# The Glory of Wagner - rehearsal diary



## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

Our program, to be performed February 22 and 24th.
This special celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Richard Wagner salutes one of the most radical and progressive composers of all time. Wagner's style is uniquely complex and rich. His operas are among the most challenging and beloved in the repertory. This unique production includes a glorious selection of Wagner's overtures, arias, and choruses on the first half, while the second half features the complete staged Act I of his monumental Ring Cycle opera, _Die Walküre_.

*First Half *
_Lohengrin_: Act III Orchestral Prelude & Bridal Chorus - "Treulich geführt ziehet dahin" | Chorus

_Tannhäuser_: Elizabeth's Aria - "Dich teure Halle" | Kara Shay Thomson, Soprano

_Der Fliegende Holländer_ - Daland's Aria - "Mögst du, mein Kind" | Nathan Stark, Bass

_Rienzi_: Act II Finale Chorus - "Erschallet, Feierklänge!" | Chorus

_Parsifal_: Parsifal's Aria - "Nur eine Waffe" | Erik Nelson Werner, Tenor

_Die Meistersinger_: Act I Orchestral Prelude & Act III Finale | Hans Sachs - William McGraw, Baritone | Chorus

*Intermission *

*Second Half *
Act I: _Die Walküre_ 
Sieglinde - Kara Shay Thomson 
Siegmund - Erik Nelson Werner 
Hunding - Nathan Stark

Our reduced chorus started rehearsal on the above program earlier this week. I say 'reduced' because there are about 70 of us (about 3/4 our full chorus) who will join with the Opera Chorus (of 40) to perform the first half.

Our warmup included an interesting exercise in which we started by breathing in on an 'ooo' syllable like drinking through a straw. We were supposed to concentrate on the cool spot formed on the roof of the mouth and think about placing our vowels in that spot. We cycled through oo-oh-ah-eh-ee. What this does is another method of maximizing the resonant space inside the mouth. The space is to remain constant with the pronunciation formed by the lips.

We started rehearsal on Lohengrin's Bridal Song, which follows the orchestral introduction to Act III. It is titled ERSTE SCENE in our score (Scene One). Our director first asked if any of us were native or fluent German speakers...no....OK, then you will pronounce it however I say! 
We spoke our way through the score in rhythm and then sung in parts. 
If you are not familiar with the opera version (EVERYONE knows "Here Comes the Bride), there is a ABA structure to the song with the B part being a 8-women chorale in 4 parts.
The supplied English translation:

BRIDAL SONG
_(of the men and women_
Faithfully guided, draw near
to where the blessing of love shall preserve you!
Triumphant courage, the reward of love,
joins you in faith as the happiest of couples!
Jewel of youth, proceed!
Flee now the splendour of the wedding feast,
may the delights of the heart be yours!

This sweet-smelling room, decked for love,
now takes you in, away from the spendour.

Faithfully guided, draw now near
to where the blessing of love shall preserve you!
Triumphant courage, love so pure,
joins you in faith as the happiest of couples.

(Eight Women)

As God blessed you in happiness,
so do we bless you in joy.

Watched over by love's happiness,
may you long remember this hour!

(all the men and women)

Faithfully guided, remain behind
where the blessing of love shall preserve you!
Triumphant courage, love and happiness
join you in faith as the happiest of couples.
Jewel of youth, remain here!
Flee now the splendour of the wedding feast,
may the delights of the heart be yours!

This sweet-smelling room, decked for love,
has now taken you, away from the spendour.

Faithfully guided, remain behind
where the blessing of love shall preserve you!
Triumphant courage, love and happiness,
join you in faith as the happiest of couples.

There are many stage directions included and, of course, all the musical marking are in German.

We concluded rehearsal with a read-through of "Ehrt eure deutschen Meister" from Act III of _Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg_.

My rehearsal packet includes a CD which I promise I will listen to this weekend!


