{"id":298,"date":"2011-04-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renepape.wpengine.com\/2011\/04\/14\/rene-pape-wagner-arias\/"},"modified":"2017-07-24T05:16:42","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T05:16:42","slug":"rene-pape-wagner-arias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renepape.com\/en\/2011\/04\/14\/rene-pape-wagner-arias\/","title":{"rendered":"REN\u00c9 PAPE:  Wagner Arias"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>New Solo CD!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ren\u00e9 Pape<br \/>\nStaatskapelle Berlin<br \/>\nDaniel Barenboim<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.deutschegrammophon.com\/html\/special\/pape-wagner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Album Website<br \/>\n<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B000XH2BI4\/ref=s9_simh_gw_p15_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;pf_rd_s=center-2&amp;pf_rd_r=0CXD44RPYQAQ8K9GZ3MT&amp;pf_rd_t=101&amp;pf_rd_p=470938631&amp;pf_rd_i=507846\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pre-Order on Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ren\u00e9 Pape - Wagner - Arias (Trailer)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7vxDTRXGcZk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Approaching Wagner<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left; color: #000000; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\"><strong>Ren\u00e9 Pape in conversation with J\u00fcrgen Kesting<\/strong><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>At the beginning of 2010\/11 Met season, under Valery Gergiev and with a largely Russian cast, you sang the title role in Modest Mussorgsky\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Boris Godunov<em>\u00a0\u2013 a part that once belonged to the likes of Adamo Didur, Fedor Chaliapin, Alexander Kipnis and Ezio Pinza, later to Boris Christoff, Nicolai Ghiaurov and Martti Talvela. As a native Dresdner, you probably learned Russian at school.\u00a0<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>Yes. During the GDR years all schoolchildren had to learn Russian, as was also the case in the other eastern European countries. Out of spite against the \u201cCommunist Big Brother\u201d, I totally rejected his language. Everything that came out of the Soviet Union was repugnant to me. The Red Army was impossible and inhuman in the way they acted \u2013 not only right after the war but all the way up to when they pulled out in the 1990s. That leaves an impression on a young person. But if I\u2019d known that one day I\u2019d be standing on the opera stage, and even singing as a soloist in Russian, I\u2019d have probably taken my Russian lessons somewhat more seriously. At least it\u2019s a help that I can read Cyrillic.<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>A famous Boris was George London, who inspired your recording\u00a0<\/em>Gods, Kings &amp; Demons.<em>\u00a0London was acclaimed in Bayreuth as the Dutchman and Amfortas. Can you imagine following a similar career path to his?\u00a0<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>George London was one of the greatest performers and at home in a wide range of repertoire. But he was more of a bass-baritone, and I\u2019m a\u00a0<em>basso cantante<\/em>, and so he could sing parts like the Dutchman, Amfortas and Scarpia, which because of my vocal type I probably will never perform on stage. As far as variety of repertoire is concerned, however, my path could well resemble London\u2019s.<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>Among the few singers who worked with Wagner and also made recordings was Lilli Lehmann. A soprano celebrated as Br\u00fcnnhilde and Isolde, she once said that only those who know how to sing Mozart can also sing Wagner. What\u2019s your view? \u00a0<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>I can only agree with Lilli Lehmann. In interviews I\u2019ve often said that Wagner singing should be based on the vocal technique that goes with singing Mozart \u2013 and, of course, the reverse is also true. Wagner should not be sung in a constant<em>fortissimo\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>con tutta forza<\/em>, while Mozart should not be purred. The key, in my opinion, is finding the right balance. Of course I also wouldn\u2019t want to listen to a Lohengrin who sings the whole performance in the most beautiful\u00a0<em>mezzo piano\u00a0<\/em>of his first phrases and doesn\u2019t bring any dynamic shading into his delivery.<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>When Beckmesser has \u201cmis-sung\u201d on the Festival Meadow and then Stolzing delivers the Prize Song, the people \u201csoftly murmur\u201d: \u201cWho\u2019d have thought it? What a difference the right words and the proper delivery make!\u201d Ever since they were first performed, Wagner\u2019s dramatic works have provoked controversy over how they should be sung. Is there a special approach to Wagner for you?