DownWithTyranny!: Sunday Classics preview: What a difference a top-quality bass makes as King Heinrich in "Lohengrin"

WAGNER: Lohengrin: Act I: Royal Herald, "Gott richtet euch nach Recht und Fug" ("God will pass rightful judgment on you") . . . King Heinrich, "Mein Herr und Gott" ("My Lord and God")

ROYAL HERALD [to LOHENGRIN and TELRAMUND]:
God will pass rightful judgment,
so trust in Him, not in your own strength!
LOHENGRIN and TELRAMUND [standing opposite each other, outside the circle]:
God will pass rightful judgment on me,
so I shall trust in Him, not in my own strength!
KING HEINRICH [proceeding to the middle with great ceremony]: My Lord and God, I call upon you
[Everyone bares their head in deepest reverence]
to be present at this fight!
Proclaim through the sword's victory a verdict
that clearly shows what is deceit and what is truth!
May he who is innocent fight with the arm of a hero,
and may he who is false be sapped of strength!
So help us God in this hour,
for our wisdom is but folly!

PERFORMANCE A

PERFORMANCE B

PERFORMANCE C

by Ken

What we have here are three performances of the King's great prayer near the end of Act I of Lohengrin -- performances widely spaced in time, by basses who were all highly regarded in their times, and also widely spaced in quality, ranging from the near-sublime to the near-ridiculous. We'll hear them again in a moment, with proper identifications.

But first I should explain that when we first dipped into Wagner's Flying Dutchman last month ("Preview: Father's Day special -- meet the sea captain Daland" and "Father's Day special -- Wagner's Daland usually knows better than to trust in the wind"), the idea was to focus on the outstanding German bass Karl Ridderbusch in his glorious prime, in two great performances, as Daland in Dutchman and as the King in Lohengrin. Then I got sidetracked into "A little more of The Flying Dutchman -- we hear from the sailors" (preview) and "In The Flying Dutchman Wagner shows there's more than one way to get from Act I to Act II and from Act II to Act III." Well, around here that's always a risk.

This week I want to proceed to Ridderbusch's King Heinrich der Vogler, and we'll get there Sunday, but first I wanted to hit the King's two vocal high points.. We started with the King's stupendous invocation near the end of Act I, initiating the trial by combat between the unknown knight who has fallen from the heavens to defend Elsa of Brabant, accused of causing the disappearance of her little brother, Gottfried, and her accuser, her and Gottfried's guardian, the Brabantine noble Friedrich of Telramund.

NOW LET'S HEAR AND IDENTIFY OUR THREE PERFORMANCES

WAGNER: Lohengrin: Act I: Royal Herald, "Gott richtet euch nach Recht und Fug" ("God will pass rightful judgment on you") . . . King Heinrich, "Mein Herr und Gott" ("My Lord and God")

ROYAL HERALD [to LOHENGRIN and TELRAMUND]:
God will pass rightful judgment,
so trust in Him, not in your own strength!
LOHENGRIN and TELRAMUND [standing opposite each other, outside the circle]:
God will pass rightful judgment on me,
so I shall trust in Him, not in my own strength!
KING HEINRICH [proceeding to the middle with great ceremony]: My Lord and God, I call upon you
[Everyone bares their head in deepest reverence]
to be present at this fight!
Proclaim through the sword's victory a verdict
that clearly shows what is deceit and what is truth!
May he who is innocent fight with the arm of a hero,
and may he who is false be sapped of strength!
So help us God in this hour,
for our wisdom is but folly!

PERFORMANCE A

Roman Trekel (b), Royal Herald; Peter Seiffert (t), Lohengrin; Falk Struckmann (b), Friedrich von Telramund; René Pape (bs), King Heinrich; Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim, cond. Teldec, recorded January 1998
PERFORMANCE B

Tom Krause (b), Royal Herald; Jess Thomas (t), Lohengrin; Ramón Vinay (b), Friedrich von Telramund; Franz Crass (bs), King Heinrich; Bayreuth Festival Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond. Philips, recorded live, July 1962
PERFORMANCE C

Willi Wolff (b), Royal Herald; George Vincent (t), Lohengrin; Andreas Boehm (b), Friedrich von Telramund; Kurt Böhme (bs), King Heinrich; Bavarian State Orchestra, Rudolf Kempe, cond. Acanta, recorded 1951

The surprise here is Pape's so-so performance. We can hear a major voice, but it hasn't really wrapped itself around the music. Somewhere between this and the trial of a performance by Kurt Böhme is what seems to me the opera-house norm for the role. I think the difference in impact is pretty impressive, and that carries through to all sorts of opportunities in the role which go for little in the absence of a singer of Franz Crass's caliber -- or of Ridderbusch's, as we'll hear Sunday. (I should also put in a word here for the Herald of Tom Krause in the 1962 Bayreuth performance.)

NOW WE'RE GOING TO JUMP TO ACT III

I thought tonight we'd hear one more little excerpt for the King, from the start of the second of Act III's two scenes, following the disastrous ending of the Bridal Chamber scene, which began so auspiciously with the world's most famous march -- actually the bridal procession that ushers Elsa and her unknown hero-bridegroom to their first night together.

At the outset we get to hear once again Wagner's special genius for setting a scene musically. Then we hear King Heinrich responding to the warm greeting of the Brabantines.

We're going to hear Franz Crass and René Pape again. I didn't think it was necessary to drag poor Kurt Böhme back.

Lohengrin: Act III, Scene 2, Men, "Heil, König Heinrich!" ("Hail, King Heinrich!") . . . The King, "Habt Dank, ihr Lieben von Brabant!" ("Have thanks, dear men of Brabant!")

The plain by the Scheldt, as in Act I. Dawn gradually gives way to full daylight. A count with his retinue of troops appears right foreground, dismounts from his horse and hands it to a serf. Two pages bring him his shield and spear. He plants his standard in the ground and his troops assemble round it. As a second count appears in the field, trumpets are heard announcing the arrival of a third. A third count appears with his troops. They too assemble round their standard; the counts and nobles greet one another before examining and praising their arms etc. A fourth count appears with his retinue from the right and positions himself middle background. When the KING's trumpets are heard from the left, everyone hurries to assemble round the standards. The KING with his Saxon levy enters from the left.

ALL THE MEN [as the king arrives under the oak]:
Hail, King Heinrich!
King Heinrich, hail!
THE KING [standing under the oak]:
Have thanks, dear men of Brabant!
How my heart shall swell with pride
if on every acre of German soil I find
such mighteous throngs of troops!
Let the realm's enemy now approach,
we will meet him with courage:
from the barren wastes of the East
he shall never dare attack again!
For German soil the German sword!
Thus shall the realm's might be proved!
ALL THE MEN: For German soil the German sword!
Thus shall the realm's might be proved!

Franz Crass (bs), King Heinrich; Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond. Philips, recorded live, July 1962

René Pape (bs), King Heinrich; Berlin State Opera Chorus, Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim, cond. Teldec, recorded January 1998

(Do you begin to get the feeling that Daniel Barenboim's heart wasn't in the Lohengrin recording project?)

IN THIS WEEK'S SUNDAY CLASSICS POST

We go a bit deeper into the role of the King with Karl Ridderbusch and some other guests.