You didn’t think there was
one, did you? you’re right of course, but performances of Wagner certainly lend themselves to pantomimic
hilarity. Before I hit you with the continuation of that serious stuff about the
Tristan Chord I’ll just mention one.
In Wagner’s opera ‘Lohengrin’ our hero first appears borne
onstage by a swan. (Yes I know.) The usual arrangement is that some sort of
boat-like fairground-type swan is drawn across from (say) stage left to stage
right, fairly far upstage, by a cable in a concealed track in the stage floor.
On one occasion a famous tenor came dashing into the wings a few moments too
late; the cue had been given and the swan, empty, was trundling across stage.
Our tenor turned to a stagehand and said ‘Excuse me, do you happen to know what
time the next swan leaves?’
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