Opera tonight, so an easy day. We started out at the cemetery, just across from our hotel, really, where the rest of Wagner clan and the Lists are buried (in quite separate plots in quite different places in the cemetery).
Here are the Wagners....
....and here are the Liszts....
Then on to the Wahnfried Haus. As previously noted, this is where Richard and Cosima lived It was bombed during the war, rebuilt in the 50's, now being rehabbed. It was originally meant to be finished in 2013, now they are saying 2015. In any event, they are giving tours of the construction site for the die-hard fans.
Two things - first, there is no way in gods green acre that this is going to be done in 2015. Second, but for a question from the audience, the word Hitler would not have escaped the tour guide's lips, in spite of the fact that he lived there for part of the ten years prior to and through the war.
And then, of course, the opera. But back to the last opera.....I have to remind myself, for posterity about the turkeys in the first act of the Valkyrie. Yes, real, live turkeys, in a cage, probably with vocal chords cut (they were silent throughout). Then there were the Valkyrie copulating (or close to it) with the dead heroes..... Well, enough of that....
Tonight, it was Sigfried. The obligatory new outfit photo....
The crowd waiting for the fanfare.....
(David would have loved it - there were 8 trombones!!!)
More pictures of the inside of the house.....
This was the night of our dinner with the other members of the San Francisco Wagner Society, at the piss-elegant restaurant (as opposed to the Bratwurst on a roll we had been eating during the intermissions of the earlier operas). No pictures - way too elegant for that - you'll have to trust me that is was just lovely, with appetizer and main during the first intermission (and wine, of course), and desert for the second intermission. Aside from the beautiful people, and great, artsy, conversation, the food was lovely too. Yes, I could learn to live like that, as soon as you, one of my lovely readers, finds me someone to support me in the style to which I would like to become accustomed.....
And the opera? It was Sigfried, not my favourite anyway. As by now expected, I loathed - no, really, loathed, the production. Sigfried was weak, too, but all the other voices, and, especially, the orchestra, were grand. Below, one (of many) curtain calls - boos only for the production, otherwise, cheers all around!
....and home to bed.....
....and here are the Liszts....
Then on to the Wahnfried Haus. As previously noted, this is where Richard and Cosima lived It was bombed during the war, rebuilt in the 50's, now being rehabbed. It was originally meant to be finished in 2013, now they are saying 2015. In any event, they are giving tours of the construction site for the die-hard fans.
And then, of course, the opera. But back to the last opera.....I have to remind myself, for posterity about the turkeys in the first act of the Valkyrie. Yes, real, live turkeys, in a cage, probably with vocal chords cut (they were silent throughout). Then there were the Valkyrie copulating (or close to it) with the dead heroes..... Well, enough of that....
Tonight, it was Sigfried. The obligatory new outfit photo....
The crowd waiting for the fanfare.....
(David would have loved it - there were 8 trombones!!!)
More pictures of the inside of the house.....
This was the night of our dinner with the other members of the San Francisco Wagner Society, at the piss-elegant restaurant (as opposed to the Bratwurst on a roll we had been eating during the intermissions of the earlier operas). No pictures - way too elegant for that - you'll have to trust me that is was just lovely, with appetizer and main during the first intermission (and wine, of course), and desert for the second intermission. Aside from the beautiful people, and great, artsy, conversation, the food was lovely too. Yes, I could learn to live like that, as soon as you, one of my lovely readers, finds me someone to support me in the style to which I would like to become accustomed.....
And the opera? It was Sigfried, not my favourite anyway. As by now expected, I loathed - no, really, loathed, the production. Sigfried was weak, too, but all the other voices, and, especially, the orchestra, were grand. Below, one (of many) curtain calls - boos only for the production, otherwise, cheers all around!
No comments:
Post a Comment