SFO Presents its First Stream of Wagner Opera

This weekend San Francisco Opera (SFO) is presenting its first Opera is ON offering of the month. It also happens to be the first SFO streaming of an opera by Richard Wagner, Lohengrin. The video by Frank Zamacona was prepared from performances that took place during the fall 2012 season. The staging was by Daniel Slater in a production shared with the Houston Grand Opera and the Grand Théâtre de Genève. The performance was conducted by Music Director Nicola Luisotti; and, according to my records, this was the first SFO production in which he conducted Wagner.

I have to confess that, from a personal level, it took me some time to warm up to this opera. Almost all of the music that is familiar to concert-goers can be found at the beginning of the last of the three acts. Before one gets to the third act, one must first negotiate the politics of the Duchy of Brabant and the need to join forces with German tribes in driving out invading Hungarians. In other words “world wars” of regions from the west having to join forces to turn back forces from the east were around long before the invasion of Serbia, which is generally taken to mark the beginning of World War I. In that respect the production designs by Robert Innes Hopkins came across rich with connotations of both World War I and World War II; and I think that it was this “twentieth century perspective” that brought me around to a more positive reception of this opera.

Telramund (Gerd Grochowski) is killed by Lohengrin (Brandon Jovanovich) after interrupting his wedding night with Elsa (Camilla Nylund)

That said, this is an opera it which the lines between “good guys” and “bad guys” is pretty clearly drawn. The narrative begins with a trial (of sorts) brought against Elsa von Brabant (soprano Camilla Nylund), accusing her of the murder of her younger brother, the Duke Gottfried, who has mysteriously disappeared. Elsa prays for an advocate for her innocence; and her prayer is answered with the appearance of Lohengrin (tenor Brandon Jovanovich). Elsa is found innocent, and the expected love story between the two of them begins to unfold.

As the plot develops, we eventually learn that the disappearance of Gottfried is due to the sorceress Ortrud (soprano Petra Lang), who has transformed his body. Ortrud is married to Count Friedrich of Telramund (baritone Gerd Grochowski), Elsa’s accuser seeking for higher status in the court of King Heinrich der Vogler (Henry the Fowler, such by bass Kristinn Sigmundsson). A complex web of deceit unfolds in the opera’s second act, and even the joy of the wedding ceremony for Elsa and Lohengrin at the beginning of the third act does not last long.

A key element of the plot involves the fact that, for most of the opera, Lohengrin is not identified by name. Indeed, he makes Elsa promise never to ask his name. That promise only comes to a breaking point after the wedding.

This leads to an extended aria by Lohengrin in which we learn that he is one of the Knights charged with caring for the Holy Grail; and, having disclosed his identity, he is obliged to return to the Grail in Monserrat. He was brought to Brabant by a magic swan, which appears to take him back to Monserrat. However, when he learns that the swan is actually Gottfried, transformed by Ortrud, Lohengrin brings back Gottfried through his own power of prayer.

All this makes for a rather complex narrative. Nevertheless, anyone hooked on the Marvel Cinematic Universe is probably used to such complexity; and Slater’s direction managed every twist and turn of the plot in such a way that the chain of events could be followed with little difficulty. Furthermore, the progress of that plot was deftly facilitated through Wagner’s impeccable technique of unfolding drama through easily recognized musical idioms. Luisotti’s interpretation from the podium consistently brought clarity to both the content and the phrasing of Wagner’s music, in the orchestra pit as well as on stage. Thus, while the overall trip may not have been a “walk in the park,” attentiveness to plot through both music and acting made that trip well worth taking.