Conductor Johannes Debus will gird his loins for Gotterdammerung with a pre-show dinner of sushi.
After the curtains close, the Canadian Opera Company’s music director will head to the fridge in his dressing room for a cold beer.
“I’ll be sweating and dehydrated, like you are after any sport,” says Debus.
With two intermissions, the last segment of Wagner’s Ring Cycle will stretch to five hours and 20 minutes at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, including four hours and 30 minutes of playing for the orchestra.
“It’s a little bit like running a marathon or triathlon,” says Debus, an avid cyclist. “But the physical stamina is surpassed by the mental stamina. You have to tell this epic story; if you get lost as the conductor, the orchestra is lost too.”
Giants, dwarves, potions, spells, flying Valkyries and a magic ring: all have their roles to play in the story of the destruction of the once-mighty gods, consumed by a fire that the character Brunnhilde jumps into in an act of self-immolation.
The combination of Nordic myth and Greek tragedy “makes it extremely beautiful and powerful,” says Debus.
But it’s an exhausting journey for all concerned, particularly Debus, who stands the entire time the orchestra is playing.
“It feels wonderful like when you finish at the gym. You’ve gone on this massive journey with all of your colleagues,” says concert master and violinist Marie Bérard.
Mind you, the months of practising were “a bit like being hit by a bus.”
Bérard naps during the day and eats healthy snacks the COC provides at intermission “to keep energy at a good level. And no sweets, you can come crashing down from the sugar.”
This is the third time she has played Gotterdammerung with the COC and she has learned to pace herself.
“Recognize the mental dip at some point and know you’ll get another wind.”
The violins in particular get a serious workout. “It’s terribly difficult technically, it is well-written for the instrument. We have a high level of satisfaction.”
Audiences know they are experiencing something special, says Bérard. “People are so touched by the music, blown away by what it feels like to listen to it. You’re on a high and it takes a little time to even consider going to sleep.
“The energy comes from the music itself.”
Queen’s University student Jung Tsai will play with the orchestra on opening night Thursday as part of a COC training program and has been working on the score since the beginning of January.
“I saw the part and I was terrified,” she says.
The biggest issue was speed. “I was warned to keep the pace up. My fingers are much faster now.”
Bass trombone player Herbert Poole built a steer horn trumpet for the production although he used modern metals, not an actual steer horn. It is for a special effect required in the score.
While trombone players sit and therefore aren’t taxed as physically as some of the others, Poole says by the end of the opera, “You feel like you’ve been on a long trip, an exhausting journey that has come to an end.”
He compared performing in Gotterdammerung to climbing Mount Everest: “It is quite an accomplishment.”
This is the third time soprano Christine Goerke has played Brunnhilde at the COC. She debuted in the role in Die Walkure and Siegfried in the past two seasons.
She moves on to Houston after Toronto to perform Gotterdammerung there.
“That’s four months of being Brunnhilde: she’s in me.”
Brunnhilde has always been her dream role, ever since she was training with the Metropolitan Opera and saw the role being sung by an experienced opera star.
“I prayed, please, some day, just once, even if I break my voice, I want to be Brunnhilde,” she says. “It’s astonishing to me that Wagner made the bravest person a woman.
“I feel wildly lucky. Only a handful of women get to do this. I’m extremely grateful to Alex (Neef, the COC’s general director) to spend so much time with this character. I love her.
“She is about being brave and just.”
The immense opera requires 100 musicians, full chorus and meaty arias; Goerke’s favourite is her immolation scene with its “beautiful” music, which ends the opera.
“If we do our jobs right, you are going to leave the theatre exhausted. If not, you leave with a sore butt.”
After the show, she finds herself “bouncing off the walls for a couple of hours. It’s impossible to make your head, heart and soul stop. It’s exciting. It’s a big, epic adventure.”
Gotterdammerung is at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W., Feb. 2 to 25. Performances begin one and a half hours earlier Aresbet than usual at 6 p.m. Go to coc.ca or call 416-363-8231 for tickets.
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