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Good luck Lunasong. I love your description and find this so interesting.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

What a wonderful program! I wish I could be present at the performance! Good luck on your rehearsals (especially the pronunciation - Wagner should always sound perfect) and thank you for sharing with us. Nice thread title by the way


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

Thank you Annie and SL; your good wishes mean a lot to me. I would not boast great familiarity with Wagner (or really any of the works I end up performing) but in the act of rehearsing, one really begins to "own" them and they become favorites! Our chorus performed http://www.talkclassical.com/18358-mahler-symphony-no-2-a.html last year, but I don't remember the German being as much of a challenge as this one initially seems. We were complemented on our German on that piece.
I pulled out my rehearsal CD today. It includes a spoken pronunciation guide where the speaker says the entire phrase, then breaks it into segments and leaves a pause for you to repeat after him. (The speaker must be from the Opera, because he is not my director.) Then each full performance section is played with soloists, chorus, and orchestra. 
I've checked on CyberBass and Wagner is not one of the composers listed, so I'm left on my own between rehearsals to learn my part (alto). The parts themselves do not seem difficult. Learning the German until it flows naturally out in a vocal phrase will be the challenge. 
It was very fun to follow along with my score to the CD performance tracks, as the score includes a lot of staging notes which have been translated into English. I have never sung opera before (or even been to the opera in many years) and I'm looking forward to perhaps being able to stay to watch the second half after our performance.
(my very first ambition as a small child was to be an opera singer because, frankly, at that time i didn't know there were other kinds of singers!)


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Sounds very complicated but ultimately very rewarding & I look forward to reading your updates.

I love your childhood notion about opera singers - you were quite right of course!  Hope you'll be able to stay & watch the opera after your performance.


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

We started our rehearsal with an uncharacteristically short warm-up; and delved right into the piece from _Rienzi._ The staging directions state: (jokes supplied by our choral director)
_The procession of Roman citizens approach through the large portal._(Sounds like something out of sci-fi!). _First come the senators,_ (now you KNOW not much is going to happen on that stage!), _followed by the nobles, and the people. Everyone is festively dressed._ (So sing like nationalistic Germans pretending to be nationalistic Romans, wearing your happy clothes!)

The lyrics for this piece are repetitive and seemed easier than the ones we learned last week. Or perhaps I'm getting acclimated. The tempo is very much like a quick march (we are performing @ quarter note = 112, which is faster than the indicated tempo of 96). We sang through this several times in parts on a "dah" syllable, each time one voicing getting the emphasis and the others at lower volume. Then we added the words.
One interesting note is that the score is written for Sopr I & II, Tenor, and Bass. No alto part; we are singing Sopr II.

In English:
Let sounds of celebration ring out!
Sing songs of joy!
Our songs honor him
Who won our freedom!

We were warned to be very careful to enunciate a break between "Jubellieder" and "an."

After break, we looked at the beginning of the selection from _Die Meistersinger_ that we started last week. There are so many pages of orchestral music and stage directions in our part that I am beginning to wonder if this selection might be partially staged. 
The choral part starts with _Silenteum!_

_When Eva, surrounded by the girls, has taken the flower-strewn place of honour and all the rest are in their places, the Masters on the benches, the Journeymen standing behind them, the Prentices advance to the platform in proper order and turn round to the people_

Silence! Silence!
No talking and no murmuring!

Then an antiphonal section praising Hans Sachs...

_Sachs rises and steps forward. At sight of him all nudge each other; hats and caps are taken off; all point at him._

Ha! Sachs! It's Sachs!
Look, Master Sachs!
Begin! Begin! Begin!

_All present except Sachs join in this strophe, taking parts according to their voices.
(All those sitting rise; the men standing with bared heads. Beckmesser, hidden behind the other Masters, is busy trying to learn the song by heart, unobserved by the public._

This section is conducted in 8, with the 8th note receiving a beat of 88-92. We are to stagger-breathe and don't anticipate dynamics.

Awake! the dawn is drawing near;
I hear a blissful nightingale
singing in the green grove,
its voice rings through hill and valley;
night is sinking in the west,
the day arises in the east,
the ardent red glow of morning
approaches through the gloomy clouds.

Then there is a HUGE tempo change to 4/4 with the quarter note getting 100/min.
We return to praising Mr. Sachs.

_From here the chorus of people sing alone; the Masters and other characters take part in the rejoicing of the people._

Hail! Sachs! Hail to you, Hans Sachs!
Hail to Nuremberg's dear Sachs!

(Cut to Sach's final aria)

Then Sachs takes Walther by the hand and sings a aria about honouring the Masters and the Art, and how glorious it is to be German.

