German conductor Markus Bosch wields the baton, and the majestic and layered music of the NCPA Orchestra comes from the depths of the orchestra pit: the strings are cascading like the waves of the sea, the horn is melodious, like a giant ship sailing, and a beautiful wisp of English pipe shuttles through it, revealing a ray of light poured in the dark storm. On the evening of April 10, on the stage of the National Center for the Performing Arts, the magnificent and allegorical overture opened the curtain for the third time on the performance of Wagner's opera "The Wandering Dutchman".
scene
Two giant ships are the ultimate interpretation of Wagner's night
The Wandering Dutchman is the first Wagner opera produced by the National Centre for the Performing Arts, premiered in 2012 with the famous opera director Jon Carlo de Monaco as the main creative team to set up a magnificent and treacherous fantasy world on the stage: the cursed captain Dutchman has to spend his entire life wandering at sea, and can only go ashore once in seven years. In another seven-year cycle, they docked on the coast of Norway and met Shanta, the beautiful daughter of Norwegian Captain Daland, but unbeknownst to them, the mockery of fate had quietly arrived.
The first act of the opera begins with the meeting of two ships. The curtain opened, the Norwegian ship was swaying in the waves, accompanied by the singing of the sailors, the captain Daland, played by the Russian singer Dimitry Ulianov, and the Norwegian helmsman played by Wang Chong, an actor of the National Center for the Performing Arts, took the lead in "boarding the ship".
When the huge "ghost ship" with red sails and black masts appeared, it almost brought a strong visual impact to the huge volume of the stage. On the bow of the ship, Icelandic singer Olafur Sigurdassen's "Wandering Dutchman" slowly rises and sings the classic aria "The deadline has come, and seven years have passed". Sigurdasson's interpretation is low but powerful, interpreting Wagner's philosophical reflections on fate, tragedy and other issues poured into this character.
In the second act, the Swiss soprano Tiana Lamar plays the heroine Shanta, a beautiful but rebellious woman who tells the story of the Dutch man finding true love in a colorful "ballade". Filled with compassion and affection, Shanta was convinced that her true love could save the Dutch from eternal punishment. Finnish singer Thomas Kataya plays the young man Eric, who is infatuated and stubborn, and his love for Shanta falls into the ears of the Dutch, who is convinced that he will be abandoned again, and the Dutchman leaves in despair. Faithful to her word, Shanta jumped into the sea with determination, and the Dutchman's ship began to capsize, and the sea rose high with high waves. The majestic music of the fierce conflict and the shocking scene of the sinking of the giant ship pushed the atmosphere of the audience to the climax and then gradually retreated, returning to a peaceful redemption like calm and waves. Warm applause immediately rang out, and it lasted for a long time in this extremely hearty Wagner night.
It is reported that as the opening drama of the National Centre for the Performing Arts Opera Festival 2024, "The Wandering Dutchman" will be performed until April 14. On the evening of April 11, another starring lineup led by Thomas Kazeli, Song Yuanming, Zhang Wenwei, and Guo Zizhao will continue to take the stage.
Behind
How to create a veritable "big show"?
No matter how you look at it, the National Centre for the Performing Arts' version of "The Wandering Dutchman" can be called a real "big play". Among them, the Norwegian Sea ship is 12.8 meters long, 5.1 meters high, and 7.5 meters wide, and the Dutchman's "ghost ship" is 13.6 meters long, 12.6 meters high, and nearly 9 meters wide. In the case of a formal performance, the behind-the-scenes scene change requires the mobilization of stage machinery and equipment, as well as manpower. "It may take 60 to 70 people to complete it at the same time, and it is a very large work in the opera produced by the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Stage manager Lee Geun-sil introduced.
The story of "The Wandering Dutchman" takes place at sea, and the director and stage designer deliberately depicted the bumps of the waves. "Both boats are designed to be rocking devices, and when the plot is tense, the music is strong, or there is a sudden wind and waves in the plot, the crew will rock the boat according to different amplitudes. The amplitude is divided into 5 levels, with 1 being like a breeze and 4 being a big wave. Li Genshi said. In order to ensure safety, some of the sailor characters who need to climb the mast high and put away the sails are specially invited to play the role of professional acrobats.
The swaying giant ship and the undulating waves are staggered, making the visual effect of the whole stage like "naked-eye 3D". "The front of the hull is lined with blue silk, and the technicians will shake it from both sides, and with the matching lights and the projection of the waves from the sky to the ground, the effect is very real when you sit in the audience. Li Genshi said. Five projectors and 12 large projection screens create a wind-swept sea surface.
Amazing music is an even more must-see highlight. "The Wandering Dutchman" is the first masterpiece of Wagner's art to mature, and it is also Wagner's first step towards "musical". "The difficulty of this work is very high, the musical texture is tightly connected, and the technique is very challenging. Ma Weijia, the violinist who served as the concertmaster of the band, explained. The German conductor Markus Bosch, who conducted this round of performances, was rigorous and meticulous, and he always arranged a full schedule of 5 hours of orchestra rehearsals every day, and took the musicians to carve the essence of Wagner's music "under a grand framework and exquisite mastery of playing methods, rhythms and timbres". Wagner's breakthrough in "musical" is different from the usual "listening to the song and watching the play" in opera: "The voice is as important as the orchestra, and sometimes the singer's voice becomes a part of the orchestra, and this powerful and complex tension is the pinnacle of Romantic opera." For us, there will certainly be some pressure to play Wagner's works, but the use of various hard kung fu is a very beneficial exercise for the orchestra. Ma Weijia said.