圣达菲瓦格纳协会：一条承载着伟大作曲家的小船

司马勤

从2013 年起，我就知道圣达菲歌剧院“瓦格纳协会”的存在。当年我听说这个组织正筹备委托制作《指环》的续集。事实上，他们只招揽作者提供一个100 字左右的场景描述，以构想出尼伯龙根家族的首领、指环的名义守护者、瓦格納传奇上：圣达菲歌剧院上演的《特里斯坦与伊索尔德》剧照右页：汤姆和洋子成立了圣达菲瓦格纳协会，夫妇二人2022 年7 月在圣达菲歌剧院（图片由亚瑟洋子提供）四部曲结尾最后一个角色——阿尔贝里希（Alberich）在《指环》故事结束之后的遭遇。提交的作品将由一个专业的歌剧团队进行评判。我输了这场比稿，但在比赛过程中我遇上了一对可爱的“怪人”。

大约十年前，汤姆· 亚瑟（Tom Arthur）和妻子洋子（Yoko）搬到圣达菲后不久，成立了瓦格纳协会的圣达菲分会。尽管新墨西哥州气候干旱，但这里博物馆众多，室内音乐节举世闻名，还拥有世界级的歌剧院，在文化上可不是一片“沙漠”。然而，圣达菲歌剧院长期以来一直追捧着理查· 施特劳斯的作品，瓦格纳作品的上演却明显不足。亚瑟夫妇的目标，就是纠正这一状况。

在成立的初期，该协会将大部分时间用于放映来自世界各地的瓦格纳作品的视频，并吸引知名的专业研究瓦格纳的人士进行公开演讲。不久之后，汤姆和洋子——他们自己也是慕尼黑、柏林和维也纳的常客——就开始带着小旅游团前往欧洲著名的歌剧院进行现场观摩。当世界各地的大部分演出场所因新冠疫情关闭时，他们也开始着手自己制作小型音乐会。

但当圣达菲歌剧院宣布他们将推出《特里斯坦与伊索尔德》——这是30 年以来该歌剧院自己的第一部瓦格纳歌剧制作，也是其历史上上演的第二部瓦格纳作品——亚瑟夫妇几乎没时间为此庆祝。相反，因为要把这个家庭式的运营模式提升至瓦格纳协会为瓦格纳作品演出筹集资金的传统，他们的工作比以往任何时候都多。

8 月，我在圣达菲时，唯一有空档的日子是《特里斯坦》演出的第二天的白天。洋子邀请我与一位特别嘉宾共进午餐——男低音埃里克· 欧文斯（EricOwens），他前一晚在台上饰演了马克国王。很多演员在下一场演出之前已经逃离了圣达菲这个小镇，但由于埃里克花了很长时间才适应了山区的海拔和高原反应，为了不影响之后的演出，他只得乖乖地留在那里。

《特里斯坦》显然在一开始的讨论中占据了主导地位，不仅是其卓越的演员阵容，还包括交响乐团的表演。“我担心乐手们会觉得很吃力，”洋子说，“他们不习惯连续演奏超过三个小时。但我注意到，在幕间休息时，有些人会练习下一幕的音乐片段。他们一定已经筋疲力尽了，但他们难掩激动之情。”

埃里克则从歌手的角度称赞了乐队，认为他们为演出的成功锦上添花。他承认，有一次一位演员同伴错过了一次声乐的过门，但由于交响乐团的演奏十拿九稳令人佩服，除了熟知该制作的人外，很少有观众注意到这一点。

这一切都很好，但我想更深入地研究协会的早期历史，特别是关于亚瑟夫妇如何以及何时决定将他们对瓦格纳的热情公之于众。埃里克认识他们俩十多年了，想必他以前应该听过这一段往事，他对再次听到这一切兴致盎然。

汤姆和洋子从华盛顿特区迁居后不久就成立了他们的圣达菲组织，洋子曾在华盛顿特区与专门从事古乐风格的法拉耶特歌剧院（Opera Lafayette）合作。“我负责运营，所以我总是那个必须解决问题的人，”她说，“而汤姆曾是华盛顿特区的瓦格纳协会成员……”

“所以，我学会了不该做什么。”汤姆插话道，“首先，这意味着他们不会邀请音乐学家去照本宣科地朗读学术论文。从一开始，我们就决定只邀请演员、指挥家和那些积极参与瓦格纳作品中的人来跟我们分享他们的心得。我们首次请来一位学者发言，效果令人遗憾。”他拒绝透露这位教授的名字，“但是，本年夏季一位已退休的公爵大学教授，布莱恩 · 基里恩（Bryan Gilliam） 为我们的讲演精彩之极。”

