Wagner Rehearsing the 'Ring': An Eye-Witness Account of the Stage Rehearsals of the First Bayreuth Festival Review

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Wagner Rehearsing the 'Ring': An Eye-Witness Account of the Stage Rehearsals of the First Bayreuth Festival ReviewWagner produced the complete Ring only once in his life: in 1876 at Bayreuth. He hired Porges to record everything he did, so he would know what he did the first time when he got around to doing the complete Ring again (there was no second time). This book is an English translation of Porges' work. Its original title was "Die Buhnenproben zu den Bayreuther Festspielen des Jahres 1876". It is a rare, eyewitness account of Wagner performing one of his own operas. I found it to be very interesting and recommend it for aficionados, as long as you do not set your expectations too high.
First, this is not a day-to-day diary of everything Wagner said and did while staging the Ring. The manuscript seems to have been written after the fact, and often seems to be reflections and recollections. Porges' text sometimes degenerates into philosophical reflections or soap box rhetoric. This book does not go through the whole score line by line; it concentrates on some sections, while skipping over large chunks of others. The descriptions in this book are clearly addendum to the score, as the author often states (when dealing with a specific passage) that Wagner has nothing more to add than what is already in the score. In too many instances, one is left wondering if he is reading Wagner's thoughts or Porges'.
The text is a handy exposition for those performing or staging the Ring as Wagner intended. One can only hope (fat chance) that every singer, stage director, opera designer, and conductor has a copy of this book in his/her pocket while performing or staging the Ring. It has detailed instructions for singers (gestures, acting, blocking, singing) and the orchestra and conductor (tempo, dynamics, phrasing). For example, the description of the famous Valkyrie scene is very different from how it is usually choreographed. Note that there is absolutely no information in regards to costumes, sets, props, lighting, or staging per se.
It is fascinating to learn that Wagner expects specific gestures on specific notes, and how the singers' motions are to be strictly synchronized with the music. He also expects the orchestra and conductor to execute hairpin turns with tempo, markings, and dynamics. On the other hand, it is often unclear (I am not a trained musician, so this may not be strictly true) what musical technique is referred to by some of the flowery instructions. Example: during the daybreak music that interludes between the Norn scene and the duet, one reads that the orchestra must play "with that purely intuitive phrasing which stylistically is so superior to the crudely naturalistic manner (still rife among the Italians)". The conflagration at the end of Gotterdammerung "demands of the conductor a grip of iron; like a Cyclopean wall the themes and melodies must pile themselves up before us". A colorful simile, but does this mean slow? Fast? Loud? Soft? With strong accents? With no accents?
This is a rather slender, 145 page book measuring 6 x 9. Even then, much of the space on each page is taken up my musical staves. This is not a problem for those who do not read music, as most of the comments are keyed not only on specific musical notes, but also specific lines in the libretto.Wagner Rehearsing the 'Ring': An Eye-Witness Account of the Stage Rehearsals of the First Bayreuth Festival Overview

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