# Lulu deserves a group!



## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I love Lulu by Alban Berg.

I have 3 DVDs and 4 versions on CD and 1 LP I bought 40 years ago!

The Catalan producer Calixto Bieito has a new production where he shows his underastanding of the opera...The decadence is simbolized by the trash! Terrrific! Take a look!






I saw Lulu in Berlin sung by the legendary Christina...

To be followed by you

Maratin Pitchon


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I just picked up the Boulez recording on DG from my library. Looks like I should get a DVD!


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## GoneBaroque (Jun 16, 2011)

I still have the LP set I bought more than 40 years ago. It is the Hamburg production with Annaliese Rothenberger


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

I like lulu quite a bit...I like Wozzeck better though.  To be fair though...Berg actually _finished_ Wozzeck, so maybe that's why.

The libretto of Lulu confused me quite a good bit the first time I listened to it though.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I was getting confused just reading Boulez's notes on the opera. It's more than a little complex! I might take Myaskovsky's advice and listen to Jessye Norman singing some of Berg's songs.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

starthrower said:


> I was getting confused just reading Boulez's notes on the opera. It's more than a little complex! I might take Myaskovsky's advice and listen to Jessye Norman singing some of Berg's songs.


Berg's early songs are absolutely beautiful! My favorite is Die Nachtigall






It gives me chills every time I listen to it.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Yeah, nice! She's got one helluva voice. So pure and strong! Lovely orchestration too!


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## HarpsichordConcerto (Jan 1, 2010)

I enjoy _Wozzeck_ and _Lulu_. Have DVD/Blu-ray versions of them. They must count as one of the finest 12-tone operas, certainly when they first premiered. Berg knew how to "diffuse" 12-tone with drama more than anyone!


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

but I dislike Metallica's (and Lou Reed) Lulu.


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

jurianbai said:


> but I dislike Metallica's (and Lou Reed) Lulu.


We all do, jurianbai. We all do.


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## rsmithor (Jun 30, 2011)

*A Lulu Group? Where Do I Sign Up?*

I'm a great fan of Berg's Lulu... the least we can do is give "Lulu" her own "Facebook" Page... complete with her AKA's and Bio pages of all her lovers.

I discovered Lulu when Chandos released "Opera In English" of Lulu in 2006. Complete with a fantastic singing translation by Richard Stokes for London's ENO... As a book it's a real page turner... It's cheeky, outrages, and the text sets the right tone from start... the moment the Animal Tamer parts the curtain...









CHANDOS 3130
LC 7038 DDD TT 165:43
Recorded in 24-bit/96 kHz

Alban Berg (1885-1935)
Lulu
Opera in three acts
Libretto by Alban Berg, after Erdgeist and Büchse der Pandora by Frank Wedekind,
English version by Richard Stokes
Act III realised by Friedrich Cerha
Lulu................................................Lisa Saffer soprano
Countess Geschwitz .........................Susan Parry mezzo-soprano
Dresser /Schoolboy/Waiter ...............Anna Burford mezzo-soprano
Professor of Medicine /Theatre Manager/Banker ......Graeme Danby bass
Painter /Second Client ..........................................Stuart Kale tenor
Dr Schön/ Jack the Ripper .................Robert Hayward baritone
Alwa, Dr Schön's son ........................John Graham-Hall tenor
Schigolch ........................................Gwynne Howell bass
Animal Tamer/Acrobat ......................Robert Poulton baritone
African Prince /Manservant/Marquis ....Alan Oke tenor
Police Commissioner .........................Roger Begley bass
Fifteen-year-old Girl..........................Claire Mitcher soprano
Servant...........................................Paul Napier-Burrows bass
Mother ...........................................Jane Powell mezzo-soprano
Designer ........................................Moira Harris soprano
Journalist .......................................Toby Stafford-Allen baritone
English National Opera Orchestra
Paul Daniel
Alban Berg Anthony Legge assistant conductor

Prologue
In front of the curtain, a clown enters from the left
front wing and remains standing there. Hanging
on his chest is a showman's big drum with cymbal
attached. He strikes it at intervals. From behind
the curtain, which looks like the entrance to a tent,
enters an animal-tamer - in a vermillion frockcoat,
white breeches, and top boots, with a trainer's
whip in his hand.

