MADRID, May 24. (EUROPA PRESS) –
He Royal Theatre will offer a new concert as part of the cycle next Sunday, May 26 Voices of the Real, on this occasion with Nina Stemme in the leading role, with some of the most famous scenes from Wagner operas and also the world premiere of “The Last Supper of the Apostles”an almost unknown work by the author, who eventually described it as a “folkloristic episode”.
Fourteen years after her performance in the title role of Richard Strauss’s “Salomé” in 2010, Stemme will return to the Teatro Real. “It is a unique opportunity to hear a historical artist in these roles, probably from her last performances.”“, emphasised artistic director Joan Matabosch.
Isolde, a reference for 20 years – she made her debut in this role at the Glyndebourne Festival in 2003 -, Stemme will perform in Madrid her most transcendent scene, “Liebestod (Death of Love)”, coinciding with her farewell to this character on stage, which will appear for the last time next Wednesday, May 29, at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo.
In the second part of the concert, the Swedish soprano will give voice and soul to Brünnhilde – a totemic figure she no longer plays on stage – in the final scene of “Götterdämmerung”, which is the climax of the Wagner tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelung”. “If one had to pick Wagner’s most iconic works, these would probably be among the most beautiful“, noted musical director Gustavo Gimeno.
In the two parts of the concert, the main orchestra of the Teatro Real will perform alone the “Prelude” from “Tristan and Isolde” and three scenes from “Die Götterdämmerung” – “Dawn”, “Sigfried’s Journey through the Rin” and “Siegfried’s Funeral March” – an opera he performed two years ago, in January 2022.
In addition, the main choir of the Teatro Real will offer a unique work in the Wagner catalogue, the cantata “Das Liebesmahl der Apostel” for male choir and large orchestra, which its conductor, Jose Luis Basso As early as 1997 he conducted at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
When Wagner took over the musical direction of the Saxon royal court in 1843, he also agreed to direct the most important Dresden Song Festival, which commissioned him to perform a work to celebrate Pentecost on behalf of the city’s cultural association, of which he was a member and which brought together all the state’s male choirs, nearly 1,200 singers, for the premiere of the score that same year in the Church of Our Lady.
This Wagner Day takes place one day after the ninth and final performance of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and thus concludes the cycle dedicated to this composer, in which the main choir of the Teatro Real plays a special role.
“Obviously, Wagner’s cantata was created because of a certain correspondence with what we are representing: for a work that is not so long, brutal troops are necessary. “about half an hour long,” stressed Matabosch, which was also confirmed by the director of the Real Choir, José Luis Basso, who explained that it was “a rarity that only a few opera houses can afford.”
The difficulties of performing this work as Wagner had envisaged it led to it becoming an almost “marginal” piece in his repertoire. Basso, however, has described it as “Exquisite candy for Wagnerians.”“, which also contains some references to other works.
“There are many phrases from other pieces, although it is not self-plagiarism, as it might be with Rossini. There is ‘Tannhäuser’ and there is also ‘Parsifal’, similarities in the orchestration and references to what has already been done and what was.” “That will come,” he said. pointed out the director of the Real choir.
