We headed into Nuernberg (only about 40 km from our hotel to city centre, and most of that by Autobahn) fairly early, parked at the Sterntor parking garage (just inside the walls of the old city, and very near the opera house). Headed directly to the opera house, to buy two tickets to the evening performance of Verdi’s Aida; got very good tickets at a very reasonable price at the very front of the centre of the 1st balcony.
After that we went on an extensive walk-about,, following the city walls west and then north-ward until we came to the Pegnitz river which divides the old city into two roughly equal parts. We walked along the river, back and forth across the many bridges as needed, to the eastern city wall. Going beyond the wall, one goes underneath a very busy multi-lane city road into the Woerther Wiese (the Woerth meadows, and also a lake), a green "lung" in the modern city of Nuernberg. For Wagner fans, it is on this meadow that the 3rd Act of "Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg" is located. (The other two Acts are also located along the Pegnitz river – Act 1 in the Katherinenkirche [St. Katherine's Church], now a ruin but partially restored, Act 2 in Hans Sachs’ cobbler shop – now a restaurant – and the surrounding streets.)
Back into the old city, north of the river. June asked how I knew the directions to go – it’s very simple (for a native, which I guess I am); as long as you can see one of: the towers of the Lorenzkirche (St. Laurence Church), Sebalduskirche (St. Sebald’s Church), or the Kaiserburg (imperial castle), you know precisely where you are in the narrow, winding streets of this medieval city.
After walking past the Hans Sachs statue, in front of the upscale restaurant (called "Hans Sachs & Soehne" - Hans Sachs & Sons) that is now on the site of his cobbler shop we went north-ward into the market square in front of the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady); the vendors are there daily, selling produce, at this time of the year much of it local from greenhouses, but also some early vegetables; (fruits at this time of the year are imported - one of the benefits of the European Union). Also in this square is the "Schoene Brunnen" - the Beautiful Fountain, a very ornate, tall stone-carving that has been painted and gilded, covered with biblical and historical figures. (This survived the 2nd World War only because a concrete enclosure was built around it, and then filled with sand!) In the fence around the fountain there is a brass ring held by three iron "fingers" with round passages for the ring. Neither the ring nor the fingers holding it show any evidence of a joint; making it difficult to understand how the ring was inserted. The story is that a smith's apprentice fell in love with his master's daughter, but was told that he would only be allowed to marry her if he could perform a work of smithing that the master could not reproduce. The ring is the result, the two married, and we assume lived happily ever after (or a la Brothers Grimm - if they didn't die, they're still alive today!). Today, it is considered to bring good luck to turn the ring three times while making a wish - world peace did not break out, but I have the picture!
From the fountain it is only a few short steps to the Bratwursthaeusle for lunch - you can't visit Nuernberg and not eat Nuernberger bratwuerste. About the size of a man's little finger, 6 or 8 with potato salad and some sauerkraut make a nice-sized meal, or you can have "Drei im Weggla" - three-in-a-bun from vendors on most streets. We chose the sit-down version, out on one of the two terraces, with a glass of wine (June) and a beer (Gerry). (Inside, you can watch the very busy cooks grilling hundreds of sausages at a time on beechwood [aged at least 3 years!] grills.) There has been a restaurant (and integral butcher preparing the raw version) serving these little sausages on this site since 1313, and Hans Sachs, of Meistersinger fame, is known to have eaten here more than three hundred years ago - although at least the washrooms have been modernized! No one seems to know how many of the little beasties are served each day, but judging from the number of dirndl-clad waitresses, and the speed at which they serve, and the number of tables, I would guess at a number well north of 10,000!
(A note on brat - as in brat-wurst. Since "braten" in German means "grilling" I'd always thought that the name simply meant grilled sausages, and every German town seems to have their own variety, including the 1 metre long ones of the day before. But, it seems that "brat" is really the German word for a mixture of meats [usually pork and beef], seasoned, and then stuffed into a skin which makes it a "wurst" - sausage. It can then be grilled, or smoked, or even marinated and pickled, but it is still a bratwurst.)
Having refreshed ourselves, we then hit the shops! Much of the interior of the old city is closed to cars during daylight times (deliveries have to be made late at night or early in the morning), and so there are wonderful wide pedestrian malls adding up to kilometres of walking, with restaurants, pubs and cafes setting up outdoor seating, permanent stands selling street food, lined by stores of every kind. We didn't actually buy anything, but it was fun just to comparison shop. A good rule of thumb about pricing for almost any German item, especially luxury goods, but also meals, is to pretend that the price is in dollars, not Euros (1 Euro = Cdn $1.60 roughly!) and you won't be breathing too heavily. On the other hand, it also helps to remember that in Germany the ticket price is what you pay (VAT is included) and there isn't the unpleasantness of a 13% (Ontario tax) mark-up at the cash register. In restaurant the menu price also includes a service charge, thus there is no tip required nor expected (although it is customary to round up the bill to the next Euro if the service has been acceptable). With this in mind, most things cost roughly the same as in Canada (eg. restaurant meals, especially when you consider quality and quantity), some items (luxury) are considerably more expensive, and some things, eg. wine are less; a very good quality German wine, which in Ontario would cost north of $15, is about 2 to 3 Euro, ie. $3 to $5. A soft-drink (350 ml) will cost as much or more than a beer (500 ml), but coffee or tea in a restaurant will cost upwards of $4 - coffee and tea are considered a luxury and hence taxed heavily, beer and wine are considered food, and occasionally a foolish politician will propose increasing the taxes on them, and find him/her self looking for alternative work shortly after.