Animal Tamer
Roll up, roll up for the menagerie,
Gentlemen and ladies.
Fire your desire and chill your spines
At the sight of animal savagery,
Tamed by human sympathy.
What can you see in plays - or music dramas?!
Tame creatures, that are so well-bred and moral,
Their milky diet kills all savage quarrel.
They revel in their bourgeois tête-à-tête,
Just like the audience in the stalls, I bet!
The real beast, the sleek and savage beast,
Ladies I'll show you, come and join the feast!
You'll see the tiger, who delights in eating
Any old beast that strays into its path,
The bear who just stuffs its greedy belly,
And then collapses through its gluttony!
You'll see the nimble and the cheeky monkey
Who languidly displays his artful talent;
Although he's skilled, he lacks all gravitas -
That's why he always loves to show his ****.
And then I'll show you this to make you laugh -
The hump-backed camel on its comic path!
A reptile you'll behold, an alligator,
A cobra, lizard and a rare salamander.
You'll see a crocodile to make you quake.
(He suddenly lifts the curtain and calls within
Hey, you there, go and fetch our human snake!
(A big-bellied stage-hand carries the performer who
is to play Lulu in front of the curtain and puts her
down in front of the animal-tamer. She wears the
Pierrot costume of the next scene.)
God created her for evil and for havoc,
To snare us and seduce us, to infect us
And to destroy us, never leaving finger prints.
(tickling Lulu under the chin)
My sweetest beast, pray do not be so prim!
You have no right, with your seductive fragrance,
To falsify a woman's real essence.
(to the audience)
Though now she seems as tame as tame can be,
Just wait and see her bestiality.
(to the stage-hand)
Hey, you there! Move! Place her upon her throne.
(The stage-hand takes up Lulu across his arms. The
animal-tamer strokes her hips.)
Oh, sweetest creature, my heart's delight!
(The stage-hand takes Lulu towards the stage. Exit.)
And now at last, my pièce de résistance:
I place my head between this creature's jaws. 
And shall I tell you what this beast is called?
Roll up, roll up, roll up
(The clown exits left in front of the curtain into the
first wing. The animal-tamer seizes the curtain
and slightly lifts it, with a gesture of invitation.)
- and be appalled!
(He bows and retires behind the curtain. The
curtain rises.)

I've seen 4 Lulu's live, own 1 LP set, 5 complete sets on CD's, 4 DVD's and counting... Each in it's own way, brings something new to Lulu. For me the music is really counterpoint to the over-the-top action and the endless dialogue... You want nice? Impossible with this cast of characters.. Lulu has some of the most sublime lush interlude music ever written... 12tone... I always want hear more... you never rest until crushing last note...

Yes indeed... "Lulu" needs a Facebook Page


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

rsmithor said:


> I'm a great fan of Berg's Lulu... the least we can do is give "Lulu" her own "Facebook" Page... complete with her AKA's and Bio pages of all her lovers.
> 
> I discovered Lulu when Chandos released "Opera In English" of Lulu in 2006. Complete with a fantastic singing translation by Richard Stokes for London's ENO... As a book it's a real page turner... It's cheeky, outrages, and the text sets the right tone from start... the moment the Animal Tamer parts the curtain...
> 
> ...


Lulu in English? mmm....

Pierre Boulez's Lulu is quite bad.
I'd recommend the Christina Schaffer version or...Ilona Steingruber one...or the Petibon one






Martin


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## rsmithor (Jun 30, 2011)

*Group Hug... Lulu's Back in Town Feb 28th 2012*









Salzburger Festspiel 2010

Available February 28, 2012

Blu-ray HD and DVD in standard definition!

