Alban Berg, Wozzeck (1925)

So Georg Büchner's original play only existed in fragmentary form on his death in 1837, and it wasn't published until years later. Due to Büchner's bad handwriting, the editors chose "Wozzeck" as their best guess for the character's name, not knowing that it was loosely based on the life of an actual guy, Woyzeck. So Woyzeck is now recognized as the play's name, but this opera, written before that realization, remains Wozzeck. And that is that story.

As I believe I said when writing about Lulu, I really like Werner Herzog's film of Woyzeck. I believe I've seen it three times. So I had a pretty clear idea of what to expect from this, plotwise. And, indeed: the title character, whatever his name is, is a soldier being pushed around by superior officers and doctors, whose prostitute common-law wife Marie with whom he has a son is cheating on him, and who is clearly mentally ill and subject to apocalyptic visions. There's a scene in the original although not here in which he and Marie go to a carnival and see a trained monkey, and...yup. Finally, he snaps and stabs her to death and then drowns in a lake. The end.

I had a kind of unusual reaction to this. Because here's the thing: I liked it, basically. And yet, I still am, at best, indifferent to Berg's music. I liked it for the story, and that's just not something that happens: it's one thing to like an opera for the music while thinking the libretto's a bit naff, but the opposite? Not really a thing. Except, apparently, when it is. I mean, no arguments with the singing itself, so that helps.

I think this is the character that Klaus Kinski (in the Herzog version) was born to play. Sure, Aguirre's more iconic, but his kind of tortured countenance seems perfect for a character trapped in a hell that he can't even begin to fathom. I feel like you definitely need an awkward actor who looks like he's not comfortable in his own skin. Franz Grundheber here is certainly more, uh, normal-looking than Kinski, but I think he does a good job. He looks like he never quite knows what to do with his arms, which is appropriate. No one else really has a super-important role, but Hildegard Behrens--last seem as Brünnhilde--is of course fine as Marie.

So yeah. I liked this, basically, but I still don't know what makes Berg so great, and since he doesn't have any more operas, I'm not sure how I'd find out. Maybe I could get the idea by watching some Schoenberg? I don't know. We'll see.