Thursday, July 26, 2007

Opening Day

A: i feel like the Bayreuth intermission show is going to turn into "Sprockets" at any moment
J: oh the b-casts are on?!
A: Act II is starting now
A: http://vibik.blogspot.com/2007/07/wet-cats.html
J: Act II of what?
A: Meistersinger
J: who's in it?
A: a bunch of people I don't know
A: and Klaus Florian Vogt
J: woo!
J: I may need to turn that on
J: hm Linda Watson is the Bayreuth Brunnhilde again
A: yeah
A: I don't know how I feel about that
J: yeah I am leaning toward disappointed
J: it's weird that real A-listers don't sing at Bayreuth athat much
J: like, there's no Mattila Eva or Voigt Sieglinde at Bayreuth
J: oh sweet little Klaus
A: it's awfully nice
A: I don't know why the lack of a-lsiters
A: I think I read in a voigt interview about how she wanted to but they were going to make her jump through all these hoops and she was like whatever
J: I wonder what sort of hoops
J: these streams come through nicely
A: which are listening to?
J: NDR
A: me too
J: keepin' it real mit dem deutschen radio
A: some of the others are not so god
A: good
J: this makes me feel like I am in Deutschland
J: the chit chat
A: dang it
J: what?
A: boss came over to talk to me and I missed the riot
J: suck
J: I see a Frau Ohne Schatten/Doctor Atomic weekend in our future
A: um
A: I have been listening to this interview in german for like a half hour now
J: me too!
J: I mean, I don't understand it
A: she has such a great voice
J: I know
J: all gravely
A: oh man
A: that's the 29 yr old chick who's going to take it over
J: wait what?
A: she's the 29 yr old great (or great great) granddaughter who is supposed to get the torch
J: oh wow
A: unless the Bayreuth board bucks Wieland Wagner's wishes and goes with her mother or cousin
A: who are both older
J: why does it go to her and not her mother?
J: is her mother not a descendant?
A: it's not like a right of succession, I don't think
A: he wants to give it to her to ensure it will be kept in the family longer
J: ah
J: ok
A: 29 vs. 66
J: and Wieland is what, a great grandchild?
A: I think so
A: tho maybe he is just grandson
A: He's pretty old
J: when Did Wagner die?
A: 1883 A: but his child with Cosima, Siegfried, was fairly late I think
J: so wait, it's Wolfgang Wagner who's in charge right?
A: right...
A: Wieland was the other one
A: maybe that was the grandson
A: wolfgang is the great grandson
J: Wieland and Wolfgang are the sons of Winifred and Siegfried
J: I mean, per Wikipedia
J: Wieland ist tot
J: Wolfgang is the father of Katarina, the 29 year old
A: did he do the famous minimalist postwar productions?
A: yes
A: wow, so the current Wagner family's Nazi connections were indeed pretty tight
A: like Wolfgang's mom was all buddies with Hitler
A: ah
A: right
A: Winifred the Nazi
J: exactly
A: I think there are damning pictures of Hitler playing with the children or something
J: oh with Wolfgang and Wieland?
A: yeah
J: http://solomonsmusic.net/wagners.gif
A: lovely
J: Wolfgang will be 88 at the end of August
A: must be fun when they discuss old times
A: was that the summer we stayed at the beach or the one with Hitler?
J: haha
J:"no that year was Christmas at the Hitlers."
J:"the year before we went to that Hannukah thing at the Rosenbergs"
J: they take serious intermission at the 'reuth
A: yeah
A: I'm thinking there is some really nice summer sausage being consumed right now
J: oh totally
J:I'd ove to hear KFV do that part in G-dams right before Siegfried's death when he sings all the wood bird music
J: I'd love to hear, rather
A: oh word
A: it's funny when David sounds crustier than Walther
J: hah
J: yes
A: bring it KFV
A: what do you think therapy is like for Wolfgang?
A: "tell me about your mother"
A: "well, she was kind of judgmental...also, she was a big fucking Nazi"
J: hah
J:"ugh, she was like a total Nazi"
A: haha
J: "you mean, she was controlling?"
J: "no..."
J: "I mean, she made us sit on Hitler's lap"
A: haha
A: next door computer left
A: now I can giggle in peace
A: awesome
J: sweet
J: is that Jar Jar?
A: no
A: he's behind a wall
J: ah
J: and yet
A: there's this random computer next to me that people take once in a while
