Meistersinger

Comcast has been hinky lately, (talk about first world problems,) out with surprising frequency considering there is no "weather" to blame.

(On the other hand, OnDemand makes it very easy for us to pick up specials or episodic tv we couldn't manage first time around because of our schedules, so I shouldn't complain.)
And we still, just barely, seem to be able to record the non-HD channels to timeshift ourselves, (no DVR,) so, while everything was "out" again today and oh, dear, I couldn't do some online work, there was nothing for it but to watch the opera we recorded yesterday, (originally from last year, I think?)
Too bad.... ;oP
I'd never seen Meistersinger before, but not because of its length, (I've sat stood through Frau Ohne Schatten and Nicholas Nickleby multiple times, ) just never had the opportunity.
My Father and my godfather would be spinning to hear me confess it, but Wagner GOES ON TOO LONG.
How he, and we, would have benefited from the humility to submit himself to an editor, (and I say this as one who acknowledges her own tendency to run on...)



Some of the libretto is a bit much, the glorification of Germanic art, (oh, and by implication of Wagner himself?) from Sachs, but the march? the prelude? Stendhal Syndrome, I weep at the sheer beauty of some of it.
Generally good, in some cases stunning performances. I'd love to hear the Beckmesser in something sympathetic that would allow him to show off his beautiful sound and nuanced acting. (What? burlesque and vaudeville can be nuanced.)
As always, though, I am easily distracted by minutia, and in this case, it was pondering of whom the tenor reminded me....