Eventually, around 6 p.m. we decided that 6 bratwurst and kraut were not going to carry us through the evening, and we stopped at the Mauthalle. Originally a toll collecting building (maut = toll), it is now up-scale shops at street level, and a perhaps 100 m by 300 m restaurant and beer hall in the basement. (And, a note on why there would be a toll-collecting building; Nuernberg was fortunate to sit on two trade routes; north-south, and east-west; it got wealthy by collecting tolls on both routes, while eventually sending it’s own goods - toll-free - along both routes.) On a good weather day the restaurant/beer hall also set up outside, which is where we ate, while watching the passing parade. In passing (intentional repetition) the beer served is brewed within the beer hall, and uses the "formula" of a former brewery on the site which was run by Franciscan friars, hence the name of the restaurant and beer, "Barfuesser" - the bare-footed ones, the informal German name for the Franciscan order, from their habit of going bare-foot. As we ate (good food, good wine, good beer) the sky darkened, and turned that kind of yellowy green which is the universal sign of bad weather coming. We finished quickly, and headed back to the car. Within a dozen metres or so from the parking garage some very large drops of rain started to fall, so we ran for it. We just got inside and up to the car when the heavens opened, lightening flashed, thunder crashed, and all hell broke loose when lightening struck not far away, and the sirens of emergency vehicles started converging. We were dry, so we changed into our opera going clothes (for me that meant putting on a tie and changing my windbreaker for a blazer and dress shoes; for June it was putting on a fancy jacket and heels). Then we sat in the car, watched the storm, and relaxed. About 30 minutes later, all settled down, the rain stopped, and we walked across the road to the opera house, just in time to order a couple of glasses of wine for the intermission. By this time, having learned from Hamburg, we knew the routine; you pay for the wine, or snack, or both, and you get a ticket giving you a table number in the foyer, at intermission you go to that table, and your order is waiting for you - no one checks to make sure you actually are the people that paid for the wine, the whole thing works on trust, and seems to work just fine - in all we did this four times, and never was there a problem. (But probably not in Ontario, where the forces for good in the community would oppose making life [drinking wine] that simple!)
Aida at the Nuernberger Staatstheater
We had excellent seats, right at the front of the 1st balcony.
This was a very interesting production! We are still not entirely sure just what the symbolism implied or was intended to imply! Much was implied by the costuming, as otherwise, musically, the production followed the libretto exactly.
The Egyptians were dressed in generic British-style military uniforms, with officers in forage caps, and other ranks with berets, immediately reminding one that most modern middle Eastern armies are dressed this way, and that most of the officers were British-trained. Radames (sung by an excellent Korean tenor) was dressed much as one would expect a Sandhurst-trained officer to dress. Ramfis, the high priest, was in a black uniform reminiscent of German 3rd Reich police, and the other priest wore similar uniforms, but less ornate. The King of Egypt was in a snazzy double-breasted business suit, with and without a broad sash decorated with medals, bald-headed, very reminiscent of King Farouk.
Aida, the Ethiopian princess, spent her entire time on stage in a very dowdy pale-blue shift, with POW (prisoner of war) stencilled on the back (as did most of the women's chorus), while Amneris, the daughter of the King and rival of Aida for the affections of Radames, was a fashionista (very well built - with the way Aida was dressed you couldn't really tell!), with very stylish, very tight, dresses, suits, and very wide-brimmed sunhats - why Radames even noticed Aida is difficult to understand, except perhaps to note the love is supposed to be blind. Amonasro, the King of Ethiopia and Aida's father, and the Ethiopian soldiers, when they finally appear late in the 1st half, are very buff, dressed in camouflage under-vests and tight camouflage pants, very muscular, looking like what we all imagine Israeli fighters to look like - especially Israeli fighters from the War of Independence, such as Irgun or Hagganah.
Of course it ended badly, as it always does! And, we are still wondering about the costuming/symbolism; but maybe that is not a bad thing - after all, art is supposed to challenge your assumptions about how things are.
What is not in doubt is the quality of the singing! Like in any German opera company, there is no star system; singers are part of a company, and sing roles according to the demands and their ability. Thus, most of the singers have worked together, and there are no awkward moments of two singers not quite knowing where to be or what to act.
If I had to vote, Amneris would get my approval as the most accomplished singer, followed closely by Radames and the King of Egypt. Aida was very good, but in this production, not really allowed to shine. Altogether, very much worth the cost of attending, even though we are still wondering about the meaning of it all!
------------------
And then, a drive back to Pommersfelden, about 20 minutes.
Which brings me to a note about the opera tickets we had purchased. Reading them somewhat later, I noted that they were also transport tickets; for 2 hours before the start of the performance, and 3 hours after, they were good for travel on any Nuernberg public transit, and on the Deutsche Bahn (German Railway) net within the greater Nuernberg area (roughly a 50 km radius). What a creative way to reduce road traffic and fuel consumption! And for that matter, to allow people to enjoy a glass of wine at intermission, and wine with a late supper, which was available at the opera house, without worrying about impaired driving.
No comments:
Post a Comment