Enthüllet den Gral !

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I don't have the time to write in English, so I will write in Dutch for now...
Ik heb wat repetities en bijhorend nieuws in te halen. Vorige donderdag 20 januari hadden we onze laatste repetitie vóór de voor-generale. Vlak voor aanvang van deze orkest-scène repetitie werden we gebriefd over een aantal wijzigingen in datgene waar we al een tweetal weken op aan het repeteren waren. En deze wijzigingen waren nogal ingrijpend, heel ingrijpend. Het komt er op neer dat al wat we met veel zorg en energie gerepeteerd hadden, werd vervangen door een veel eenvoudiger concept.
Dus geen skelet meer door te geven, geen rode draden meer, niet meer liggend op scène beginnen, Parsifal niet dragen over de hoofden van de figuranten, Amfortas niet meer dragen aan het einde van de opera, ... Dat was even slikken. Ik denk dat er bij veel figuranten toch wel een kleine ontgoocheling was, maar door de zeer professionele aanpak van Cindy en Roméo, beseften vele (of iedereen) dat we er misschien te veel van uitgaan zijn dat datgene wat we repeteerden ook het definitieve eindresultaat zou worden. Zonder al te veel te klagen, probeerden we de nieuwe versie uit op scène en zagen dat het goed was ... (zelfs beter ... minder actie, maar alles met veel meer impact). Uiteraard waren er de eerste momenten nog wel wat gevoelens dat we te veel moesten weglaten, maar naarmate de avond vorderde leek het logischer om het zo aan te pakken. Nu er nog wat meer tijd overgegaan is, bedenk ik dat dit een heel mooie les was van hoe men zaken kan uitproberen, mislukken (of niet het gewenste resultaat opleveren) en toch terug van nul beginnen om uiteindelijk datgene te bereiken wat men wil. Een creatief proces de kans geven om zich te ontwikkelen en zo tot een gewenst resultaat te komen. Heel boeiend om dit van dichtbij mee te maken en ook te zien welke dynamiek dit meebrengt in een groep van 170 mensen. Belangrijk hierbij was  de directe communicatie door Cindy en Roméo (zonder al te veel poespas en onnodige uitleg), die ervoor gezorgd heeft dat iedereen zich zeer snel terug kon richten op het nieuwe voorstel. En iedereen zal wel zijn "moment" gehad hebben waarvan hij/zij vond dat dit echt moest blijven (voor mij was dit Amfortas die op schouderhoogte vlak naast mij, zijn laatste muziek zong "Mein Vater"), maar ook dat hebben we (denk ik) snel kunnen loslaten.
Het ziet er nu allemaal simpeler uit, veel compacter, maar met veel meer effect. Eindelijk ziet men de massa op scène, en dit is hetgene waarvoor we er van in het begin bij waren...
Eergisteren (zaterdag) hadden we de kans om de voor-generale van het eerste en tweede bedrijf mee te beleven. Veel wil ik er nog niet over schrijven, maar de twee bedrijven zijn schitterend opgebouwd. Castellucci brengt echt theater tot leven. Heel boeiend en bijzonder mooi vormgegeven. Nog wel wat werk te doen, maar ik ben ervan overtuigd dat het eindresultaat een topproductie zal opleveren. "Onze" voorgenerale van het derde bedrijf verliep vlot (zeker als men weet dat dit toch nog redelijk nieuw was voor ons). De eerste vijf minuten op de scène met die prachtige, indrukwekkende zaal voor je, is zo angstaanjagend, dat je echt even staat te sterven van de zenuwen, maar daarna is het puur genieten (met af en toe een pijnscheut in de kuiten, ja, ja mijn conditie is niet echt schitterend ...).
Morgen de generale repetitie voor vol huis. Benieuwd wat dit zal worden ... ik kijk er al naar uit !

