Posted on 02/22/2025 10:52:11 AM PST by BenLurkin
In describing how Wagner conceived the whole of his ambitious artistic project, Thomas Mann writes: "There is no chronology of his operas: they are born at a certain date, but they are ready before the date all of a sudden". Each of his works is elaborated on a personal, musical and literary, artistic and theoretical, even political context. Lohengrin was conceived at the same time as Tannhäuser (1845), which was conceived at the same time as Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1868).
Always caught up in the preparations of Tannhäuser, Wagner completed the libretto of Lohengrin. The literary style is deliberately archaic. "The versification is impressive and beautiful, the style is high and appropriate to the characters, this drama borrows a singular reflection of the Middle Ages reproducing the old German language", Franz Liszt underlined in the article he devoted to the literary and musical analysis of Lohengrin, few days after having directed the first performance. This text, which remains a reference, was published in French in 1851 with an article on Tannhäuser. Liszt wanted to make it easier by his comments an opera whose novelty had enough to disconcert the audience.
Lohengrin - Opéra de Paris (répétitions) © Monika Rittershaus / OnP
Jonas Kaufmann (Lohengrin), Martina Serafin (Elsa) Répétitions © Monika Rittershaus / OnP In the presence of the artistic and intellectual elite of Dresden, Wagner gave a first reading of his text on November 17th, 1845 at the restaurant Engel. Ferdinand Hiller (1811-1885) and Robert Schumann (1810-1856) are part of the audience. Everyone admires the poetic quality of Wagner's text, but Schumann doubts the possibility of putting it into music...
(Excerpt) Read more at opera-online.com ...
Brief excerpt from Lohengrin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jj-PaqFrBc
Wagner's music stand on it's own.
I have a DVD of the Met production. It’s a wonderful experience, but they dressed Lohengrin in a white outfit that made him look like Barry Manilow.
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