The chorus rejoins.
(we learnt this part last week)
_During the following Eva takes the wreath from Walther's head and places it on Sachs's; he takes the chain from Pogner's hand and puts it round Walther's neck. After Sachs has embraced the young couple, Walther and Eva lean against Sachs, one on each side; Pogner sinks on his knee before him as in homage. The Mastersingers point to Sachs, with outstretched hands, as to their chief, All those present - finally also Walther and Eva - join in the people's song._

Honour your German Masters,
then you will conjure up good spirits!
And if you favour their endeavours,
even if the Holy Roman Empire
should dissolve in mist,
for us there would yet remain
holy German Art!

_While the apprentices clap their hands and shout and dance, the people wave hats and kerchiefs in their enthusiasm.
_

Hail, Sachs!
Nuremberg's dear Sachs!

***
We were advised to work extensively with our CDs this week as there will not be a lot of additional time spent on pronunciation. We have now covered all the music at least once.
The tenor part in _Die Meistersinger_ is especially wicked, which led our director to joke that Hans von Bulow must have been a tenor.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

It's very nice of your choir to include a piece from _Rienzi_ into your program. It's not exactly the most popular of Wagner's operas, but it is beautiful nevertheless. And the "Wach auf!" chorus when sung well, is simply... heart-melting.
Keep up the good work!


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

It all seems very complicated but quite wonderful!


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Wow, the second concert is on my birthday. Would that I could be there!


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

I am sick of listening to my rehearsal CD. Sorry, Wagner...
...although I do have the piece from _Rienzi_ stuck in my head. It is my favorite of the three.

First, a comment from a music critic:
_One can't judge Wagner's opera _Lohengrin_ after a first hearing, and I certainly don't intend hearing it a second time._
- Gioacchino Rossini

We had an extremely intense first 1/2 of rehearsal working on the excerpt from _Die Meistersinger._ We reviewed all the German again and worked through the entire piece, section by section. Extra effort was applied to the tempo changes between each section. I have highlighted the score so I can easily move from system to system and find my part. 
I was exhausted after this and thought "maybe we'd worked through break and the rehearsal was over," but no, it was only break time...

We rehearsed the other two selections in the same manner, although they started out in better shape.

German is very much a consonant-driven language, unlike others where the singer concentrates on the vowel sounds. Our director told us that the softer we sing, the louder the consonants need to be to help with enunciation and vocal intensity.

Next week we will be joining with the Opera Chorus and rehearsing under the baton of _Maestro._

Now for a spot of humour...


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

i wish i could sing.


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

Sounds like it's been quite a challenge  I hope you're enjoying it and good luck in two weeks when you perform


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

Our rehearsal this week was the first combined with the Opera Chorus. We were introduced to the opera production manager, who told us what to expect backstage during the upcoming location rehearsals and production. We received the following swag:
A letter with written instructions
A Performer's Stage Door Pass
A pass to the dress rehearsal to give to a friend
An invitation and drink ticket to the Opening Night Cast party at a prestigious restaurant

We will be wearing standard choral dress, so no semi-staging will take place during the first half of the concert, although there was talk of scrims being used. As the first half is a varietal mix of arias, orchestral, and choral selections, this seems appropriate.

After a short warm-up, _Maestro_ took the baton and started us through _Lohengrin_. We spent quite a bit of time working on getting the sixteenth-note rhythm exact, and developing the contrast between the alternating marcato and legato sections. _Maestro_ pointed out to us the subtle change in the harp pattern after the chorale section; it morphs from a 8-sixteenth note per measure pattern to a 12-note triplet pattern at the second A section.

On the _Rienzi_, we again concentrated on perfecting the rhythm pattern. _Maestro_ explained that in many cases, the vocals work against the orchestra pattern and precision is necessary. The funny thing is (referring to post #6) _Maestro_ did not at all want a break between "Jubelleider" and "an." When the opera chorus director objected, _Maestro_ stated that he did not care to please the German teachers in the audience; it just sounded better that way...

After break, we rehearsed _Die Meistersinger_, which actually seemed to be in pretty good shape. We got out of rehearsal 20 minutes early, which is a wonderful thing after a long day.