Alban Berg's opera "Lulu" is the story of a lower-class girl who sleeps her way to fame and fortune before losing everything she has and finding death at the hands of Jack the Ripper.

Conductor Marc Albrecht supports the two main protagonists, Patricia Petibon's Lulu and Michael Volle's Dr. Schön, with the rich sonorities of Berg's music.

Particularly impressive are the gigantic backdrops that dominate the stage and were painted by Daniel Richter, one of the leading German artists of our time.

"… the wonderfully transparent, flowing sound of the Wiener Philharmoniker, which splendidly displays all the colors of this magical score under the fabulously precise baton of Marc Albrecht…." - FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG

Cast & Crew

Patricia Petibon
Michael Volle

Composed by: Alban Berg

Conducted by: Marc Albrecht


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## matsoljare (Jul 28, 2008)

The best version:


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

violadude said:


> Berg's early songs are absolutely beautiful! My favorite is Die Nachtigall
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I was recently discussing the Second Viennese School with a musician composer at another site. He shared my feelings in preferring Berg and Webern to their "master" Schoenberg. Indeed he took it one step further and suggested that Schoenberg represented one of the greatest tragedies of 20th century music as his influence resulted in the loss of the splendid tonal masterworks Berg and Webern might have composed. Listening to this song... which I agree is exquisite... I find myself agreeing. I immediately jumped over to Amazon and ordered a copy of the Sieben Fruhe Lieder... albeit by Renee Fleming. The Jessye Norman/Boulez disc is unfortunately out of print... so I put it on a wish list for now where I can check in from time to time. Fleming, however, I suspect, will do a more than admirable job considering that this oeuvre... late Romantic lieder... is something of a specialty.


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## violadude (May 2, 2011)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> I was recently discussing the Second Viennese School with a musician composer at another site. He shared my feelings in preferring Berg and Webern to their "master" Schoenberg. Indeed he took it one step further and suggested that Schoenberg represented one of the greatest tragedies of 20th century music as his influence resulted in the loss of the splendid tonal masterworks Berg and Webern might have composed. Listening to this song... which I agree is exquisite... I find myself agreeing. I immediately jumped over to Amazon and ordered a copy of the Sieben Fruhe Lieder... albeit by Renee Fleming. The Jessye Norman/Boulez disc is unfortunately out of print... so I put it on a wish list for now where I can check in from time to time. Fleming, however, I suspect, will do a more than admirable job considering that this oeuvre... late Romantic lieder... is something of a specialty.


You probably know this already, but an interesting fact about Berg is that when Schoenberg became his teacher, he (Schoenberg) said that Berg was adapted only to writing for voice and it took a lot of hard work to get him to write idiosyncratically for instruments.


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## Oskaar (Mar 17, 2011)

matsoljare said:


> The best version:


Dear Swede. I am very interrested in the best version. But tracing it by just a foto is very difficult.....


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Once again for some reason, a thread about an opera was started in the wrong section. If you go here you'll find discussion and recommendations on Berg's operas, including Lulu.


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## Oskaar (Mar 17, 2011)

With all respect, sospiro... Finding what you look for, when it is hidden under Dvd and blueray... That is not easy.
Tc has a well organized thread system, but sometimes spontanious threads come up, and that is a good thing. Maybe on the wrong place, but they generate activity. And they die out. 
There is very little activity in many of the threads that are placed correctly.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

I've just bought this:










With patricia Petibon....I have seen some scenes in Youtube and I found it great.
I wish I won't be disappointed.

Martin


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

*Lulu*: recently the correct response to a $1200 Double-Jeopardy poser, in the "Opera" category. 
It was framed something like this-

_"This Alban Berg Opera is a doozy- in fact, the title is a a synonym for "doozy."_

(Moved to "Opera" section...)


