Lohengrin

The following video shows two exciting midpoints and the conclusion of Act I of Wagner's grand opera Lohengrin (1850). Elsa von Brabant has been falsely accused of a grave sin by Friedrich von Telramund. She denies the perfidious charge, and the call goes out for a knight to champion Elsa in combat. The first call goes unheeded. Elsa implores the king for a second call, which goes out, and this too appears to be ignored.



At the very moment when all hope appears to be lost for Elsa, she falls to her knees in prayer, and a commotion begins among the crowd. A knight in a boat drawn by a swan approaches along the river. He disembarks and vows to defend Elsa's honour. The duel begins, and while Friedrich von Telramund is aided by the black arts of the pagan sorceress Ortrund, the knight Lohengrin has God on his side.

These excerpts are from the best currently available video rendition of the opera, with Peter Hofmann as an uncommonly credible Lohengrin (a rare example of a singer who actually looks the part of a Teutonic knight) and Eve Marton as a somewhat too old but nevertheless convincing Elsa.

The definitive complete audio recording of this opera is the 1982 EMI 3CD set featuring the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

The Ring excepted, Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is the greatest opera ever written. This video shows its stirring finale, in which Hans Sachs persuades Walter von Stolzing, who has just won the contest of song (and with it Eva's heart) not to scorn Nürnberg's Mastersingers, but to honour their art.

Regrettably, Herbert von Karajan's definitive staging was never filmed, so no ideal video of the opera is available. This Met production is the best that currently exists, despite imperfect leads and a politically correct chorus who more closely evoke downtown Harlem than medieval Germany. A Sydney Opera video boasts a superior cast, but is blighted by a Leftist, revisionist ending that undermines the entire performance.

The Metropolitan Opera clip shown here is distinguished by fine costumes and props and a magnificent set design. This is truly the Mastersingers of Nürnberg, with the Sinnwell Tower of the Imperial Castle visible in the distance. Also, the staging of the finale conforms more closely to Wagner's instructions than does any other performance currently on video, offering a moment that is deeply touching for those who know the complete opera and recall the hints of an attraction between Sachs and Eva.

One cannot help but be moved by Sachs's final admonition to the audience: "Honour your German Masters." His words are as timely today as they were when Wagner penned them in 1868. The following translation, by yours truly, attempts to include as much rhyme as is possible while preserving the meaning of the original text.

SACHS: Beware! Evil plots threaten us all.
Should the German empire and people one day fall
Under a false, foreign rule,
No prince his people would understand.
And foreign intrigue and vanity
They would plant in German land.
What is German and true would soon be forgot
If it did not live on in the German Masters' art.
So honour your German Masters, I say to you!
Then you will summon spirits good and true.
If you give their works your favour
Then should the Holy Roman Empire
One day fall apart,
We would, even then, still possess
Our holy German Art!

DVD of this performance
Complete opera on CD (definitive Karajan version)

"I belong to a different age"

From Franz Endler, Karajan: An Autobiography (1989):

"Many of my critics write, and will go on writing, that I conduct too lavishly. That may be so. During my day people have been somewhat extravagant in terms of art and music. I believed this was the right attitude to adopt, and so I've supported it. It has something to do with respect towards art, and if this respect is old-fashioned, so be it, I've no intention of dissociating myself from it. When I was young, we approached music with a sense of awe and celebrated each such approach as a special event. I can see, of course, that times have changed, that people don't want to know about respect any longer, and that it is not in keeping with the times to celebrate a concert. People are going to great lengths to make themselves ugly, to wear ugly clothes, and to feel precious little enthusiasm for beauty. I've been observing this for years . . . I know there's nothing that can be done at present to change all this. But no one can expect me to seek a polite or understanding explanation for this, still less that I should agree with it and conform. I belong to a different age. And what I want to preserve for myself and posterity also belongs to a different age."

Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) was the greatest conductor the world has ever known. His recordings comprise the definitive account of the classical repertoire. In his opera stagings he rejected modern left-wing political fashions, instead realizing the works in tune with the composers' own wishes. Nothing less than a musical Übermensch, he was a true Romantic in an anti-Romantic age, and the last great interpreter of the German tradition.

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