Many have had that “a-ha moment” when you go to the symphony and recognize a great symphonic work from a pop culture reference. It’s cool; don’t be ashamed if you only know Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” from Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now. And yes, it kind of sounds like the Star Wars theme. It’s not your fault; we’ve been acculturated this way.
You’ll recognize the tense shrieking of the strings and the crescendo of the trumpet announcing a pending arrival. This is the sound clip I am talking about.
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| Edo de Waart. |
“Ride of the Valkyries” from Wagner’s opera Die Walküre is one of the most recognizable symphonic masterpieces, but after chatting with the Milwaukee Symphony’s music director Edo de Waart, I realize I’ve been missing out on a much larger story.
Die Walküre is the second of four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. The first act, a full hour, is often performed on its own, as it will be this weekend with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. In a story full of symbolism and elements of fantasy, Die Walküre is about greed and the hunger for power. The ring is a symbol of power and how power corrupts – especially when it falls into the wrong hands.
And like any good work of art, there is also a story of love and the lack thereof between people. In this case, it’s a bittersweet and forbidden love between brother and sister – Sieglinde and Siegmund. The famous “Ride of the Valkyries” is in the third act. The Valkyries are women who bring fallen heroes of the world up to the heavens and take care of them. Never would have guessed…
With a restrained smile and eyes that neatly fold into crescent moons, de Waart explains this with fervor as if he’s part of this story himself. An unassuming man, de Waart came from his native Holland to the states in 1977 to conduct the San Francisco Symphony and has since conducted most every major symphony orchestra in the world. But he’d never tell you that himself.
De Waart’s passion is the music, not the fame. He gushes: “It’s an unbelievably wonderful thing to conduct Wagner. It’s so rich and has so many layers apart from the lyrics. Through the use of themes and foreboding sounds, the story is told very much in the orchestra.”
As music director, one of de Waart’s goals for the MSO is to add a concert opera each year. “There is a sense of abandon with an opera – with singers you never know what is going to happen, so it makes an orchestra much better because they have to react and be very quick on their feet. You learn more by working with voices – all music comes from the voice,” he explains.
Opera doesn’t always have the same effect without the staging, but staging can also be very disappointing. It’s like reading a book and then seeing the movie, only to hate someone else’s interpretation. Concert opera allows the audience members to create their own visual version of the musical story. And it’s often hard for an opera company in a smaller city to do a full opera production well because of budget restrictions.
De Waart goes so far as to say conducting Wagner is the pinnacle of his profession. “Wagner is very complex, and he has a lots of inner voices that you want to be able to hear. It’s like doing a really good puzzle, to put it together is fascinating because of the way he writes for the orchestra and voice and the interaction,” he explains.
Although many men his age are frequenting golf courses – de Waart isn’t slowing down. He just re-upped for another six years, and though he will step down as music director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic next year, he’s recently accepted the role of music director at the Royal Flemish Philharmonic in Antwerp, Belgium, for a seven-year term.
De Waart is looking forward to finally having a home in the city where he works. Renovations on his new Downtown Milwaukee condo should be done in March, and he also recently bought a house in Antwerp, where his family will reside. For him, it’s very important to be with his 8- and 10-year-old children. “It’s great to be home and be with the kids. They need me and I need them,” de Waart says.
But let’s not ignore the elephant in the room – these are hard times for the arts, especially the MSO with leadership shakeups and budget shortfalls. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” de Waart says. “We will have to ask ourselves very seriously whether or not Milwaukee wants a first-class symphony orchestra – and not just wants it, but wants to pay for it. I am not that optimistic about the signs, when I look back over the last 16-17 years, we have gone from crisis to crisis. If it hasn’t happened until now, so I don’t know why it would happen now, quite frankly.” Too bad the MSO’s angel and all-around champion for the arts Chris Abele has resigned as board chair to run for county executive.
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra will perform the first act of Die Walküre under the direction of Maestro de Waart Friday and Saturday, Feb. 4-5 at 8 p.m. in the Marcus Center’s Uihlein Hall (929 N. Water St). The weekend’s program will also include legendary pianist Emanuel Ax performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. This is the first time the MSO has performed Die Walküre. For tickets call 414-291-7605 or click here.
