etc. etc. etc.

It is what you call it. But call it how it is. A history to every word, a legacy of associations dredged up, subconscious understanding, a poem behind every word.

Knowledge through experience - layered, woven - makes a tapestry.

Every time you read it or say it, it makes another copy in your brain.

The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel
And the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides
And a dark wind blows
The government is corrupt
And we're on so many drugs
With the radio on and the curtains drawn

We're trapped in the belly of this horrible machine
And the machine is bleeding to death

Every time you read it or say it, it makes another copy in your brain.

"Donner la liberté au monde par la force est une étrange entreprise pleine de chances mauvaises. En la donnant, on la retire."

Every time you read it or say it, it makes another copy in your brain.

Cut through the associations; separate the wheat from the chaff; unweave the tapestry. Deconstruct. Call it how it is. Who decides?

Freiheit nur für die Anhänger der Regierung, nur für Mitglieder einer Partei - mögen sie noch so zahlreich sein - ist keine Freiheit.

We're in dialogue. I'm talking to you. You are understanding the words I am saying. Now you are speaking; I am listening. I hear words; I hear you. Now you are done talking, and I am dreaming.

opera: "a combination of music and drama wherein the music is not in place simply as background or mood setting, but is given an expressive and communicative platform at least equal to that of the text or stage action."

opera: "an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (called a libretto) and musical score."

I didn't know who she was. I had no idea. I had so much to learn. She faded into and then emerged from the static of history like a ghost. Like the King of Siam. She died before I was born.

And I know they buried her body with others
Her sister and mother and 500 families
And will she remember me 50 years later

I wished I could save her in
some sort of time machine
Know all your enemies

We know who our enemies are
Know all your enemies
We know who our enemies are

...usw...

Wagner's Ring Digest

Last weekend, I saw a 6-hour version of Wagner's Ring cycle. It's not so hard to do if you reduce the singing to speaking, turning each opera into one of four acts of a play. Just like seeing one of the operas, there were two 10-minute intermissions and one 45-minute dinner break.

I would highly recommend checking it out at the Building Stage. It made the entirety of the story manageable, giving the audience a great introduction/refresher, a great preparation for seeing any one of the operas and knowing how it fits into the story.

The question that should be burning in your mind regards the music. How does one make use of the sixteen hours of Wagner's scores?


Before going to the play(s), I read that the ubiquitous composer Kevin O'Donnell had created a score that mimicked Wagner's harmonic changes. In principle, before seeing the play, I agreed with this idea, but in practice, after seeing the play, I found that the composer didn't quite quite hit his aim. That is, it was a good idea but poorly executed. Not simply in the details, the fault lay in some of the early choices.

The problem with the music starts with the chosen style. O'Donnell's score was minimalist rock with a hint of 50s lounge/surf guitar. Which could have been a good choice if the tone of the play was similarly campy. The play, however, treated the epic like an epic, almost highlighting the parallels between the Lord of the Rings saga still fresh in people's minds. There was nothing campy or ironic about the direction, making the music the misfit. The website of the Building Stage described the play as: "not an opera, a play that rocks." Perhaps the misguided decision was not made by Mr. O'Donnell but by the play's director who wanted the style of the play and the style of the music to be somewhat at odds, complementary perhaps.

Once the choice of the style and ensemble were made, O'Donnell was bound to the two guitars, two drum sets, bass, and glockenspiel. Nothing in the ensemble could mimic Wagner's heroic horns or swelling strings, nor did they try. The music was interstitial and necessarily minimalist. There were only a handful of different pieces, most of which referring to the famous and cliched Ride of the Valkyries, that recurred between scenes. Aside from the Valkyrie music, the other pieces referred to the Rhein music and "Curse" leitmotif of Wagner's score. Limiting the references to the score to a few seems both prudent and necessary. The audience, in this case, did not come to hear music in the form of a dictionary of leitmotifs. There are only so many themes a person can take in and remember in this abridged version.

One thing that this production didn't attempt, which I would have liked to see, was underscoring. Wagner's music doesn't just serve the plot, it serves to create an emotional contour, eliciting a connection and reaction. It would be difficult to do (correctly without being overtly cinematic), but subtly using Wagner's trove of music to underscore the more emotionally charged scenes would strengthen the productions coherence and message.

Overall, I was confused by the relationship between the stage and the pit. The acting seemed to be almost Shakespearean: a good balance of dramatic, sentimental, a touch of comedy, and an overall epic quality. The ingenuity with puppets, shadows, and props matched and enhanced that balance. The music seemed unsuited to the spirit of the play. In some cases, it undercut the drama of the scene; in others it was simply unconvincing - paling in comparison to the strength of the acting. Fortunately, this production, unlike a Wagner opera, does not lean so heavily on the music, so the music is merely an unsightly blemish on an otherwise heroic visage.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[After seeing the play, to learn and refresh my memory of Wagner's quadrilogy, I learned a lot from this website, explaining the plot and providing a catalog of the leitmotifs. I would have liked to know them better before seeing the play so as to judge even better old and new.]