2024 年 2 月 7 日
We were standing in the entrance of the Wiesbaden opera house. "What's "Wiederaufnahme" in English? Dörte asks. Yes, indeed. I remember being confused about this word years ago, and still am. Back at home I try Google translate. Hopeless. I try Warig - the German equivalent of the OED - ambigious. I try Langenscheidt, and find the word Revival. Revival? I think : "Cats, the Revival/Charlie and the Chocolate factory/the Revival...." etc. Hardly opera language (?).....
さいかい 再開 (?)
Still not satisfied, I look at what language the Royal Opera House Covent Garden use. They don't. Maybe they think that people are not interested if this opera is a "Revival" or not, they just want a good night out with good artists. And in a way I agree. "Revival" or "in Repertory" seems to suggest that they are dragging out an old opera from the repertoire because they can't think of anything else.
To add to the language confusion : Is it an mp3? is it streamed? only available on CD? - The word "Aufnahme" in German is synonymous with "recording" 🎙️ 録音. So the first time I went to the opera in Germany I thought it was being recorded for TV or something. Wrong, ❌ Nigel.
We were at the second night (Die Walküre) of the "Ring" - that Ur-German marathon composed by that strange man Richard Wagner. And yes, it was a "Wiederaufnahme". And the wine in the interval was a Graue Burgunder🥂. It fitted the ambience.....er...this is the bar by the way, not the stage set.....
ここはヴィースバーデン・オペラのバー（舞台ではありません）です
Now we were four adults, and not exactly unintelligent at that. But finding the bar was a challenge. The Staatstheater Wiesbaden is very odd. There is no sign to the bar; the toilets 🧻 are so damn discreetly hidden that you could burst your bladder finding them (then they are woefully inadequate anyway), and woe betide anyone who finds themselves on the wrong staircase, because you will not reach your seat. We noted for our next visit ("Siegfried") - that if you see swans 🦢 then you are on the wrong staircase......
白鳥が見えたら、階段を間違えています。
When we did eventually reach our seats we discovered a small bar which had not been there last week for "Das Rheingold". I asked why. "Oh, we only open this one when the performance is sold out". Hmm.
And the actual performance of "Walküre"? My praise goes firmly to the orchestra 🎺🎻 and singers, and not to the artistic concept.
O.K. The Artistic director has just been sacked, but that is no excuse for unimaginative lighting, or a statue 🗿 that loses a component - rather like that plane which recently lost a component of its fuselage in mid flight. The Valkyries left a bloody leg by mistake on the stage at one point, and one of Brunhilde's flames did not ignite (Wotan had to do it later - gods can do anything). The trouble was that the production could not decide if we were in19thc. Germany or the land of myth and magic. So we get Brunhilde, complete with spear and headgear🛡️ wandering into a dining room where Siegmund and Sieglinde are having incestous sex front of stage. She just stood on the table and watched..........
I thought I could understand German. Especially when it flashes up clear on the surtitles. Not this German. It was written by Mr Ego himself, in a sort of old Germanic poetic style.
But did we enjoy it? Yes! Apart from the silly bits it was good fun.
Whilst I was sipping my wine🍷(thank you Julia) in the interval my eye fell on this: And three words came to mind: Religion 🛐: (the golden fan-like bit which you see behind the altar in baroque churches); Power 💪 : The eagle of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Sex (*no emoji available) : The half naked women. This place was built about 20 years after Wagner's death, and about 20 years before the National Socialists, in search of some "historical" authenticity, however dubious, adopted Wagner and his myths. Just a bit creepy. After all, that is not a long timeline.
彫刻を見てください...宗教。 力。 セックス。
What an experience.
Now you think the next photo is set up don't you? Like those kitschy christmas cards with a violin and some music, and maybe a bit of holly somewhere. Well it's not. I just happened to lie a violin down on the workbench and the music was lying there.. But it made me think. I had been amazed by some of the disgracefully luscious `cello🎻 lines in "Die Walkurie". Absolutely glorious. Wagner could write good lines. So let's turn to film music. Joe Hisaishi wrote some gorgeous melodies for the Ghibli films. Let's dig them out and see if the `cello can play them. Yes, they can, as I recently discovered with Sayonara no Natsu. Although this one, featuring at the end of a Ghibli film, was actually written by singer Aoi Teshima. What others are there to discover? 🤔
チェロで演奏できる曲は何ですか?
Looks like your time is coming to an end, Winter. It's an old classic kindergarten song here.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn8towkgpTw . Although you can never be sure. I'm told it is snowing in Tokyo!! Brrr!! ☃️ I think I'll stay in Europe for the moment.....
今週の東京は…
Video: 友子さん
At least in Germany it was 10°c today, and I was able to sit under the oaks in Langen...
...and hope that those brown leaves will soon float away...
...in the reflection of the Paddelteich (the old "paddling pool")......
Wie geht's hier weiter ? - what's happening here next? Well why don't you just finish the building work instead of puttting up fancy posters with QR codes....
when the sun does come out it seems full of promise......
........of mild days on foot or bicycle.......
It's still early in the year, so the sun is low, picking out the outlines of old Langen....
ランゲンの古い場所
The medieval Wachturm now finds itself in a playground.......
An 18thc boundary stone has been re-instated in the woods. It's the coat of arms of Hanau and Ysenburg.....1774....the year Mozart wrote his Symphony nr. 29. In the same year Joseph Priestley, working at Bowood House, Wiltshire, England, isolated oxygen in the form of a gas, which he called "dephlogisticated air". He was an interesting character, and highly controversial it seems. He supported the American Revolution and had some pretty audacious religious ideas....So much so that a mob burnt down his home in Birmingham and his church. History is charming isn't it?
18世紀からの境界。
I also cycled over the Autobahn to the lakes of Mörfelden....
....and listened to the wind in the willows....oh, sorry, the wind in the pines.....
It is still nice though to cook heart-warming food. This pumpkin recently came under the knife......
かぼちゃを調理しました
Leaving a friend's house in Frankfurt on Saturday I found myself part of this demo. We may grumble about delayed trains here, or about tax or the price of a döner, but we are still allowed to demonstrate without being flung into prison or being executed......I was interested to watch the police. None of them were wearing helmets, so they actually looked human. A bit like a group of rugby players taking a break. This despite the fact that they were being heavily criticized in general by the speaker on the podium.
フランクフルトでパレスチナを訴えるデモ
Their flashing lights were almost festive.......
👋 Thank you for reading "..Winter Ade .."
"...Fuyu yo Sayonara..."を読んでくれてありがとう
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よろしければ、リンクを友達と共有してください
👋 And and I enjoy hearing from you...!
コメントすると楽しいです!
THE END
☃️
終わり
Still snow in the highlands and cold in Edinburgh. Hope you are looking forward to Siegfried. Wagner had problems with it took 10 years off between 2nd and 3rd act to write Tristan. So the third act is a totaly different harmonic language. A great moment.
My first opera was Götterdämmerung in Leeds with Reta Hunter. Large didn't come into it! It was in English. Never heard a word until Siegfried was killed and the male chorus standing round looked on and said " he is dead"!
As this was the only time anybody had heard anything , much laughter occurred. Hope you're not being deported as you are not of German origin! Who is? John