Well...here's this. It's an opera, called be Some--by which I mean the people in the backstage interviews--as the Greatest Twentieth Century Opera. Berg left it unfinished at his death, but it was subsequently completed based on his notes by Friederich Cerha (boy, there's a name that means nothing to either you or me) in 1979, and that version is now considered standard.
This is the story of Lulu, obsessed about by numerous different men (and one woman), at first at the top of the world but then less so, until she ends up prostituting herself and subsequently dead in a dirty apartment in London. That's the short version. The long version is too hellaciously complicated for me to even begin to cover. This is definitely a more complicated libretto than most.
I wanted to see this because...well, because it's considered such a major opera, obviously, but also because the production of the Met HD version is by William Kentridge, who had previously done The Nose. And the production is indeed impressive, clearly from the same mind as the previous one, but more focused on sketches in the background, and less pastiche. Though some pastiche. But it's totally appropriate for the opera's spiky German expressionism. Or so I believe.
Berg wrote atonal music, and my knowledge of music theory is really not adequate for me to say what that really means. I mean, it's obviously not Mozart or Puccini, but can I describe, in technical terms, whyit's not like them? Nope. And here's the thing: it irks me to say this, given the reputation and given how glowingly all the people in the backstage interviews talk about it, and I do not doubt that they are perfectly intelligent and sincere in their tastes, but I did not like it. To me, "cacophony" would be the best word, and while the singing no doubt was what it had to be, and done well in that context, I do not feel that it provided opportunitiesfor the sort of singing I would like. And we should pause here to note that given how long it took me to warm to opera at all, it's entirely reasonable to suggest that this is really just a matter of acquiring a taste. But man, I sure haven't acquired it yet.
That doesn't mean I absolutely hated it as a whole. As I said, the production is very good, and I do have to admit there were a few moments where the nature of the music sort of gelled for me and got into it a bit. Also, on a pure acting level, there's no denying that Marlis Petersen in the title role puts on one of the greatest performances I've ever seen, totally expressive and moving smoothly from insouciance to desperation as the opera progresses. But damn, man, I just couldn't get into it. It probably also doesn't help that it almost certainly takes the title for Grimmest Opera I've Seen. At the end, Lulu is abruptly murdered offstage and then seen no more, and it's just...geez. I realize that this isn't necessarily a criticism, and yet...oof. Maybe it just hit me at the wrong time. I must admit, though, I still want to see Berg's other opera, Wozzek,if only because I'm a huge fan of the Werner Herzog film based on the same play. And hey, maybe I'll start to appreciate this atonal stuff more.
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