然而，洋子很高兴地详细讨论了她早期的冒险经历。看过西蒙· 拉特尔（Simon Rattle）在维也纳国家歌剧院（Vienna State Opera）指挥的《指环》之后，她驻足在剧院的数字媒体办公室外，直到遇到了相关负责人。“他不仅立即答应我们的请求，更给我们通过联邦快递寄送了相关视频，还在单独的闪存驱动器中提供了该制作的德文和英文字幕。”

虽然他们已经与当地一所大学的一家小型电影院做好了放映该视频的准备，但当电脑系统无法读取文件时，亚瑟夫妇陷入了困境。“事实证明，苹果电脑的相关软件无法处理日耳曼语的元音变音符号。”洋子说，“《莱茵的黄金》和《齐格弗里德》都很好，但《女武神》和《众神的黄昏》完全不行，我不得不四处打听，寻找能够放映的设备。”

“洋子，为什么只谈论出了差错的事情呢？”汤姆困惑地问道。

“因为那些都是我必须解决的问题，”洋子笑着说，“总而言之，圣达菲歌剧院的字幕组真是太棒了。”洋子展现了她强大的说服力，技术人员们将字幕与乐谱同步，并将文本投射到字幕屏幕上。她补充道：“他们在遮光帘后面坐了15 个小时，其间手动操作运行每一条字幕。”

虽然圣达菲瓦格纳协会不能收取观看制作录像的入场费——这是维也纳国家歌剧院的一项规定——但他们可以接受捐款。洋子仔细观察了现场观众的反应。“有些人带着他们的孩子，”她回忆道，“几个十几岁的女孩迷上了男中音托马斯· 科尼奇尼（Tomasz Konieczny）。原本我们预计这些少女会在《女武神》某段过后便离开，但她们说：‘他太可爱了！并一直留在了那里。”

尽管他们的瓦格纳协会活动开始吸引越来越多的人，但亚瑟夫妇从未将他们的社交圈纳入一个正式的架构——这在世界各地的瓦格纳协会中是罕见的。“这个镇上到处都是非营利组织，”洋子解释道，“而我的理论一直是‘永远不要变成它们其中的一员。”他们俩选择了让瓦格纳协会与当地一个名为“圣达菲演艺”（Performance Santa Fe）的组织（音乐和舞蹈表演机构）达成协议，由圣达菲演艺处理瓦格纳协会的财政事务，只收取少量管理费。

“這让我们省去了很多额外的工作，”洋子说，尤其是当他们开始在所居住社区的私人会所举办小型室内演出时，“我们的小音乐会可以容纳100 个人，但我们自己负担不起责任保险。这样我们就可以专注于项目本身。”

就在亚瑟夫妇开始落实与瓦格纳有关的小型室内节目时，圣达菲歌剧院构想了一个很大的计划。歌剧院为2020 年演出季规划制作《特里斯坦》时，亚瑟夫妇毛遂自荐协助剧院集资筹款。“如果圣达菲歌剧院需要筹集900 万美元，那么他们会聚焦于每笔5 万或10 万美元的大额募捐，”洋子说，“他们无法处理500 美元的小额捐款，所以我们为此成立了自己的赞助财团。”

圣达菲歌剧院原本预计这样的社区募捐可能会筹得5 万美元。然而，瓦格纳协会在两周内筹集了超过12 万美元的捐款。“我会在超市遇上朋友，然后请他们捐助，”洋子说，“毫不夸张地说，我向某位推着购物车的善心人士筹得了2 万美元。”《特里斯坦》的制作推迟到2022 年后，亚瑟夫妇又筹集了10 万美元。在节目册中，圣达菲瓦格纳协会被注明赞助了指挥家詹姆斯· 加菲根（James Gaffigan）和男高音西蒙· 奥尼尔（Simon ONeill）的演出费。

洋子转向埃里克：“我们本来想赞助你的，但另一个组织却捷足先登。”节目册里显示，埃里克· 欧文斯是由约瑟夫和罗伯特·康奈尔纪念基金会赞助的。

基于这一点上，我不得提出疑问：“埃里克，你在这里做过什么活动吗？”

“是呀，”洋子立马接过了话题，“你在8 月17日之前没有其他的演出安排，你会很无聊的。”我们都笑了，洋子趁热打铁。“真的，我很容易订到场地，你可以谈谈唱瓦格纳的心得。”

“所以从理论上说，”我问埃里克， “你会聊些什么？”

意识到他得现场回答这个问题，埃里克沉思了片刻：“当我想到瓦格纳时，他的艺术性会让我联想到巴赫。”

还有呢？

“这么说吧，这里面有一种美，但这种美学的背后的那位天才却不容易辨析。巴赫的天才在艺术和科学领域都给人们留下了深刻的印象——我认为瓦格纳的作品也是如此，只要你细细阅读乐谱，解开所有的主导动机，以及他通常隐藏它们的方式。然后你会看到一个你单独听音乐时不一定能听到的天才。”

