[10/9/2011] What if Wagner had called it "Wolfram von Eschenbach and the Song Contest at the Wartburg"? (continued)

The great baritone Heinrich Schlusnus (1888-1952)
as Wolfram von Eschenbach, harp at the ready

WHY DON'T WE MEET ELISABETH?

I hadn't originally planned to introduce Elisabeth herself in this post, but I happened to make an audio file of the opening of Act II from the 1960 Konwitschny-EMI recording, featuring the lovely soprano Elisabeth Grümmer (1911-1986, seen at left as Agathe in Weber's Der Freischütz, a role she also recorded complete, also most beautifully); note the brightness and thrust as well as beauty of her singing, and the personal warmth. This is both Elisabeth's first appearance in the opera and her first appearance in the Singers' Hall of the Wartburg since Tannhäuser's mysterious departure. (We're also hearing our first here of Tannhäuser, unfortunately in the person of tenor Hans Hopf. Alas, the role is, I would say, along with Wagner's Young Siegfried, the most strenuous in the tenor literature. The alarming thing is that, so many more Tannhäusers down the pike, Hopf actually doesn't sound so bad.)

A point: The ever-vigilant Wolfram is on the scene, and while he has hopes of his own with Elisabeth, note that his instinctive response is to subordinate them to both her and Tannhäuser's desires and well-being.

Tannhäuser: Act II, Introduction . . . Elisabeth, "Dich, teure Halle" ("Thou, dear hall") . . . start of Elisabeth-Tannhäuser scene

The Singers' Hall at the Wartburg; in the background an open view of the courtyard and the valley

ELISABETH: Dear hall, I greet thee once again,
joyfully I greet thee, beloved place!
In thee his lays awake
and waken me from gloomy dreams.
When he departed from thee,
how desolate thou didst appear to me!
Peace forsook me,
joy took leave of thee.
How strongly now my heart is leaping;
to me now thou dost appear exalted and sublime.
He who thus revives both me and thee,
tarries afar no more.
I greet thee!
I greet thee!
Thou precious hall,
receive my greeting!
[TANNHÄUSER and WOLFRAM appear in the background. ELISABETH sees TANNHÄUSER.]
WOLFRAM [to TANNHÄUSER]: There she is. Approach her without fear.
TANNHÄUSER [throws himself at ELISABETH's feet]: O princess!
ELISABETH: Heavens! Rise! Leave me!
I may not see you here!
TANNHÄUSER: You may! O say, and let
me remain at your feet!
ELISABETH [turns to him in friendly manner]: Stand up then!
You shall not knee, for this hall
is your kingdom. Oh, rise!
Receive my thanks for your return!
Where did you tarry so long?
TANNHÄUSER: Far from here
in broad and distant lands. Deep forgetfulness
has descended betwixt today and yesterday.
All my remembrance has vanished in a trice,
and one thing only must I recall,
that I never more hoped to greet you,
nor ever raise my eyes to you.
ELISABETH: What was it then that brought you back?
TANNHÄUSER: It was a miracle,
an unbelievably sublime miracle!
ELISABETH: I praise this miracle
from the bottom of my heart!
[Restraining herself, in confusion]
Forgive me if I do not know what I am about.
I am in a dream, and foolish as a child,
surrendered, powerless, into the power of the miracle.
I scarcely know myself more; oh, help me
unravel my heart's enigma!
To the Singers' skilful lays
I used to listen often with great pleasure.
Their singing and their praise
seemed to me a pleasant show.
But what a strange new life your song
conjured up in my breast!
Now it would thrill through me like pain,
now penetrate me like sudden joy.
Emotions I had never experienced!
Longings I had never known!
That which once was dear to me vanished
before a bliss nameless heretofore!
And when you left us then,
peace and joy were gone from me.
The melodies the Singers sang
appeared insipid to me, melancholy their temper.
Dreaming, I experienced heavy sorrow,
my waking hours became a troubled delusion,
joy fled from my heart -
Heinrich! Heinrich! What had you done to me?