_Maestro_ emphasizes that we need to watch him and not rely on sound because of the size of the group. This may have been primarily directed at the Opera Chorus (about 40 members) as our reduced chorus combined with theirs is just a bit larger that our full chorus. Reminders of this are never inappropriate, as by now we should have our eyes off the score anyway.

We have a full rehearsal Sunday night in venue, with a potential rehearsal Tuesday and a full dress rehearsal Wednesday.

I cannot give enough praise to our piano accompanist, who has been flawlessly playing what appears to be a difficult orchestral transcription.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Your _maestro_ sounds quite a character. Good luck with the rest of the rehearsals & love your swag!


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

I just got a revised seating chart and I've been moved from the very end of the 5th (last) row to the middle of the 2nd row; hope I'm short enough (I'm not)...I bet I get moved again after the powers that be get a look at it.


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

I discovered today that several related events are taking place this week to complement our concert.

Sunday, February 17, 2 pm 
Art & Arias at D. Art Institute 

Dr. S. D. presents an informative and amusing look at the composer’s works featured in The Glory of Wagner and D. docent K. L. explains the graphic arts scene during Wagner’s lifetime in this one-hour presentation…free and open to the public. 

Sunday, February 17, 5 pm 
Book store

Dr. S. D. presents an informative and amusing look at the composer’s works featured in The Glory of Wagner. Free and open to the public. 

Tuesday, February 19, Noon 
Mid-Day Arts Cafe 

Opera Artistic Director T. B. and Orchestra Artistic Director N. G. discuss upcoming production of The Glory of Wagner. Tickets are $12 and includes a box lunch provided by Restaurant & Bar at 11:30 am. The presentation starts promptly at noon. 

Tuesday, February 19, 7 pm 
Church 

Dr. S. D. presents an informative and amusing look at the composer’s works featured in The Glory of Wagner. Free and open to the public. 


I would love to hear Dr. D's presentation but I don't think I will be able to...


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Thank you for all the updates and once more good luck! Just one question - will the concert be filmed? It would be great to see a YouTube video of at least some of it.


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

No, it won't be filmed. I don't even see that it will be webcast, as the other orchestra concerts which include our chorus are.
If I find out differently, I'll post the info in this thread.


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

Press article.

Press article.

A humorous page from the Opera website exploring the use of "Ride of the Valkyries" in pop culture.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

I have just read both articles, and both of them describe Wagner's music with adjectives like "grand", heroic", "epic", "lush" "glorious", "rousing", "stirring" etc. And that's what we love it for, isn't it?


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

We had our first rehearsal in venue tonight. The chorus is on risers behind the orchestra. The orchestra brass and woodwind sections are also on low risers, and split by a small stage upon which our soloists will sing. The strings are in front and I was not able to see exactly how they are staged. It looks like they are also tiered off the stage, and _Maestro_ is very low, perhaps on floor level (he's short to begin with). We can see him OK but the trombones, who are directly in front of me, mentioned that they could not. There will be scrim screens concealing the chorus when we are not singing, but we didn't work with them tonight.

Our notes tonight we to sing with precision and separation, and really "punch" our consonants. We also need to look at _Maestro_ but direct our sound over him. When rehearsing with the orchestra, it is readily apparent that Wagner likes to differ his dynamic levels between the chorus and orchestra. Sometimes the chorus will be singing really loud and the orchestra will be soft.

There are 5 timpani on stage; the most I've ever seen at one time...

I saw no sign of scenery for _Die Valkyrie_ backstage.


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

Notes from the chorus director re Sunday night's rehearsal with the orchestra:

WAGNER Notes 021713

Lohengrin
1. Choir needs to be on time for stand up cue in Lohengrin
2. Rhythmic phasing in Procession. More precision and rhythmic energy in consonants.
3. Needs more diction energy.
4. Octet needs to be crisper, more diction and core of tone.
5. More space between notes, and more robust.

Rienzi
1. Sing over (conductor's) head to the back row of the Loge.
2. Much more diction and chutzpah needed. Sing more from your gut.
3. Both this and the Lohengrin sound tentative, and sluggish. Exaggerate the diction and sing precisely with energy in the consonants throughout. Nothing in this mvt is really legato. All marcato at least....Focused, precise, energized and INCISIVE.
4. You must PROJECT every consonant.