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## dortith (Jan 5, 2012)

*Boulez is quite bad?*

Considering that many conductors since the premier of the completed opera have set the Boulez as the benchmark for their own performances I am surprised that anyone would consider it bad. Teresa Stratas is also superb, as usual, and though compared to later more lurid readings, the Chereau settings seem a little traditional some could argue, as with the Eurotrash versions of works like Giovanni and the Wagner operas, that such interpretations have more to do with titillation than exploration of the work as written and intended by Berg. Having said that it is great to see so many Lulu's available and the Petibon is a worthy addition to any library, but even the most fervent Petibon fan, and I count myself as a fan, must find some of the staging distracting and the reliance on her wide-eyed, ambiguous smile as a little limiting.


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## Frasier (Mar 10, 2007)

GoneBaroque said:


> I still have the LP set I bought more than 40 years ago. It is the Hamburg production with Annaliese Rothenberger


I have this on CD. An interesting interpretation.
Earliest set I have is the Vienna Symphony Orchestra / Herbert Häfner with Ilona Steingruber singing Lulu*.* On 3 LPs. I transferred them to CDs and still give them a play.


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## Frasier (Mar 10, 2007)

dortith said:


> Considering that many conductors since the premier of the completed opera have set the Boulez as the benchmark for their own performances I am surprised that anyone would consider it bad. Teresa Stratas is also superb, as usual, and though compared to later more lurid readings, the Chereau settings seem a little traditional some could argue, as with the Eurotrash versions of works like Giovanni and the Wagner operas, that such interpretations have more to do with titillation than exploration of the work as written and intended by Berg.


Many critics (for what they're worth) really gave Chereau a caning - understandably because he followed Berg's stage directions by not so much of a jot and brought in a lot of spurious characters. I don't know if Boulez had any say in his hiring. He seemed to stand up for Chereau although he must have understood the relationship between Berg's musical motifs and his fairly exact stage directions for the characters.

I admit I found Boulez' rendering somewhat soulless but that could have been DGG frigging around with the sound cart as was their wont. But as you say it is good to see so many readings/recordings/DVDs now available. I saw the Glyndebourne performance which also didn't acknowledge Berg's own directions too much, so Patrice Chereau wasn't alone!


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## Frasier (Mar 10, 2007)

myaskovsky2002 said:


> I've just bought this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hah! You need dark glasses for this one. I bought it but have only viewed Acts I and II so far. Petibon is marvellous. Not so sure about Holland as Schoen.

Again, I fear Oliver Py has taken liberties with the production but I'm beginning to get used to that now.* The problem with this opera is that it doesn't have an easy performance history.

Edit * I begin to suspect that each of these producers' claims to showing a new insight into what Berg _really_ meant are projections of the producers' fantasies. It would be nice if we could see what Berg himself wanted us to see...


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## rsmithor (Jun 30, 2011)

*A must see... "John Dexter's" Berg's Lulu (The Metropolitan Opera DVD)*

Frasier: "It would be nice if we could see what Berg himself wanted us to see..."

Then you must view "John Dexter's" Berg's Lulu (The Metropolitan Opera DVD)
December 20, 1980 live performance... along with my mini review... posted on amazon

"Having just returned from seeing the Met Opera's May 15, 2010 production of Berg's Lulu, I must say the 1977 sets of John Dexter hold up well... What a cast I saw that afternoon... Returning home and playing this DVD, it was as if this was just an alternate cast of what I saw that afternoon at the Met. The production mirrored what is on the DVD... the standouts here are the Lulu of Julia Mingenes; all the notes, her use of body language, and her eyes. Dr Schon/Jack the Ripper of Franz Mazur; what a voice, is outstanding. Alwa of Kenneth Riegel, no milk-toast, but riveting as the dog following Lulu to his end. Countess Geschwitz; Evelyn Lear, outstanding in every way. The rest of the cast, outstanding as well. What's even better, all of Berg's instructions were followed... down to the minute detail in the score. IE: During Dr. Schon's manic faze in Act 2 before he's shot by Lulu, and waving his gun around, he sees Lulu's pursuers around every corner, including the butler... Berg coded those movements in the score, and each pursuer pops up and disappear as as they dart around the room. (with Dr. Schon saying "there's another one")

Seeing the Met's Lulu live in 2010 was "Awesome" and this DVD confirmed that..."

