Curtain, Gong, Steam: Wagnerian Technologies of Nineteenth-Century Opera

369 Pages·2018·136.614 MB·English

by  Gundula Kreuzer

Curtain, Gong, Steam
Th e publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the
Dragan Plamenac Endowment of the American Musicological
Society, funded in part by the National Endowment for the
Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Th e publisher and the University of California Press Foundation
also gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Constance
and William Withey Endowment Fund in History and Music.
Curtain, Gong, Steam
Wagnerian Technologies of
Nineteenth-Century Opera
Gundula Kreuzer
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university
presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing
scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its
activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic
contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information,
visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2018 by Th e Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kreuzer, Gundula Katharina, 1975– author.
Title: Curtain, gong, steam : Wagnerian technologies of nineteenth-century
opera / Gundula Kreuzer.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2018] |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifi ers: lccn 2017052549 (print) | lccn 2017056145 (ebook) |
isbn 9780520966550 (ebook) | isbn 9780520279681 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883—Aesthetics. | Opera and
technology—History—19th century. | Opera—Production and
direction—History—19th century. | Opera—Stage-setting and
scenery—History—19th century. | Opera and technology—History—
20th century. | Opera—Production and direction—History—20th
century. | Opera—Stage-setting and scenery—History—20th century.
Classifi cation: lcc ml1700 (ebook) | lcc ml1700+ (print) |
ddc 792.509/034—dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017052549
Manufactured in the United States of America / Printed in China
26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Barbara Kreuzer
and the wise love she represents

contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface and Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xvi
Note on Presentation xix
Introduction: Opera, Staging, Technologies 1
1. Wagner’s Venusberg 27
2. Curtain 54
3. Gong 109
4. Steam 162
Epilogue: Wagnerian Failure 215
Notes 239
Works Cited 291
Index 335

illustrations
1.1. “ ‘Atlas’ in Music,” in Puck. Humoristisch-Satyrische Wochenschrift (1877) 43
1.2. Venus’s all-purpose pink drapery lures Tannhäuser in Wolfgang Wagner’s
production of Tannhäuser, act 1, scene 2 (Bayreuth, 1985) 44
1.3. Venus charms through layers of rose-colored bodily extensions in Nikolaus
Lehnhoff ’s staging of Tannhäuser, act 1, scene 2 (Festspielhaus Baden-
Baden, 2008) 45
1.4. Th e Venusberg rendered as an inverted theatrical curtain in Werner
Herzog’s production of Tannhäuser, act 1, scene 2 (Teatro San Carlo,
Naples, 1998) 46
2.1. Th e Wagner curtain: draft of its mechanical construction by
Walter Huneke 92
2.2. Th e Wagner curtain in 1897, framing the Bayreuth stage for Parsifal’s Grail
temple in Wagner’s premiere production of 1882 93
3.1. Gong strikes at the beginning of Domenico Corri’s “dramatic opera” Th e
Travellers, or Music’s Fascination (London, Th eatre Royal, Drury Lane,
1806) 118
3.2. Tam-tam used in Paris for François-Joseph Gossec’s Marche
lugubre (1790) as part of the funeral cortège for Mirabeau on
April 4, 1791 119
3.3. Use of a gong to induce catalepsy in Jean-Martin Charcot’s neurological
clinic at the Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, during the 1870s and 1880s, as
rendered in Paul Regnard’s Sorcellerie, magnétisme, morphinisme, délire des
grandeurs (1887) 141
ix