Elisabeth Grümmer (s), Elisabeth; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Wolfram von Eschenbach; Hans Hopf (t), Tannhäuser; Orchestra of the Deutsche Staatsoper, Franz Konwitschny, cond. EMI, recorded Oct. 17-21, 1960 [audio link]

WE JUMP NOW TO THE "ENTRY OF THE GUESTS"

Eventually the young lovers work it out, amidst great mutual joy, leaving Wolfram -- still lurking in the background -- to reflect: "Thus vanishes, for this life, my every gleam of hope!" Elisabeth's uncle, Landgraf Hermann, enters, delighted to find Elisabeth once again in the Singers' Hall. In a wonderful little scene he's unable to get her to tell him the reason for her sudden turnabout, and gently accepts her insistence on keeping what he describes as her "sweet secret." And then --

(The guests in Daniel Barenboim's performance, like those in the 1962 Bayreuth performance we heard before the click-through, are clearly being hustled in with no time for dawdling. I'm glad for the more leisurely pace of Giuseppe Sinopoli and Franz Konwitschny. And it sounds as if basses Matti Salminen and Gottlob Frick are too.)

Tannhäuser: Act II, Landgraf, "So sei's!" ("So be it!") . . . "Schon nahen sich die Edlen meiner Lande" ("Already the nobles of my land are nearing" . . . Entry of the Guests, "Freudig begrüssen wir die edle Halle" ("Joyfully we greet the noble hall")

LANDGRAF: So be it!
That which his song so marvelously awoke
and stimulated, he shall reveal today
and crown with fulfillment.
Now the gracious art will come to fruition!
[Trumpets are heard from the background as if from the courtyard of the castle.]
The nobles of my land whom I have invited here
to a rare festival are approaching now;
they come more numerous than of wont, for they
have heard you are to be the festival's queen.
[The LANDGRAF and ELISABETH ascend the balcony to watch the arrival of the guests; they are announced by the four noble pages, who receive from the Landgrave directions as to their reception.
[Trumpets in the courtyard.
[The Knights and Counts enter, one by one, with their ladies and their retinue. The latter remain in the background; the others are received by the LANDGRAF and ELISABETH.]
KNIGHTS AND NOBLES: Joyfully we greet the noble hall,
where may art and peace alone linger ever,
and the joyous cry long ring out:
To the Prince of Thuringia, Count Hermann, hail!
NOBLEWOMEN: Joyfully we greet the noble hall,
where may art and peace alone linger ever,
and the joyous cry long ring out:
To the Prince of Thuringia, Count Hermann, hail!
[The assembled guests have now all taken their seats. The LANDGRAF and ELISABETH occupy seats of honor under a canopy, in the foreground.
[The SINGERS step forward and greet the assembly with dignified bows. They then take their seats, which are disposed in a narrow semicircle in the center of the hall.]

René Pape (bs), Landgraf Hermann; Chorus of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim, cond. Teldec, recorded June 2001 [audio link]
Matti Salminen (bs), Landgraf Hermann; Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli, cond. DG, recorded April-June 1988 [audio link]
Gottlob Frick (bs), Landgraf Hermann; Chorus and Orchestra of the Deutsche Staatsoper, Franz Konwitschny, cond. EMI, recorded Oct. 17-21, 1960 [audio link]

AND NOW WE JUMP TO THE SONG CONTEST

And we're going to start with a remarkable recording, a Frankfurt broadcast performance of the opera deduced to have taken place in 1950, when baritone Heinrich Schlusnus would have been, probably, 61 going on 62. (A general note on our recordings of the contest scene: Even I'm not pedantic enough to identify the singers of the Four Pages, which I thought would have cluttered up the listings unconscionably for a mere nine syllables sung. Note, though, that some performances use female sopranos and some boy trebles.)

Tannhäuser: Act II, Landgraf, "Auf, liebe Sänger!" ("Up, dear singers!" . . . Four Pages, "Wolfram von Eschenbach, beginne!" ("Wolfram von Eschenbach, begin!" . . . Wolfram, "Blick' ich umher in diesem edlen Kreise"("When I look around this noble circle")

LANDGRAF: Up, beloved Singers! Pluck the strings!
The task is set! Compete for the prize
and receive in advance all our thanks.
GUESTS: Hail! Hail! Hail to Thuringia's Prince!
Hail to the protector of the gracious art! Hail! Hail!
[The FOUR PAGES come forward and collect from each Singer, in a golden bowl, a small roll of paper bearing his name; they present the bowl to ELISABETH, who takes out one of the papers and hands it back to the pages. These read the name, and advance ceremoniously into the middle of the hall.]
FOUR PAGES: Wolfram von Eschenbach, begin!
[WOLFRAM rises. TANNHÄUSER leans on his harp, seemingly lost in dreams.]

