Girls just wanna have fu-un!
Thought opera was boring? Not anymore, huh?!!