显然，这样的讨论必须牵涉到音乐实例——甚至可能会深入到学术领域。

“你要花多长时间才能剖析完一部歌剧并学会它？”洋子问道。

“这就如同学海无涯，无边无际。”

“那么，像马克国王这样的角色，大概只在舞台上演出20 分钟，假设你是从五年或十年前开始学习这个角色的。今年你再次翻开乐谱，又会有一些不同的发现吗？”

“当然。”

“好吧，为什么不从这个点开始聊聊呢？我可以把它命名为‘我的瓦格纳时刻，你可以谈论任何你感兴趣的事情。”

“压力已够大的了，”埃里克笑着说，“比起个人讲演，我们能做个访谈吗？”

“得有个人引导话题。”汤姆提议道。

“好吧，”洋子拍板道，“我们先从三个你提前准备好的问题开始，然后观众可以加入更多的现场提问。”

“观众没有问题的话，”汤姆补充说，“那么，会场有一个免费开放式酒吧，大家可以畅饮。”

事到如今，埃里克已经屈服了。任何抵抗都是徒劳的。

四天后，我收到了一封电子邮件：“最新消息！与男低音埃里克· 欧文斯公开的面对面对话。下午4点开放预约。名额仅限14 人。”

我放声大笑起来。

Ive known about the Wagner Society of SantaFe since 2013， when I heard the organization wascommissioning a sequel to the Ring Cycle. Actually，it turned out they were only asking for 100-wordscenarios imagining what happens to Alberich， chiefNibelung， nominal guardian of the Ring and the lastcharacter standing at the end of Wagners tetralogy.Submissions would be judged by a team of operaprofessionals. I lost the competition， but I managed tomeet a couple of quirky people in the process.

Tom and Yoko Arthur formed their local chapterof the Wagner Society shortly after moving to SantaFe around a decade ago. New Mexico may have anarid climate， but with a wide range of museums， arenowned chamber music festival and a world-classopera company， the place is hardly a cultural desert.There is， however， despite the Santa Fe Operaslong history with the works of Richard Strauss， aconspicuous dearth of Wagner. The Arthurs set out torectify that condition.

In its early days， the Society devoted much of itstime to screening videos of Wagner productionsfrom around the world and luring noted Wagnerprofessionals to give public talks. Before long， Tomand Yoko—themselves regular operagoers in Munich，Berlin and Vienna—were taking small groups toEuropes prominent opera houses. When the Covidpandemic closed most venues around the world， theyalso began producing small concerts themselves.

But when Santa Fe Opera announced they wouldpresent Tristan und Isolde ， the companys firstWagner opera in 30 years and only the second Wagnerproduction in its history， the Arthurs had little timeto celebrate. Rather， they had more work than ever，bringing their mom-and-pop operation fully in linewith the Wagner Societys history of raising funds forWagner stagings.

When I was in Santa Fe in August， the only time we allhad free was the day after a Tristan performance. Yokoinvited me to lunch with a special guest—the bass-baritoneEric Owens， who had sung the role of King Marke the nightbefore. Much of the cast had already fled town until thenext performance， but Eric， having taken so long to getused to the mountainous altitudes， was going nowhere.

Tristan obviously dominated the discussion early，not just its superb cast but also the orchestrasplaying. “I was worried that the musicians would havea hard time，” Yoko said. “Theyre not used to playingmore than three hours. But I noticed that duringintermission some of them would be practicing musicfrom the next act. They had to have been exhausted，but they were so keyed up.”

Eric， for his part， added kudos for the orchestra froma singers perspective. One of his fellow cast membersmissed a vocal entrance， he admitted， but because theorchestra played with such command， few listenersoutside the production noticed.

This was all fine， but I wanted to delve further intothe past， particularly about how and when the Arthursdecided to take their passion for Wagner so public. IfEric， whos known the Arthurs for more than a decade，had heard this all before， he seemed happy to hear itall again.

Tom and Yoko had started their organizationshortly after relocating from Washington， D.C.， whereYoko had worked with Opera Lafayette， a companyspecializing in period-instrument productions. “I wasin operations， so I was always the one who had tosolve problems，” she said. “Tom had been affiliatedwith the Wagner Society of Washington， D.C….”

“…So Id learned what not to do，” he chimed in. Fora start， that meant no musicologists reading scholarlypapers. “From the beginning we decided to invite onlysingers， conductors and people who actively practiceWagner. The first time we asked an academic to speak，we regretted it. But this summer we actually had aterrific talk by Bryan Gilliam， a retired Strauss scholarfrom Duke University.”

Yoko， however， happily discussed her early venturesin great detail. After seeing Simon Rattle conductthe Ring Cycle at the Vienna State Opera， she parkedherself outside the companys digital media officeuntil she met the man in charge. “He not only gaveus the video—he FedExd it immediately—but alsothe companys subtitles in German and English in aseparate flash drive.”

