Naïvite and Wagner Camp

I am spending 10 days studying under the magnificent Jane Eaglen and her assembled team of super-Wagner colleagues.

My performance assignments are Sieglinde in Die Walküre (Act 1, Scene 3)
and Elsa of Brabant in Lohengrin (Act 2, Scene 2)

Twice I have been in conversations with a director or coach where the word naïve came up as the quality that these ladies, and I have very mixed regards to this word. It has an underlying implication of some mental deficiency. Being a strong willed (read:stubborn) woman of a relatively high IQ, despite being a natural blonde this sits very uneasily with me. I've fought stereotypes my whole life. So, I started to deconstruct the women I'm playing in order to serve them better.

Both of these ladies are pretty much victims of circumstance and crimes perpetrated by forces they can not understand or overcome.
But does that make them naïve?

Sieglinde, having been separated at birth from her twin Siegmund describes in colorful language her plight in the first 2 lines of her monologue "Der Männer Sippe".
The way I translate it:
The clansmen sat there in the hall for Hunding's wedding summoned
His suitor, a woman that all unasked, the rapists gave him to wife.

So, already we know Sieglinde is damaged. Emotionally, she was forced into a marriage to Hunding by a pack of his tribesmen.
Hunding and his pals sit around and drink as she weeps in misery, knowing that she is powerless to change her fate.
She goes on to describe the only time she can remember someone looking at her tenderly, with pity. As it turns out this was her father, Wotan, who himself was unable to save her from this fate.
The best he could do is plunge a sword into the Ash tree and declare that whomever draws it forth can have it and Sieglinde as a rightful spouse.
So, basically she is living as a sex slave to a warlord. She's desperate, she is the epitome of vulnerable, and Dear God is she damaged... but I don't see this as naïve.
When her hero comes to the door, she doesn't ask questions, at least not until she is already wooed by his words. She speaks to him in the same warlike gruff heroic tones in her monologue, because this is the only language she knows for strong emotion.
This makes Siegmund's "Winterstürme" even more of a revelation to her. Someone can use words of spring and love, and flowers and tenderness and convey a passionate emotion that has nothing to do with war or rape. This is what leads her into her outpouring of "Du bist der Lenz", she has never been spoken to in this way. Is it any wonder that despite finding out he is her twin brother she still runs off with Siegmund? No, he's her ticket out.


On to Elsa -
The case for Elsa's naïvité is really a lot harder to discount in today's society.
If someone one makes your brother disappear and then blames you for his murder, you may be suspicious of them.
But, if we believe Elsa is so accused and therefore spends hours in prayer, as she says in her dream aria from Act 1, she has no time to be suspicious of anyone else.
She is wrapped up in prayers for her brother's return and the dream of a champion who can rescue her and clear her name. This may seem ridiculously innocent, but consider she is living in Belgium in the 10th Century. She is a faithful Catholic. It does not help that she is being duped by a pagan priestess.
I've been doing a lot of reading lately, and it strikes me how much the Gospels refer to Christ's desire for us to become like little children to enter into his kingdom. What does that mean? "Become like a little child"?
Well, I have two young kids and I can tell you my thoughts.
Young kids from a loving home are (mostly) born with a strong sense of justice.
They believe in the good of all people, and though they get warnings about bad things and strangers and evils, their first instinct is to trust and love everyone they meet. If someone is sad or hurt they seek to console, they do not view them as threats.
In this scene with Ortrud in Act 2, Scene 2, despite all of the warnings she may be getting from the orchestra Elsa continues to show love and mercy towards Ortrud. This is definitely a Catholic tenet. Turn the other cheek, forgive, console the brokenhearted.
So, is being a good Catholic akin to being naïve or weak?
Well, I would say definitely not weakness, if anything more strength is drawn from her faith.
As for naïvité, let me go to confession and I'll get back to you on that.


That is really all I have from Wagner Camp. Tonight I sing on a master class for Tim Mussard. I'll be singing Elsa's dream from Act I of Lohengrin called "Einsam in trüben Tagen".

Here is a link to the aria sung by Eleanor Steber http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7wH2qiXboU