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So I'm in Nuremberg now, staying at the hostel -- a bit more Spartan than the Munich hotel, as in the toilet & shower are down the hall, and you wanna rent a towel? Also, internet is 2 euros an hour, so no pictures this time. At least I'm connected on the GooglePhone now -- I got a Vodaphone SIM and have good data, but I have no idea what my phone number is. If you're interested, dial random German numbers until you get me, that'll be the one.
I'm hoping that my stamina improves over the week -- I missed museums in Munich yesterday, and I didn't do either the big Nuremberg museum today OR the walk up to the castle -- I was so beat that I took a 3 hour nap as soon as I checked in. point of this phase of the Spiral isn't the museums or walks, it's 6 operas in 6 days in 5 cities, and I got 2 down now!
The Nuremberg opera house reflects its "provincial" status; the Munich building reflects aristocratic power, a columned facade in front, a king's box inside, while Nuremberg looks more the work of wealthy burghers. Nifty mural of the Norns on the front wall. Inside much smaller than Munich, and cheaper, so I could afford a seat in the Orchestra, or as they say, "Parkett." And what a great hall acoustically -- if I didn't know better, I would have thought they were using electronic amplification.
As I was in the park outside waiting to go in, two girls in Sally Bowles drag asked me where the Schauspielhaus was (it's next door to the Staatsoper). Took me a second to realize they were going to the Rocky Horror Show, and I thought, wish I had a ticket to that instead of second-rate verismo... but I think I made the right choice. Yep, Andrea Chenier is not a great opera, but damn if the orchestra, chorus and soloists let that stop them from making a powerful night of it. European opera companies have some snazz that American companies just don't -- the music may be 120 years old (or 200 or 300!) but they play it like it's new. Chenier doesn't have a single note of memorable music in it (I left humming something from Manon), but it's filled with powerful dramatic moments, and the score heightens like a great film score, hit tunes or no.
And the production helped (unlike last night's dumb Traviata). Modern opera productions seem to come in two varieties: they either spread clutter across the stage, or dangle things over the singers' heads ("Production designed by cats" read a review of one such staging a while back). This was a dangler, but what was dangled actually helped tell the story: aristocratic froo-frah for Act 1, then cafe windows & mirrors with ominously diagonal bottom edges, and climaxing with the trial, where it was the body politic suspended in giant porch swings. Wonderful effects, even when they screwed the story line to get there. Act 1 ends with a starving mob invading & being driven out of a countess' soiree. Tonight, the mob pummeled the countess' guests to death before leaving. NOT in the script. But there's the demented hostess, guests murdered at her feet, hallucinating that the dance goes on. What show isn't improved by that image? Heck, Citizen Kane would be a better movie if it had that.
Tomorrow, off to Meiningen, which is so small it doesn't have ICE, and that's pretty small. Train leaves at 11:30 or so, so I may get to see more of Nuremberg first. Or I may sleep in. Bets are open!
I'm hoping that my stamina improves over the week -- I missed museums in Munich yesterday, and I didn't do either the big Nuremberg museum today OR the walk up to the castle -- I was so beat that I took a 3 hour nap as soon as I checked in. point of this phase of the Spiral isn't the museums or walks, it's 6 operas in 6 days in 5 cities, and I got 2 down now!
The Nuremberg opera house reflects its "provincial" status; the Munich building reflects aristocratic power, a columned facade in front, a king's box inside, while Nuremberg looks more the work of wealthy burghers. Nifty mural of the Norns on the front wall. Inside much smaller than Munich, and cheaper, so I could afford a seat in the Orchestra, or as they say, "Parkett." And what a great hall acoustically -- if I didn't know better, I would have thought they were using electronic amplification.
As I was in the park outside waiting to go in, two girls in Sally Bowles drag asked me where the Schauspielhaus was (it's next door to the Staatsoper). Took me a second to realize they were going to the Rocky Horror Show, and I thought, wish I had a ticket to that instead of second-rate verismo... but I think I made the right choice. Yep, Andrea Chenier is not a great opera, but damn if the orchestra, chorus and soloists let that stop them from making a powerful night of it. European opera companies have some snazz that American companies just don't -- the music may be 120 years old (or 200 or 300!) but they play it like it's new. Chenier doesn't have a single note of memorable music in it (I left humming something from Manon), but it's filled with powerful dramatic moments, and the score heightens like a great film score, hit tunes or no.
And the production helped (unlike last night's dumb Traviata). Modern opera productions seem to come in two varieties: they either spread clutter across the stage, or dangle things over the singers' heads ("Production designed by cats" read a review of one such staging a while back). This was a dangler, but what was dangled actually helped tell the story: aristocratic froo-frah for Act 1, then cafe windows & mirrors with ominously diagonal bottom edges, and climaxing with the trial, where it was the body politic suspended in giant porch swings. Wonderful effects, even when they screwed the story line to get there. Act 1 ends with a starving mob invading & being driven out of a countess' soiree. Tonight, the mob pummeled the countess' guests to death before leaving. NOT in the script. But there's the demented hostess, guests murdered at her feet, hallucinating that the dance goes on. What show isn't improved by that image? Heck, Citizen Kane would be a better movie if it had that.
Tomorrow, off to Meiningen, which is so small it doesn't have ICE, and that's pretty small. Train leaves at 11:30 or so, so I may get to see more of Nuremberg first. Or I may sleep in. Bets are open!