Mich dünkt ich kenne diesen Klageruf

19012011

(picture : Bruno Vaneste, thanks Bruno !)
Tuesday we had our first rehearsal with orchestra. Something totally different than piano rehearsals. It's no longer the stage director (Romeo Castellucci) who is in charge, but the conductor, Hartmut Haenchen. This made the rehearsal a bit chaotic for us but it was good to have the feeling of the orchestra during our "action". I think everybody felt a bit disoriented but luckily we had again a piano rehearsal yesterday (Wednesday). It was a relief that we could go through the third act from the beginning till the end (with the different scenes in the correct order). Everybody was very concentrated and I had the impression that we were as quiet as possible on stage.
We still need to change some technical issues, but I am very confident that the artistic team will find some good solutions.
This evening we are again joined with the orchestra.

Geleiten wir im bergenden Schrein den Gral zum heiligen Amte

Attributen_parsifal_002

What a weekend ! Saturday we didn't had rehearsals, but since I am stand-in for someone who has to move Parsifal on stage when he is flying, I had to go to De Munt to rehearse his flight. So I went in the afternoon, after a morning of campaigning (for the ngo Vredeseilanden), to the theatre. When we (two persons to "fly" with Kundry and myself for the Parsifal) arrived they were still rehearsing the second act. I don't want to give away any details, but I can say that the set is breathtaking. The rehearsals of the second act took more time than foreseen, so we couldn't practice a lot. 
 
In the evening I went to the italienne of the third act (a rehearsal with the orchestra playing and the singers sitting/standing on stage without acting). 
Sunday afternoon we had again rehearsals in the Malibran-room. Still a lot of changes were made and some new elements are added. The most important change is the playback. We don't have to playback anymore the text of Gurnemanz, but instead we have to playback the chorus (but we don't really have to learn the text, only pretending that we know it ...).
We got our epaulet, so for next rehearsal carrying Amfortas should be less painful, let us hope it works (see picture).
 
Tomorrow we have our first rehearsal on stage, with the orchestra in the pit. Very scary because they will not stop when something goes wrong with the action on stage. It is no longer Roméo Castellucci that will be in charge but from now one it will be the conductor maestro Haenchen (with one exception on wednesday when we have pregenerale piano).
 
 
 

Mein Vater

Mein Vater !
Hochgesegneter der Helden !
Ru Reinster, dem einst die Engel sich neigten :
der einzig ich sterben wollt',
dir - gib ich den Tod !
 
Yesterday evening we had again rehearsals on the stage of De Munt. We started where we stopped the day before ... just after the "Wehe - Wehe" from Amfortas. Finally Thomas Johannes Mayer (our Amfortas) could sing more than only these two words. What a voice he has ! It makes me forget the discomfort I have from the wooden disc on my shoulders carrying Amfortas. The nice people from De Munt promised to foresee "epaulettes" for today's rehearsal.
 
What a wonderful music Amfortas has, when he starts with "Mein Vater" I want to stop breathing ... 
 
 
 
Good to hear that the problems of our Parsifal are solved, please read :
 
 
 

Das dankt dann alle Kreatur

De_munt

 

Das dankt dann alle Kreatur
was all' da blübt und bald erstirbt,
da die entsündigte Natur
heut ihren Unschuldstag erwirbt.

Daarvoor dankt heel de schepping
al wat daar bloeit en spoedig sterft,
daar de ontzondigde natuur
haar dag der onschuld thans verwerft.

This is our text... yes, we also have some text !!! BUT luckily we don't have to sing it, only playback it.

Yesterday evening we had our first rehearsal in the theatre of De Munt itself. For me it was a special moment when the fire screen rose and I got the first view of the theatre. The view of this wonder theatre is totally different when you are on stage (much more beautiful than the view you have when sitting in the theatre itself).
The rehearsal itself went well, still a lot of work to do. The chorus joined us, which brought even more people on the stage, it is becoming very crowded over there. 
I learned that a job as opera singer can be very painful (poor Parsifal, I hope they can solve this problem so he will be in a more comfortable position, hanging above our heads), but also very frustrating (poor Amfortas, having to wait 3 hours for only singing "wehe - wehe" and being stopped because time is on...).