<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>No, not really. For me the language and treatment of the words are every bit as important as the music. That\u2019s not only true in my mother tongue. An opera isn\u2019t made up merely of vocalises; there\u2019s also a libretto consisting of words. I regard conveying this dramatic text to the listener as one of the singer\u2019s most important responsibilities onstage, and even more so in the recording studio. Here the action has to be made manifest, even visible, solely through singing. That\u2019s especially true in performing the song repertoire.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: left; color: #000000; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\"><em>Wagner didn\u2019t leave behind any systematic singing method. A central tenet \u2013 formulated in\u00a0<\/em>Opera and Drama \u2013\u00a0<em>holds that the model, or the style, of Italian singing cannot be adapted to the German language. It\u2019s obvious that Rigoletto or King Philip demand a different style of delivery and characterization than Hans Sachs or Amfortas. What does this mean for you in practice?<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>For me there isn\u2019t a major difference \u2013 only between the languages. As already mentioned, Lilli Lehmann was right in her assertion about the connection between Wagner and Mozart. That also means that there\u2019s a connection between Italian and German singing.<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>When Wagner called for a \u201cGerman bel canto\u201d, he was referring not to the style but to the method of vocal or tone production. What does the singer have to take into account in order to realize what Wagner meant?\u00a0<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>I think it\u2019s easier than many people think. You simply try to sing with bel canto melodiousness, but in another language. Ultimately Italian is also not without consonants; they\u2019re just used differently. It\u2019s necessary to sing a sustained line, inserting the consonants to articulate the text but without allowing harshness to intrude. That\u2019s the best way to achieve beautiful German singing.<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>In your recording of \u201cWotan\u2019s Farewell\u201d, it\u2019s already audible by bar 13 that with the long sustained notes on \u201cwohl\u201d you let the vowel \u201co\u201d at the end of the phrase continue to resonate in the liquid \u201cl\u201d, in other words embedding the word in the sound. What significance do you attach to the treatment of consonants, particularly the so-called sonorants \u201cm\u201d, \u201cn\u201d, \u201cl\u201d and \u201cr\u201d? \u00a0<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>To achieve clearer textual intelligibility, it\u2019s important to really allow the sounding consonants at the beginning or end of words to resonate \u2013 in other words, without exaggerating, to prolong them somewhat by slightly shortening the following or preceding vowels.<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>One can hear that you take special care over the dynamic gradations between<\/em>piano\u00a0<em>and\u00a0<\/em>forte<em>, in other words the\u00a0<\/em>messa di voce<em>. Does this derive from the instincts of a \u201cbel canto\u201d singer?<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>In order for the delivery not to seem one-sided or even boring, it\u2019s very important to find dynamic gradations. This is a part of \u201cnatural speech\u201d. The composers wrote out everything precisely in the scores. An additional benefit is that this approach allows you to conserve your voice and energy in order to tackle big roles securely.<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>Just as a high baritone can become a Wagner tenor (as happened with Lauritz Melchior and Ram\u00f3n Vinay), a bass can become a\u00a0<\/em>Heldenbariton<em>, or heroic baritone. But how? What does the singer have to beware of? What are the dangers? Wagner stipulated that a singer should never perform a role that he isn\u2019t up to physically (as regards volume, tone and breath control), technically (concerning flexibility) and mentally (in terms of expression).\u00a0<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>From my own vocal experience, I can only agree wholeheartedly with the master. I don\u2019t see myself as a\u00a0<em>Heldenbariton<\/em>\u00a0at the moment, and I probably will never be one. But whatever\u00a0<em>Fach\u00a0<\/em>a singer may undertake, it really is crucial that he never starts shouting.<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>&#8230;Sing with the voice you have, not with the one you wish you had&#8230;<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>That would be the beginning of the end. Sadly, there are too many examples of singers ruining their often magnificent voices through misplaced ambition and\/or bad advice.