Note... The only thing missing in the Met production is the use of the silent film Berg wrote into the score.... Met production used a slide show in the 1980 live broadcast... but dropped the slide show completely during the 2010 Lulu's.


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## Frasier (Mar 10, 2007)

^^ Well, I ordered this one. Thanks for the affirmation. Initially put off by it being available from America and aware that I'd be lumbered with duty, VAT and brokerage charges, I found someone able to supply through Europe. I look forward to its receipt shortly and with an open mind. As I mentioned I'm getting used to production variations but it'll be nice to find one that at least pays lip-service to Berg's stage directions!

Cheers, my friend.


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

dortith said:


> Considering that many conductors since the premier of the completed opera have set the Boulez as the benchmark for their own performances I am surprised that anyone would consider it bad. Teresa Stratas is also superb, as usual, and though compared to later more lurid readings, the Chereau settings seem a little traditional some could argue, as with the Eurotrash versions of works like Giovanni and the Wagner operas, that such interpretations have more to do with titillation than exploration of the work as written and intended by Berg. Having said that it is great to see so many Lulu's available and the Petibon is a worthy addition to any library, but even the most fervent Petibon fan, and I count myself as a fan, must find some of the staging distracting and the reliance on her wide-eyed, ambiguous smile as a little limiting.


Teresa Stratas made an awesome Traviata....Boulez and excellent Pelléas and Melisande....Do you think you can relate Verdi to Berg? And about Boulez...he tried many things even the Ring! Trying and succeding are different concepts.

Martin


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## rsmithor (Jun 30, 2011)

*A Better Than Interesting Read... "Reflections and History of Alban Berg's "Lulu"*

http://ponderingmusic.blogspot.com

_Pondering Music from a Global Perspective_...
A place for informal discussion about music regarding scholarly topics. Here, we hope to discuss a broad range of issues including music history, culture and ethnomusicology. Your insights are welcome and appreciated.

Thursday, February 9, 2012
Reflections and History of Alban Berg's "Lulu"
by Michael Wheeler

I found *Reflections and History of Alban Berg's "Lulu"* a very intense, and a wonderfully crafted read...

http://http://ponderingmusic.blogspot.com/2012/02/reflections-and-history-of-alban-bergs.html


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## myaskovsky2002 (Oct 3, 2010)

rsmithor said:


> http://ponderingmusic.blogspot.com
> 
> _Pondering Music from a Global Perspective_...
> A place for informal discussion about music regarding scholarly topics. Here, we hope to discuss a broad range of issues including music history, culture and ethnomusicology. Your insights are welcome and appreciated.
> ...


Thank you...the article says nothing new...for me.

Martin


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## rsmithor (Jun 30, 2011)

*Quote From Berg's Lulu "And here come more!" 1 DVD and 1 CD*

Two Lulu's just arrived in the post...

1 Blu-ray DVD









Lulu - Alban Berg - Blu-ray DVD - Salzburger Festspiele (2010) Starring Patricia Petibon, Michael Volle and Wiener Philharmoniker (2012)

1 CD set









Berg's Lulu - Met Opera/Levine/Schäfer/ 2001

The recording, taken from the 21st April 2001 Met Saturday Matinee Broadcast featured in "James Levine - Celebrating 40 Years At The Met [32 CD Set]." The 3 CD set is in a specially designed case, enhanced with photos from the Met/Levine/Schäfer/performances