THE SONG CONTEST

WOLFRAM: When I look around this noble circle,
what a sublime spectacle makes my heart glow!
So many heroes, valiant, upright and judicious,
a forest of proud oaks, magnificent, fresh and green.
And ladies I behold, charming and virtuous,
a richly-perfumed garland of lovely blooms.
My glance becomes enraptured at the sight,
my song mute in face of such radiant loveliness.
I lift my eyes up yonder to one star
which stands fast in the firmament and dazzles me:
my spirit draws comfort from that distance,
my soul devoutly sinks in prayer.
And behold! Before me a miraculous spring appears,
which my spirit glimpses, filled with wonder!
From it, it draws bliss, rich in grace,
through which, ineffably, it revives my heart.
And never would I sully this fount,
nor taint the spring in wanton mood:
I would practice myself in devotion, sacrificing,
gladly shed my heart's last drop of blood.
You noble ones may gather from these words
how I do apprehend love's purest essence to be!
[He sits down.]
KNIGHTS AND LADIES: 'Tis so! 'Tis so! Praised be your song!

Heinrich Schlusnus (b), Wolfram von Eschenbach; with Otto von Rohr (bs), Landgraf Hermann; Hessian Radio Chorus and Orchestra, Kurt Schröder, cond. Broadcast performance, 1950 [audio link]

So far our Wolframs have been a bass-baritone (van Dam) and a dramatic baritone (Schlusnus), as, deeper weightier voice types than we usually encounter, because more lyric-type baritones can manage the role, in a way that they can't manage Wagner's heroic-baritone (Heldenbariton) roles -- the Flying Dutchman, Wotan in The Ring, and Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger. In theory Wolfram's higher writing should be easier for they lighter-voiced baritones, but in fact the weightier-voiced singers can make a noticeably more present sound without having to resort to some sort of vocal "effect" to achieve vocal presence.

Extreme cases among these singers would be Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, whose upper range is almost tenorlike but whose Wolfram is indeed artfully created, and Thomas Hampson, who sings the music more solidly than many Wolframs I've heard but seems to have no strategy for "interpretation" other than a not-very-comfortable-sounding vocal pile-on. Eberhard Wächter's baritone was a gorgeous instrument in its prime, and that counts for something for Wolfram, a role he sang a lot (I think I've got three other live performances), and both his and Andreas Schmidt's Wolframs sound like pretty nice guys, yet they don't make the kind of individual impression I get from van Dam and Schlusnus, and even Fischer-Dieskau. (UPDATE: I should have mentioned that with all these recordings, if you want to skip the preliminaries and go straight to Wolfram's "Blick' ich umher," you can just advance to the next track.)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (b), Wolfram von Eschenbach; with Gottlob Frick (bs), Landgraf Hermann; Orchestra of the Deutsche Staatsoper, Franz Konwitschny, cond. EMI, recorded Oct. 17-21, 1960 [audio link]
Thomas Hampson (b), Wolfram von Eschenbach; with René Pape (bs), Landgraf Hermann; Chorus of the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim, cond. Teldec, recorded June 2001 [audio link]
Eberhard Wächter (b), Wolfram von Eschenbach; with Josef Greindl (bs), Landgraf Hermann; Bayreuth Festival (1962) Chorus and Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond. Philips, recorded live, 1962 [audio link]
Andreas Schmidt (b), Wolfram von Eschenbach; with Matti Salminen (bs), Landgraf Hermann; Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli, cond. DG, recorded April-June 1988 [audio link]

"Blick' ich umher" only

Finally we have something really special: the contest song sung by not just a Heldenbariton, but the best Heldenbariton we've had on records: the Hungarian-born Friedrich Schorr. What beauty of utterance, and what astonishing naturalness and freely and unfancily expressed human dimension. Wow!

For me, perhaps surprisingly, this contest has a clear winner. And the winner is --

Friedrich Schorr (b), Wolfram von Eschenbach; New Symphony Orchestra, Albert Coates. HMV, recorded May 1930 [audio link]


WHEN OUR TANNHÄUSER SERIES RESUMES . . .

. . . probably in two weeks, we'll be going back to Act I, to listen to Wolfram's role in the return of the long-absent Tannhäuser.

[Part 2 preview and main post]

[Part 3 preview and main post]


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