<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>In terms of volume, the demands of roles like the Dutchman and Daland, Sachs and Pogner are similar, but not in terms of the tessitura. Where do the particular difficulties of individual parts lie? In the exposure of the high register (Dutchman)? Does the length of a role like Sachs, more than two hours of singing, represent an extreme challenge? And what about holding out up in the high register in parts like Wotan and Sachs?<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>The Dutchman and Sachs are, of course, very demanding parts, the first, as you suggest, on account of the exposed high tessitura, the second on account of sheer length. To be able to get through you have to approach them very economically. You have to pace yourself very carefully so that at the end you still have enough strength left for the closing monologue, which lies in an exposed register. That\u2019s easier said than done, as any of my colleagues will agree. A critical point is the tuning of the orchestra, which is getting higher and higher. That makes it increasingly difficult for a\u00a0<em>basso cantante\u00a0<\/em>to master these roles. In Wagner\u2019s day, I believe, it was simpler. But we live in the here and now and have to cope with it. I would only recommend to every orchestra, conductor and, not least, instrument maker not to ignore this issue, which is a really important one for us singers.<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>Can you imagine singing Hagen or Alberich?<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>No. I\u2019ll leave that to my colleagues who can do it better.<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>An eternal dilemma: the dream roles are frequently offered to a singer when he\u2019s still too young or no longer young enough. Are you expecting or hoping to record<\/em>Meistersinger\u00a0<em>and the\u00a0<\/em>Ring<em>, or at least\u00a0<\/em>Walk\u00fcre?<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>I\u2019ve already recorded\u00a0<em>Meistersinger<\/em>, the roles of the Night Watchman and Pogner. When someone offers me Sachs, I\u2019ll decide whether I can record it or not. I\u2019ve already recorded\u00a0<em>Das Rheingold<\/em>, and\u00a0<em>Die Walk\u00fcre\u00a0<\/em>will surely also soon be in the plans.\u00a0<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>How does one stay young as a singer \u2013 so young that one doesn\u2019t let things get into a routine?<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>Staying young is important to me. I also consider maturity on the stage very important, and routine for me isn\u2019t necessarily a negative word. In my career I\u2019ve learned that a certain routine can be helpful. One is very secure onstage, something that is also transmitted to one\u2019s colleagues and sensed by the audience. Unfortunately, there\u2019s also the other kind of routine, which consists of nothing more than the schematic, lacklustre rattling off of a part.\u00a0<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><em>Do you learn from recordings? For example getting familiar with the length of a role or discovering how colleagues deal with specific technical problems?<\/em><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>Yes. This helps me not only to learn about the length of a part and to recognize technical problems, but also to grasp harmonic connections, phrasing and different tempi. And, not least, to hear how one should perhaps\u00a0<em>not\u00a0<\/em>do it. Sometimes I listen to recordings simply because I like them. Maybe one learns most by following Hans Sachs\u2019s advice: \u201cDo not scorn the masters.\u201d<br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/><br style=\"padding: 0px; margin: 0px;\" \/>2\/2011<\/p>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Solo CD! Ren\u00e9 Pape Staatskapelle Berlin Daniel Barenboim Album Website Pre-Order on Amazon.com Approaching Wagner Ren\u00e9 Pape in conversation with J\u00fcrgen KestingAt the beginning of 2010\/11 Met season, under Valery Gergiev and with a largely Russian cast, you sang the title role in Modest Mussorgsky\u2019s\u00a0Boris Godunov\u00a0\u2013 a part that once belonged to the likes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renepape.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renepape.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renepape.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renepape.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renepape.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renepape.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renepape.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renepape.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renepape.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}