Metropolitan Opera House

LULU

Lulu....................Christine Schäfer
Dr. Schön...............James Courtney
Jack the Ripper.........James Courtney
Countess Geschwitz......Hanna Schwarz
Alwa....................David Kuebler
Schigolch...............Franz Mazura
Animal Tamer............Stephen West
Acrobat.................Stephen West
Painter.................Clifton Forbis
African Prince..........Clifton Forbis
Physician...............Mitchell Sendrowitz
Professor...............Mitchell Sendrowitz
Prince..................Graham Clark
Manservant..............Graham Clark
Marquis.................Graham Clark
Dresser.................Jennifer Dudley
Schoolboy...............Jennifer Dudley
Page....................Jennifer Dudley
Theater Manager.........Richard Vernon
Banker..................Richard Vernon
Journalist..............Richard Hobson
Servant.................Andrew Gangestad
Designer................Jane Dutton
Girl....................Robin Blitch Wiper
Mother..................Diane Curry
Policeman...............David Brimmer
Clown...................Abraham Marcus

Conductor...............James Levine

Production.................John Dexter
Designer...................Jocelyn Herbert
Lighting designer..........Gil Wechsler
Stage Director.............Paul Mills

Met Opera Shop
$18.00
$16.20 Members

*Opera News Review...*
_"The first and only Metropolitan Opera production of Lulu, directed by the late John Dexter in the 1976-77 season with designs by Jocelyn Herbert, returned on April 9 in a revival staged by Paul Mills. The addition of Met Titles greatly increased audience access to this intensely theatrical work, and though empty seats grew in number after each intermission, most people seemed willing to give Alban Berg's score another try. They were helped along by a highly committed cast and an impassioned reading by the orchestra under James Levine.

In a widely anticipated house debut, Christine Schäfer made the title role her own. Schäfer's voice and personality are small and subtle for a theater of this size, but the sets are conceived on a realistically reduced scale, and she seemed at home on the stage. Her portrayal in the first two acts showed little sign of the indisposition she was rumored (though not officially announced) to be experiencing. As if the technical hazards of the role didn't really exist, she sang it all as melodically as can be imagined, without mechanical or metallic traces in the coloratura. Both her tone and her stage presence created a languid, detached character, a calm center for the emotional storm surrounding her. Without harshness or stress, the lyricism of her sound created a magnetic halo of passive feminine attraction, apart from the calculating or willful behavior of which Lulu is also capable. But Act III -- where Friedrich Cerha's orchestration sets in, heavy on the brasses, less delicate or translucent than Berg's -- took its toll on the soprano. Though she still made her points in the intimate final scene, the gambling episode that begins the act found her voice and characterization disappearing amid the general hubbub.

The drama needs another female figure, Lulu's polar opposite, and Hanna Schwarz supplied it with her serious, ultimately tragic Countess Geschwitz. This character's hopeless longing stands out as quite apart from the attempts of the others to manipulate Lulu to their own ends. Schwarz, vocally dark and steady, always suggested a reserve of strong feeling stored within, and when she finally expressed it, in Geschwitz's monologue before the last curtain, the intensity was still focused in dignity.

The fact that the audience laughed at Dr. Goll's death of a stroke in Act I testifies to the odd mixture of elements underlying Lulu. If it weren't for the jokes, irony and parody, this drama would be Expressionist tragedy, but Berg wanted to preserve the variety, even the objectivity, of a movie camera. This way, it's clear that the wonderful buildup of tension in Dr. Schön's dialogue with the Painter in Act I, Scene 1, is purely a result of the exchange between these characters, not a commentary by the composer; and that the impassioned interlude following the scene depicts the Painter's delusions, not Berg's. Clifton Forbis's portrayal of the Painter gave all the frustration and despair of an artist whose idealized perceptions are on a collision course with reality.

As twin pillars of reality, Schön and his son Alwa started out as proper businessmen in dress and manner, only to be unraveled by their obsessive involvement with Lulu. James Courtney masterfully enacted the crisis of self-control that arose from Schön's inability to escape his own inner forces. With feeling deeper than pathos, the bass-baritone articulated his own doom in the curtain line of the dressing-room scene, "Jetzt kommt die Hinrichtung" (Now comes the execution). In his Act III reincarnation as Schön's alter ego, Jack the Ripper, Courtney once again appeared as a well-dressed businessman, but this time he was delivering judgment rather than submitting to it.