Although theyd already made arrangements witha small movie theatre at a local college， the Arthursran into complications when their computers couldntread the files. “It turned out Apple software couldnthandle umlauts，” she said. “Rheingold and Siegfriedwere fine but for Die Walküre and G?tterd?mmerung Ihad to ask around.”

“Yoko， why are you only talking about things thatwent wrong？” Tom asked， bemused.

“Because those were problems I had to solve，”she laughed. “Anyway， the subtitle staff from SantaFe Opera were absolutely wonderful.” Such wereYokos powers of persuasion that the technicianssynchronized the subtitles with the musical score andprojected the text on a split screen. “They sat behinda blackout curtain for 15 hours and ran the titlesmanually，” she added.

Though they couldnt charge admission—one ofViennas stipulations—they could accept contributions.Yoko carefully monitored the local reaction. “Somepeople brought their kids，” she recalled. “A coupleof teenage girls fell in love with baritone TomaszKonieczny. We expected them to leave sometimeduring Die Walküre ， but they said， ‘Hes so cute” andstayed for the whole thing.”

Though their Wagner Society events began attractingmore and more people， the Arthurs never incorporatedtheir social circle into a formal structure—a rarityamong Wagner Societies around the world. “This townis full of non-profit organizations，” Yoko explained，“and my theory has always been ‘never become likeone of them. ” Rather， the Wagner Society entered anarrangement with Performance Santa Fe， a local musicand dance presenter， to handle financial matters for asmall management fee.

“That relieves us of a lot of extra work，” Yoko said，particularly once they began producing small chamberevents in the Clubhouse of their residence complex.“We can accommodate a hundred people， but wecouldnt afford the liability insurance ourselves. Thisway we can focus on the programs.”

But just as the Arthurs started putting Wagnerrelatedchamber programs in place， Santa Fe Operabegan thinking really big. When the companyoriginally envisioned Tristan for the 2020 season， theWagner Society offered to help with fundraising. “IfSanta Fe Opera needs to raise $9 million， they needto focus on $50，000 or $100，000 at a time，” Yoko said.“They cant deal with $500 gifts， so we founded ourown consortium.”

Santa Fe Opera had expected such grassrootsefforts to net perhaps $50，000. Instead， the WagnerSociety raised more than $120，000 in two weeks. “Iwas cornering people in the grocery store，” Yoko said.“Literally， I asked someone for $20，000 as she waspushing a grocery cart.” After the Tristan productionwas postponed until 2022， the Arthurs raised another$100，000. In the program book， the Wagner Society ofSanta Fe is credited with sponsoring the appearancesof conductor James Gaffigan and tenor Simon ONeill.

Yoko turned to Eric， “We wouldve sponsored you，but someone else got to you first.” Eric Owens， theprogram book said， was sponsored by the Joseph andRobert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

At this point， I had to ask. “Eric， have you ever doneany events here？”

“Right，” Yoko jumped in without dropping a beat.“You have no other bookings till August 17， youll bebored.” As we all laughed， Yoko pushed on. “Really， itsvery easy for me to book the place， and you can justtalk about singing Wagner.”

“So theoretically，” I asked him， “what would you talkabout？”

Realizing he was now on the spot， Eric contemplatedfor a moment. “When I think of Wagner， his artistrymakes me think of Bach.”

And？

“Well， theres a beauty there， but its not necessarilyobvious that theres this genius underneath. Bachsgenius impresses people both in the arts andsciences—and I think Wagners does the same thingonce you look at the score and unpack all the motifsand the way he often buries them. Then you see agenius that you dont necessarily hear when yourelistening to the music alone.”

Clearly， this was something that was going to takesome musical examples—maybe even delve intoscholarly territory.

“How long does it take you to unpack a piece andlearn it？” Yoko asked.

“You never stop unpacking.”

“So a role like King Marke， which is maybe 20minutes of singing， lets say you first started learning itfive or ten years ago. Youd crack open the score againthis year and find something different？”

“Absolutely.”

“Well， why not start with that？ I can entitle it ‘MyWagner Moment and you can talk about anythingyou want.”

“No pressure there，” Eric laughed. “Can we just do aQ&A？”

“Somebody has to start the Q&A，” Tom offered.

“Okay，” Yoko said with a touch of finality， “well havethree questions youll know about in advance， thenthe audience can jump in.”

“And if they dont，” Tom added， “well， we have anopen bar.”

By now， Eric had succumbed. Resistance was futile.

Four days later， I received an email： “Late-breakingEvents！ Open-mic with Bass-Baritone Eric Owens.Doors open at 4pm. Reservations limited to 14.”

I laughed out loud.