Anyone looking back at the history of opera and its most famous son, Richard Wagner, might want to take a listen to this week’s Satopera presentation. It’s Wagner’s early opera, Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen, better known simply as Rienzi.
No leitmotifs, no shrieking dwarfs or goddesses, no magic ring; in fact, if you were blind tested on it, you might never guess it’s by Wagner.
And yet, there are hints in this opera of what was to come.
Wagner was 27 years old when he finished Rienzi. By the time it was premiered, nearly two years later, he was busy forging a new compositional direction. He quickly grew tired of his junior opera, describing it to his wife Cosima as “repugnant." He tried to distance himself from the composition, and yet, it remained one of his most popular works in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Some say it was a performance of Rienzi that inspired Hitler to get into politics. Whether that’s true or not, Hitler died in his bunker in Berlin with the manuscript of the score by his side (it was destroyed). Rienzi was an opera that moved him deeply
Perhaps because of this dark historical connection, perhaps because it calls for a huge force of singers, perhaps because it just doesn’t really sound like Wagner, or maybe because it's a little long, for whatever reason, Rienzi has fallen out of favour and is seldom performed today. It has never been performed at Bayreuth (Wagner forbade it), solidifying the thought that it’s not authentic Wagner.
This week’s concert presentation from the Teatro Real in Madrid affords us a chance to hear the work in a fresh new performance.
The orchestra is in great form and the standout singer, in the pants role to end all pants role, is the mezzo-soprano Claudia Mahnke.
Mahnke is not among the top tier of opera singers, but her performance in Rienzi is nothing short of spectacular. A member of the Oper Frankfurt Ensemble, Mahnke deserves more attention.
You’ll find a complete synopsis of Rienzi on the Stanford University website.
And here’s a cast list for the Teatro Real Madrid production:
Andreas Schager, tenor, Cola Rienzi, Roman Tribune.
Anja Kampe, soprano, Irene, his sister.
Stephen Milling, bass, Stefano Colonna, a nobleman.
Claudia Mahnke, mezzo-soprano, Adriano, his son.
James Rutherford, bass, Paolo Orsini, another patrician.
Friedemann Röhlig, bass, Orvieto Cardinal, Papal Legate.
Jason Bridges, tenor, Baroncelli, Roman citizen.
Carsten Wittmoser, bass, Cecco del Vecchio, Roman citizen.
Marta Matheu, soprano, The Messenger of Peace.
Teatro Real Orchestra and Chorus
Conductor: Alejo Pérez
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