No, singing in an opera is not as glamorous as it seems. I think I will keep my job as accountant (although this can be also frustrating and sometimes even painful ...).

Dienen - dienen.

Just a short up-date after the first day of rehearsal. I have to say that it is beyond my expectation, it went very well. We have to do more than just standing on the stage ...
To start the third act, we are laying down in the dark, we have to walk a lot (well, not really walking on the stage, but just pretending that we are walking), we do some playback (on a text of Gurnemanz), and I have to keep (together with 6 other extras) Parsifal above my head (so no chocolates for Mr. Richards please !!!) and we even have to scream (on the sign of the wonderful maestro Haenchen). The artistic team is amazing. No divas or divos amongst the singers : the wonderful Anna Larsson as Kundry (it 's a pity that she only has to sing these few words "aaaaahhh dienen - dienen", I can imagine that for some sopranos this is the reason why they don't want to sing Kundry), the talented Andrew Richards as Parsifal (always in for a joke, his "Nur eine Waffe taugt" will be one of the highlights of this opera) and the amazing Jan-Hendrik Rootering as Gurnemanz (he is doing his 10 ! production of Parsifal). Romeo Castelluci and his artistic team are doing a wonderful job in bringing together all the elements to create Wagners masterpiece.
I look forward to go to the next rehearsal on Wednesday.

Die Zeit ist da.

Met_programmaboek

Tomorrow we have our first rehearsall !!!
Now it really starts. I am very excited and curious to hear more about this Parsifal production and which role we will have to play in it.
For those who want to have more detailed information about the production, I give (again) the link with the blog of Andrew Richards (our Parsifal in De Munt) :
 
 
In my list of Parsifal productions that I have seen in the past, I want to write something about the production in New York. It was a very special one, not because of the (very classical and sometimes boring) production itself (Otto Schenk). I had bought a ticket well in advance, a cheap but good seat somewhere high up in the family circle of the Metropolitan Opera. Parsifal would be the first opera that I was planning to see that week in New York. I should arrive in the afternoon and go to the opera in the evening (which was a very bad idea, I know now, since I suffer a lot from the jetlag when flying to NY). But not the jetlag was the problem. Due to technical problems with the plane, I had a delay for more than 24 hours... so I missed my first evening in the opera. 
Fortunately they played Parsifal later that week, on Saturday afternoon (07/04/2001). Of course all seats were already sold, the only thing I could do is buying a standing room ticket, which I did.
So I have seen the whole Parsifal in New York, on my feet, standing ... for more than 4 hours... (that's why I am confident that I will manage to be on stage for the whole third act (?)).  
And I have to say I (musically) enjoyed every second of it (not difficult if you see the cast, the wonderful James Levine conducting, Plácido Domingo as Parsifal, Violeta Urmana as Kundry, ...). The production of Otto Schenk was very traditional, even old fashioned but I guess as opera-lover you should see once in your life a Parsifal staged like this. It was certainly a good way to get to know this opera.
 
 
 

Sag wo triebst du dich wieder umher ?

Parsifal_slang

Finally I have found some time to give a short update and write something about our Parsifal project. On 03/12/2010 we had a second meeting in De Munt, where we got practical information about the rehearsals, the dress code, ... The production team made a helpful website for us (the extras), where we can find all the data and information we need during the rehearsals and performances of Parsifal.
We were also asked not to write about the production before the entire process of "making" this opera, is finished. So I will not give any detailed information about what I am going to see during the rehearsals, but I will try to write more how it feels to be part of this huge project.
In the beginning of December the singers have arrived at De Munt and they started rehearsing this huge opera. Our Parsifal, Mr. Richards, has a wonderful blog, where you can find some very interesting information. Please have a look :
 
 
Also the "Parsifal" snake arrived ... (see picture).