J: oh so priddy
A: super total priddy
J: do it again!
A: ha
A: yes!
J: haha
A: um
A: KFV needs to seriously never grow this stache again
J: ew!
A: delicious
J: yum
A: this part where Beckmesser comes back is such a chore
A: me and this Eva are no longer friends
A: uh...that's not the pitch, honey
J: I missed it
J: what'd she do?
A: she was shrill
A: and that was dicey
A: just there
J: yeah she is pretty mediocre
A: KFV's blending skillz are incredible
A: so
A: I realized the other weekend
A: there is a casino like a half hour away from me
A: in Indiana
J: oh man
J: yeah I found one in Yonkers
J: the slot machine thing with me is bad
J: have you gone?
A: no
A: not yet
A: but I've been reading about slot machines
J: oh?
A: not that you can do that much
J: right
A: but stuff like they try to confuse you about which the high percentage machines really
A: are
J: oh wow
A: and you have to read the fine print to make sure
A: and stuff about maximum coin machines
J: what are those?
J: like, $2 machines
J: ?
A: where you have a choice
J: oh right
A: not on all, but on some of them you should always play the maximum coin allotment to increase the probability
A: They are programmed to give higher percentages
J: yeah I read that too
J: funny we both did internet research on slot machines
A: yes
A: omg
A: someone is vacuuming in here
A: this better freaking end before the P-lied
J: um yes
J: it better
J: the Prettylied
A: Hans!
A: Sachs!
J: that was a nice note there
J: oh I do like the KFV
J: Kentucky Fried Vogt
A: Walther (trans.): the meisters can kiss my ass, now excuse me while I go do it with that guy's daughter
J: hah
J: which is fine coming from Vogt. Less fine coming from Botha.
A: true
J: "First I will locate my penis under the rolls. Then we will read the bible. THEN we will do it."
A: haha
A: apparently on stage right now for the "honor your Germant masters" bit, gigantic Nazi style busts of Goethe and Schiller are disintegrating into the stage
J: whoa
A: should make for some nice booing
A: this ending chorus is v. nice
J: it so is
J: whoa good booing already
A: damn
A: I hope that's for the Colonel
J: which
A: the first big applause
J: I wish they'd put the microphone back in there
A: seriously...the production people are going to come soon
J: that is sort of tepid for someone
A: don't cut out!
J: ah!
J: let us hear the boo-ing!
A: noooo!
J: neeeeeiiin!
J: is this a new production?
A: yeah
A: by Katharina Wagner
J: heh
A: nuts
J: I can't tell what was going on
A: wow
A: that entertained me for the entire day
J: that is excellent
J: I have had it on for 3 hrs 45 mins
A: I'm at 6:21
J: this is nice, it's sort of like the old TCF days
J: wow
A: I missed the first half hr or so
J: so, Tannhäuser tomorrow?
A: back to the hill!
A: I'll bring the wurst, you bring the wine
J: das klingt ganz perfeckt

5 comments:

Lisa Hirsch said...

Siegfried was not only born late, he was homosexual and didn't marry until he was in his 40s. (Yeah, under enormous pressure from Cosima, who lived until 1930 (!).) It was Wieland, the oldest of Siegfried's children, who was responsible for the greatest of the postwar Bayreuth productions.

Alex Ross said...

It never ceases to blow my mind that Bayreuth is being run by the grandson of a man born in 1813.

Unknown said...

I think a lot of it with Bayreuth is that people aren't willing to commit to their demanding summer schedule (I'm pretty sure Matti Salminen goes home and does Savonlinna instead), but even more, it's that Bayreuth isn't artistically what it used to be. In the 50s and 60s, it was the place for doing innovative things with Wagner, and even into the 70s. Now...well, who wants to sing with decomposing rabbits?

Alex said...

Yeah, that does sound awfully unpleasant. I suppose the trouble is they don't really need to fill any seats, so there's not such an incentive to get the quality back up. Tho one can't help but daydream about how neat it would be if they did use it to assemble dream team casts...like summer olympics but with less archery and more sangin'.

Lisa Hirsch said...

Mr. Noise, yes - and Wolfgang might live to see the bicentenary of Richard's birth.