As David Kuebler played him, Alwa was another, younger Dr. Schön, externalizing to excess the inner drives that the elder repressed to excess. Act II, with the Schön parlor turned into a sort of Animal House, shows Alwa starting to come apart, thanks to his infatuation with Lulu -- expressed by Kuebler through a keen focus of vocal tone. This act is difficult to clarify or hold together, but the Met team managed to do both.

Given the task of memorizing and executing such difficult voice parts, it's something of a miracle that these singers could act so well. Character tenor Graham Clark created three entirely different people as the Prince, Manservant and Marquis: with help from the makeup department, he could scarcely be recognized. Vocally, his insidious Marquis in Act III was sleazy and elegant at the same time. Stephen West, stentorian of voice, flexed his muscles narcissistically as the Acrobat, a vital presence. (West also played the Animal Tamer in the Prologue, a similar showoff.) Franz Mazura, who played Schön in the 1980 and '85 revivals, now moved to the role of Schigolch, the ancient former lover whom Lulu passes off as her father. It would be hard to imagine a seedier, shiftier Schigolch than Mazura's, informed with the inner vitality of a timeless survivor. Jennifer Dudley, who also played the Wardrobe Mistress and a Page, made the Schoolboy a memorably overwrought adolescent. The shorter roles were also handled with security and the sense of period that marked the production as a whole.

At the center of this busy society, Schäfer personified Lulu's mesmerizing fragility, a clever innocence that sparked base motives or reckless passions in others. Levine's leadership, energized but deliberate, went for the score's underlying Romantic warmth, even though this meant more lucidity than urgency, therefore a long evening. At midnight, when the curtain descended on the final scene, Schwarz had delivered Geschwitz's dying words firmly and passionately, a valedictory as dark as the stage itself."_

JOHN W. FREEMAN


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

For another two weeks only, for your watching enjoyment, Alban Berg's Lulu with Barbara Hannigan playing the title character, from the La Monnaie opera house in Brussels _(only will be online until the end of November 2012)_:

Full Lulu opera from La Monnaie


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

Thanks for the link. I just have to remember to watch it in time now.


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## Yashin (Jul 22, 2011)

Love Berg and love Lulu. I think i would still go for the Glyndebourne DVD with Schafer. The Petibon one is nice (the Liceu DVD) but i have yet to see the other one (salzburg?). I also have the Zurich DVD with Laura Aiken who does a very fine job and i enjoyed the production.

As for CD i am not a fan of the Boulez - like others have said it is a little strange and left me cold too. The Tate cd is not bad and i see it has been re-released on a cheaper label recently. Recently i remembered i had the Von Dohnanyi cd with Anja Silja which i quite like (his Wozzeck is my favourite). Then there is the Danish opera version with Ulf Schirmer and Constance Hauman as Lulu -with beautiful recorded sound. So which one do i prefer? Well the one conducted by Stefan Anton Reck with Anat Efraty as Lulu and Doris Soffel. Just enjoy the live sound of this opera -the frisson and chaos live.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

"The decadence is simbolized by the trash! Terrific!"

Horrific, a shallow 'post modern' notion slapped on to one of _the_ great operas in the entire repertoire , a blazing flash of the obvious sophomirc symbolism.... good Lord.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

PetrB said:


> "The decadence is simbolized by the trash! Terrific!"
> 
> Horrific, a shallow 'post modern' notion slapped on to one of _the_ great operas in the entire repertoire , a blazing flash of the obvious sophomirc symbolism.... good Lord.


I challenge you to watch the video I posted to another thread of the Jonas Kaufmann being interviewed on _Regieoper_--especially his comments on "rats"--and then come back and call this _Lulu_ production sophomoric!


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