Tannhäuser, or, Can This Website Handle Umlauts?

Live Review

Feb 3

Andris Nelsons conducted selections from Wagner’s Tannhäuser on Thursday, 2 January 2023.

Amber Wagner and Klaus Florian Vogt rallied Teutonic glamor to the roles of Elisabeth and Tannhäuser.

If you hear a lot of workaday music in workaday venues, it’s good to throw yourself a curveball with a visit to more esteemed fare now and then. Enter: Boston Symphony Orchestra. The world-class orchestra has been kicking around since the late 19th century, keeping Boston on the map of classical music.

On Thursday Andris Nelsons led the orchestra through its Wagner paces. It's his ninth season as house conductor (picking up the baton from James Levine, another Wagner fan) and 2023 finds him in fine form. Confident, assured, and prepared to give a three-quarter full house on a weeknight as much musical spectacle as it could handle.

Wagner’s Tannhäuser

The program for the evening was devoted to selections from Wagner’s Tannhäuser, the composer’s fifth opera. The story of the opera itself concerns a love story in medieval Thuringia. It’s the dashing knight and damsel drama that captivated the European elite as the industrial age waxed, monarchies waned, and nostalgia for a mythical past burned hot.

Nelsons concerned himself with two main selections from Tannhäuser for the evening. In the first half the symphony played the Overture and Bacchanale. Overtures and preludes are easy choices, always crowd-pleasers. The Bacchanale is a kind of Tannhäuser add-on that was originally intended as musical accompaniment to a ballet segment within the opera. On a night at the symphony orchestra, it was all about the music and there were no dancers. But Wagner himself conceived of the musical grouping, and he conducted a performance of the Overture and Bacchanale as a standalone piece as far back as 1872.

In the second half, the voices shined. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus assembled themselves on risers in the back while the lead singers took the more commanding position at the front of the stage.

The lead singers included Amber Wagner (soprano), singing the role of Elisabeth, and Klaus Florian Vogt (tenor), as Tannhäuser. The soprano’s last name appears to be a happy coincidence, not an actual relation. She certainly fits the part of a classic Wagner leading lady, a real buxom belter. Vogt, for his part, cuts the visage of a fantasy knight, with a strong chin and imposing stride.

The production played up the dramatic elements of Vogt’s character and mien by keeping him offstage, as a kind of surprise, until he was ready to sing. The hall watched with anticipation as he emerged from the stage door, a mysterious figure, and threw himself into the musical fray. It brought a little soap to the opera, but Wagner fans have always appreciated melo- with their drama.

Enjoy the panorama and spherical photography of the hall itself in the photo gallery. It’s always about the music in a music hall, but a 100+ year old venue deserves admiration and appreciation in its own right.