Tristan und Isolde, Aug. 1998
A few days after Jane Eaglen made her unscheduled American opera debut
as Seattle Opera’s Norma, in January of 1994, I asked her if she would
sing Isolde. She eagerly agreed. I then asked Ben Heppner if he were
ready to take on Tristan. He thought about it for some time and finally
agreed to do it during the performances of Lohengrin. Heppner insisted
on a conductor who had experience with the work, and I was
extraordinarily fortunate to bring Armin Jordan back to Seattle. The
rest of the cast—Michelle de Young as Brangaene, Greer Grimsley as
Kurwenal, and Peter Rose as King Marke—were strong. With Francesca
Zambello directing and set and costumes by Alison Chitty, with lighting
by Mimi Gordon Sherer, we had a production that received worldwide
notice. Everyone wanted to hear Eaglen and Heppner as the two lovers,
and they did not disappoint. In my time as a general director, never
have I received as much heartfelt gratitude from an audience as during
these performances. I personally had never dreamed that I would ever
hear this difficult opera sung so well, and that was the reaction of
literally hundreds of audience members. Because Tristan to me stands at
the top of the operatic mountain along with Don Giovanni, Otello, Norma,
and Carmen, the satisfaction of presenting the opera this way will stay
with me all my life.
The rehearsal period was a pleasure. Zambello knew her singers and what
she wanted them to do. At no point would she countenance a lack of
involvement nor did they want it. Everyone worked hard over six or seven
weeks to make a theatrical statement; Jordan worked hard to make the
musical side very personal, and, amazingly, neither Eaglen nor Heppner
found the music really challenging. That may sound odd, but they, like
great Wagner singers before them, found that one can either sing these
roles or not. If one can sing them, they work in one’s voice; they are
not roles that one can learn how to sing. Some moments really stood out
to me: Eaglen’s vocal and dramatic variety in the Narrative and Curse,
the duet at the end of Act I, which I had never in my life heard sung
with two truly heroic voices that were so well balanced, the legato of
both singers in the Love Duet in Act II, the emotion and moving quality
of Rose in King Marke’s lament, the relationship between Heppner and
Grimsley, vocally and dramatically in Act III, Heppner’s brilliant work
in Tristan’s delirium, and, of course, Eaglen’s Liebestod. These are as
vivid to me now almost four years later as if they had just happened.
It was a first for almost everyone in the cast except Rose and Grimsley,
and in production week Heppner worried about taking on all of Tristan
for the first time. He could have done it and since has sung many
complete Tristans, but the first time through with all the opera world
at attention seemed more than challenging. The length of Isolde did not
tire out Eaglen, in fact it seemed to refresh her. With this in mind, I
made the decision after the dress rehearsal (why is it that in Wagner,
and only in Wagner in my experience, do you have to make changes after
the dress rehearsal, just when you never should make a change?) to take
two cuts—a standard one in the Love Duet and one in the third act. This
was a painful decision but it was the right one for the moment. It
relaxed Heppner, and he sang a brilliant opening night and the rest of
the performances. Though Eaglen didn’t want the cut, she lived with it,
and we did ten performances, all sold out.
I have no regrets for my decision: what I wanted and had were ten great
performances of one of the most challenging operas ever composed. Less
in this case guaranteed a lot more.