Review - Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner), Staatsoper im Schiller Theatre Berlin, 11 October 2015 & 18 October 2015

Hans Sachs - Wolfgang Koch

Sixtus Beckmesser - Markus Werba
Veit Pogner - Kwangchul Youn
Eva - Julia Kleiter
Walther von Stolzing - Klaus Florian Vogt
Magdalene - Anna Lapkovskaja
David - Stephan Rügamer

The Masters - Graham Clark, Gyula Orendt, Jurgen Linn, Siegfried Jerusalem, Reiner Goldberg, Paul O'Neill, Arttu Kataja, Franz Mazura, Olaf Bar

Staatsopernchoir & Staatskapelle Berlin
Conductor - Daniel Barenboim
Director - Andrea Moses

I watched this presentation of Die Meistersinger twice over two weekends. Despite Hans Sachs was a historical figure and the embedded ideologies more than a century old, Moses agreed with the progressive and insightful thinker on the nature and attitude towards the ever changing construction of German identity. At the 25th anniversary of the reunification, forward looking to a peaceful reunified Germany and celebrations of arts would forge the new identification, if one could agree Hans Sachs's vision of 'green and pasture land' in the end. It was a bold message though instead of feeling sorry for the turbulent and painful past that it should be honoured and welcome the future. This was a direct contrast to the post war years, which the cultural and national approaches on war crimes, the division of East and West Germany mostly in an apologetic and pessimistic tone. Andrea Moses skilfully interwoven the developments of German identity into the opera but I felt the spirit of positivism was naively optimistic in the conclusion.

To be fair, Moses should be credited for her insights by relating the characters with some prominent social attitudes in modern Germany. Walther is those who avoid associating oneself with traditions or celebrations of the nation, whereas David struggles to defend traditional values and challenged by his schoolmates/colleagues. The masters are a conflicting group that the younger ones surprisingly more conservative, sceptical and critical than the elders. Sixtus Beckmesser is the victim of himself that smugness and being hypocritical but no originality led to his humiliation at the song contest and the scuffle on St John's eve. The apprentices are rebellious hoping to be free from rules and in act two they transform into the drunken punks except David. Eva is probably trapped being a feminist but the same time submissive to her father's will. Smoking cigarettes is her rebellious expression of being not the 'perfect' daughter and a complicated relationship with Hans Sachs and Walther. The director probably making the point that modern youths are less experimental and forward thinking compare to the generations grown up in cold war years, but being a rebel against the establishment is a feature any time at the tender age.  

On the macro level, the directorial approach is more critical politically and complex. The church scene at the opening shows us a priest resembling the figure of Martin Luther, who employed the identity of German as a unifying race in his church sermons at the time of Holy Roman Empire. The priest also represented Moses's three perceptions of the church: the never ending collections from clergyman for whatever purposes, the church cannot prevent the outbreak of social tensions in act two that the priest, also the night-watchman praising god, becomes the victim of the fiasco. When the priest handing out musical notes for public to praise Hans Sachs in act three, I thought it was an implicit reference of the church supporting the allegiance of a leader instead of the one god during the time of Nazi party rose to power,

The master's guild is a fancy institution for the great and good of society meeting in a stylish modern room, which the illuminated Mercedes Benz logo on top of Europa center office tower in the background. Wealth, status and wellness are on display but the masters generally behave as if they never get away from pretentious traditions. The underlying message seems to be that established institutions need to stop profiting from their wealth and convention practices, but to modernise, invest and adopt a more liberal attitudes to help with the development of the youth.

Then it comes to the roles of nation with the German national flag hanging on one side of the stage as a connotative symbol. The masters emphasizes their beliefs, values and associations with the state as Pogner reminded his fellows in act one while holding the flag. The punks in act two not only being rebellious students but also the anarchist group in contrast to David who is the odd one holding onto the flag. Law and order are constantly in a difficult situation with those challenging the establishment, and not 'cool' if you defend it. When Walther and Eva hiding under the flag while Beckmesser making the serenade, it is as if people will keep away from the problem and only come closer to the state under its protection. Then later the young couples rejoicing their union before leaving Hans Sachs shop for the song contest, individual affections come first for each other instead of thanking the nation as they drop the flag on the floor and hug each other. I guess here the celebration of love and promising future to become a master put the personal priority before the opportunities given from the state. It is an uneasy notion because the modern society focuses on individual achievement than a collective success.

The riot on St John's eve (Johannistag) at the end of act two and the reconstructed city palace of Berlin, in the background of song contest, are the highlights of ongoing public disputes on the identity question. In the fiasco we saw supporters of the west and east Berlin football teams, far left and far right followers, gay right campaigners, pro Russian group, clubbing crowds, the masters themselves and religious practitioners went into a chaotic fight with each other. It is a statement of turbulent past that still shadow and in memory to many this day. In contrast, the pretty crowd in front of the palace seems too proud and over joy to celebrate a prosperous nation, traditions and leader worshipping. We see two Arabs as the guests of honour in the masters' party, which suggests the palace rebuilding project is a flaw that the nation does not have the wealth and kowtowing to foreign funds.

Musically I thought my second experience was much better than the first. What really made the cast stood out was the clarity in diction and individual voices blending with each other in tone colour and the right flows in dialogue between passages. The orchestra was more in tune, especially tutti at the beginning of the overture, and phrasing had improved that Barenboim seems to get around with the musical direction. There were less coordination issues between the orchestra and singers as before the band noticeably dragged the tempo so much that the singers struggled to pace the singing. Klaus Florian Vogt got the prize song mostly correct compare to the previous weekend which he had trouble to fit in the words and stumbled for few bars before settling in. Some works must have been done to resolve the problem during the week as he and Barenboim were still negotiating over the tempo on my first hearing.  I have to agree with my friend that Vogt did not always match the beauty in timbre as his many other colleagues. His vocal projection might be the best but sometimes lacking the smoothness and sounding harsh in the higher vocal range, particularly with the 'i' vowel. Wolfgang Koch was probably the best sung Hans Sachs I came across. Beautiful timbre with the right tone colour that never too bright and forceful in the singing. He did not have that much trouble like Vogt with the tempo and skilfully overcome the problem that made the tempo issue less noticeable. Markus Werba was consistently well sung as Beckmesser and acted the role very well to fit the directorial approach appropriately. Stephan Rügamer in the role of David was more secured during my second hearing with better control on higher vocal range and improved on vocal projection. Kwangchul Youn sang the role of Pogner very well in terms of intonation and diction, but I was not convinced that if the tessitura truly exhibited the best of his voice. Julia Kleiter had the right timbre for the part of Eva and her singing was fairly secured that complimented other voices very well. Anna Lapkovskaja also delivered a more pleasant tone the second time with the desired smoothness and more precise with the notes. The masters consisted several veteran singers including Siegfried Jerusalem, and for the first time I felt they made the impression that many other productions failed to do so. This is also the uniqueness of Moses productions that all the minor roles have a more significant role to play in the performance. The chorus was also on a better form being more secured with intonation, unity in diction and put out a magnificent display of the choral passages. It marks the change in vocal style that singing works by Wagner could also achieve beauty, volume and clarity without heavy vibrato and barking.