The Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne is a natural space for a big opera. Built by Nellie Melba’s father in 1880, it survives intact unlike its counterparts in Sydney (the Garden Palace of 1879) and London (the Crystal Palace of 1851) which were both destroyed by fire. It also hosted a concert by Dame Nellie herself in 1907, featuring an enormous pipe organ, removed in 1965. Still used for exhibitions, the building is a vast cruciform space under a large dome modelled on one by Brunelleschi in Florence. Melbourne Opera, responsible for 2023’s highly successful Ring in Bendigo, chose to perform Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg here. The numerous challenges in doing so can be imagined, but the result was a triumph.
The stage was constructed directly under the dome, with a delimited auditorium area of rising tiers. The upper reaches of the dome are pierced by windows with no obvious mechanism for shade; the opera began at 3pm and proceeded through its length into the long summer evening eventually fading into the night. Kudos to lighting designer Philip Lethlean for managing this so unobtrusively and evocatively. The set comprised a wooden framework to represent both interiors and exteriors, with a limited number of chairs, small tables and bits of greenery.
Director Suzanne Chaundy, also responsible for the Ring, was most adept in getting the quite considerable numbers of the cast on, off and around the stage. Set designer Andrew Bailey also succeeded in producing vaguely Medieval-ish effects that blended with the sensibility of the building. Similarly Karine Larché's costumes comprised primarily varieties of jerkins and smocks over knee breeches for the men and long gowns for the women.
Musical values were equally impressive. As might be expected, there is a rather booming acoustic, which was well managed by the Melbourne Opera Orchestra under Anthony Negus. Not just the imposing blasts of the brass but also the quieter moments of delicate string playing were always clear, as were the singers, and his pacing could not be faulted. The fact that Wagner labelled this work a comedy is often considered to be a bit of a stretch but the actual comical musical aspects – Beckmesser’s terrible rendition of Walther’s song, the mêlée concluding Act 2, but also more subtle moments of amusement inherent in the music – were well brought out. The well-drilled Melbourne Opera Chorus were equally adept in their contributions.
This is an opera which demands a very large cast of principals and comprimarios and space hardly permits them all to be mentioned. It can be observed however that there were no weak links. Leading the pack was baritone Warwick Fyfe, previously Wotan and a long standing stalwart on the Australian operatic scene. He brought to the role of Hans Sachs what appears to be an easy and natural authority, as well as a well-produced, accurate and smooth vocal sound, adding some fun dancing steps in the conclusion to Act 2. He delivered the final peroration well, although it’s a bit hard not to shudder slightly at the Holy German Music stuff.
Lee Abrahmsen, so impressive as Sieglinde, was equally wonderful as Eva, unleashing torrents of gleaming soprano sound. Why is she not better known to Australian audiences? Even in the largest ensembles she soared over the rest, and acted convincingly, with warm interactions with both Walther and Sachs. The former was well sung by tenor James Egglestone, with firm Heldentenor tone, every inch a noble knight. The versatile Robert Macfarlane, previously a highly successful Mime, returned as David, the eternal apprentice, bending his usually attractive unforced tenor into comic tones as required. Rounding out the principals was Deborah Humble’s Magdalena, providing her enveloping warm mezzo to the role. The Act 3 quintet made time stand even stiller.