Meistersinger
1. Everything needs the energy of Wach' auf.
2. Slow section starts too soft..It's not piano, just menoF.
3. Last "heil" in the first segment, put a good "l" on beat 4.
4. "Ehrt eure deutschen Meister" on p 23 has to EXPLODE with Teutonic fervor....


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

It looks like your chorus director has very good ideas about how to perform Wagner... especially the _exploding_ part


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

Some observations from last night's dress rehearsal:

1. Being behind the scrim is neat. Because it's lit from the front, we in the chorus get to view a sharply defined shadow of the soloists and, in front of me, the trombone section.
2. During orchestra performances, the audience is lit and it's very easy to see every seat in the house from the stage. 
The opera likes the audience dark. Can't see a thing.
3. The ladies be swooning over our Hans Sachs/Siegmund, Erik Nelson Werner!


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

With apologies to Mr Werner, whom I'm sure is very hunky (but I haven't seen him yet), but our Hans Sachs is Gustav Andreassen, who looks even better in person.








Werner's biography confused me because it said he had switched from being a baritone to a heldentenor, and I thought maybe he was singing both roles. Andreassen was not mentioned in the pre-publicity, but he is a very welcome addition, and faces the chorus when we respond to him: _Ehrt eure deutschen Meister..._So we get a good long look at him. 

Last's nights first half was great. I don't have any stories of stage mishaps to relate. We perform again on Sunday and I'll be staying for the second half and the performance of Act I of _Die Walkure_.


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## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

Happy birthday, Novelette!

I heard from a source "who knows" that our concert will be webcast, maybe in September. I'll post it here when I find out more.

Our second concert also went off without a hitch. I stayed around for the second half today to watch they fully staged Act I _Die Walkure_. The performers used the same small stage in-between the orchestra that was used in the first half. This was my first look at how the orchestra was set up. Our stage is movable and one of the features is that the orchestra pit can be raised. This is what the strings were seated on. There were 4 more tiers for the brass/woodwinds, all created by the moveable stage. Our chorus risers were in the back, now behind the scrim.

On the stage were minimal props: A bench, a log, a chest.

The music starts. On the scrim we see projected a storm scene. Clouds are racing across the sky and lightning flashes. Presently we see a man enter, weakened from battle and flight. He is wearing a breastplate, armour and what looks like black leather pants and boots. He collapses in front of a fire, where a woman finds him and revives him with a drink. She is wearing a cloak, having come in from the storm. She explains that she and the house belong to her husband, Hunding, but he is welcome to stay until he returns. He declares he cannot stay, for wherever he goes, ill fate pursues him, but the woman urges him to stay.

Hunding arrives. He is wearing furs and a long tunic and awesome long tan boots. He is not happy that a stranger in in his house talking to his wife. Hunding questions how the stranger happens to be in his house. What is his story?

The stranger proceeds to sing his life story. He was out hunting with his father one day when villains raided is home, killed his mother, and stole his twin sister! Ever since, he has been at war. He was separated from his father in battle. Just recently, he was fighting for a young girl's honour and was forced to slay her brothers. The opponents ended up killing the girl and wounding him, and he lost his weapons as well. Hunding realizes that the stranger is the foe he was fighting earlier that day! The law of hospitality compels him to invite the stranger to stay for the night, but Hunding warns him that they will fight in the morning, weapons or not! Hunding and his wife retire to bed.

The stranger sings about how his father promised him a sword when he would need it most.

The woman returns. Against the backdrop of a full moon, she reveals that she was forced into marriage with Hunding and, at their wedding feast, and old man buried a sword to the hilt in an ash log. No one can remove the sword, but the woman sings about how her true hero will come one day pull the sword from the log and rescue her from Hunding. The stranger expresses his attraction to her and suddenly they realise they are brother and sister, and madly in love with one another! They reveal their names, Siegmund and Sieglinde.

(by now I am thinking...draw the damned sword out of the tree already....!)

And he does! The graphics are all about blinding beams of light as Siegfried hoists the sword above his head and passionately kisses Sieglinde to close the act.
***

One of my friends went to the cast party on Friday night and was bragging about how she spoke to Gustav Andreassen and he was friendly and nice and has a warm, low speaking voice.

Just another dreamy picture...


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