Wozzeck - Berg

[motodraconis]

Ah! PTSD! Mental illness, I did rather suspect this was not the sort of opera that would tick my boxes, but hey, can't complain with a 7 quid ticket!

All photos taken from the ENO flickrstream as usual.



So, Wozzeck - an opera with a name I cannot pronounce, luckily, this name was repeated at the end of every bloody sentence for the first "song" Wozzeck, Wozzeck, Wozzeck!



I hesitate to say "songs," it was that endless talky singing throughout, with no discernible change between songs. The music is apparently defined as "atonal," and there is good reason for this. The subject matter is dark and grating, and the music does indeed grate on your nerves. Unfortunately, I found it hard to connect with this opera in any way, even if intellectually I could understand why it was like this. To me the music was dull, with the only emotion it was capable of rousing in me was a faint feeling of constant irritation. Atonal indeed!



Never really heard an opera that sung so long, (and so boringly) about urination. There were several swear words, arsehole (repeated) fucker, arse, even a wanker at one point I think. And still it was dull!



Now to be fair, I can't really fault the singers or the production, but really, this was jangling, discordant music about jangling, discordant people. You're unlikely to like Wozzeck, though you might be strongly effected by it. crazycrone was considerably closer to the stage and had a more intense and visceral experience. Would I have "liked" it more had I not been strapped to the ceiling up in the gods? Sat next to a woman who sighed heavily from this aggravating opera at least twice?



The thing is, most conventional tragic operas at least start with fairly jolly moments, or splice anguish with delight or even humour before slapping you in the face with more anguish. This is the better to provide contrast to the pain. But with Wozzeck, there is no let up, no jolly moments, no happy contrast as foil to the agony. It is unrelentingly grim and depressing. That is not my style at all, I'm not a fan of horror (and in some ways this is a horror opera) and any kind of production, be it opera, a play, a film or a book - without even a glimmer of comedy will leave me cold. Life, even at its shittest, has moments of comedy. Even if it's black comedy. A production without even a hint of humour does not seem like real life to me. However, if your tastes lean towards the dark and horrific, you probably can't do worse than trying Wozzeck. The ENO production has certainly garnered excellent reviews from the critics.



I only had to check my watch 4 times. Luckily it was only an hour and a half long (thank god!) I personally couldn't wait for Wozzeck to kill his partner and thus spell out the end of the opera. Though the final scene of the boy, (having seen both his parents brutally dead in his home,) standing half catatonic while a gang of children mock him for being an orphan was pretty nasty shit.

Finally, here is a taste of the music, so you can hear the meaning of "atonal" for yourself. No singing. The music (to be honest) sounds better when people are not singing. Ah well. It was really not my thing.

Comments

[crazycrone.livejournal.com]

Seems most of the crits were on 'my' side, but I can see how a lot of people would just be bored and pissed off, too. It's hardly my favourite opera, but it was just so well done that it really got to me. I do think you may have missed some of the black humour that's definitely there in the lunacies of the Captain and the Doctor, though.
Looking forward to THE PERFECT AMERICAN now.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Heh, I guessed that Wozzack would not be my thing, but I do feel my repertoire of opera is limited and needs expanding, so I didn't want to miss it. When I've had more practice, I may get more out of Wozzeck next time round.

It was a good production, no question. Alack, the black humour bits passed me by as the talky singing and jangly music was winding me up too much.

I'm looking forward to the Glass - it'll be my first one! Some of my co-workers will probably be at the rehearsal too and speak very highly of his work.