In the spirit of John Sutherland's 'Is Heathcliff a Murderer? Puzzles in nineteenth-century fiction',  I've gotten to wondering about the various loose ends in opera plots. It usually seems to be the director's job to either plug these narrative gaps or to find some way to whitewash them.

Have you spotted any? And if so what solutions do you suggest. Here's one to get the ball rolling: In Meistersinger, is there any reconciliation at the end between Hans Sachs and Beckmesser? An important part of Sachs' integrity is the fact that he is a nice guy, but he really gives Beckmesser a hard time. Is Sachs' dedication to German art so absolute that he is willing to ostracise anybody who doesn't meet its exacting standards? Surely not.

If it is true that Wagner painted Beckmesser as a caricature of the critic Hanslick, even calling the character Hans Lich in early librettos, then an operatic rapprochement between Sachs and Beckmesser would have been unlikely. The operatic Sachs could theoretically have been reconciled to the operatic Beckmesser - but it would not be in Wagner's nature to appear to be reconciled to Hanslick - operatically or otherwise.

That's a fair point Ms Clef. I don't want to sound the Wagner apologist here, but I think his works transcend autobiographical interpretations (we could equally see Beckmesser as a Jewish caricature, but that's another story). Meistersinger is a late work, by eighteen seventy whatever, Wagner knew that he himself was a divisive figure in German music. Meistersinger works because Sachs is a more accommodating and open-minded character than Wagner, at least as he was seen. Opera plots need to work on their own terms, and while Wagner's librettos represent fairly amateur literature, most of them at least tie up all the loose ends.

Point taken; Wagner's works may transcend autobiographical interpretation but that does not rule out the possibility of Wagner's own prejudices and grudges being present. Removing the issue of personal enmity, perhaps Wagner could not effect a reconciliation between Sachs/Wagner's and Beckmesser/Hanslick's different musical viewpoints; the gulf between them was too great.
But my personal feeling is that Wagner had a score to settle, which overrode artistic considerations.

It's interesting that the brawl scene in Act II was based on Wagner's own eye-witness account of a brawl in Nuremberg which he described in Volume I of his book 'My Life', when a carpenter was mocked after singing in a tavern, then wheeled home in a wheelbarrow by revellers to face his furious wife. When the crowd returned to the inn, they were joined outside by today's equivalent of gatecrashers wanting admittance. The ensuing riot broke up when someone was knocked out; the crowds dispersed, and Wagner and his brother-in-law walked home through the deserted, moonlit streets.

Curiously, one of the reasons why Cosi fan tutte has re-emerged in the repertoire, after over a hundred years of neglect is, I think, precisely because it has perhaps one of the loosest (in all senses ;-) endings of all late eighteenth-century opera. Touches a modern(ist) sensibility I think....

So what happens to Alberich at the end of the Ring? Christopher Rouse has some ideas: http://www.christopherrouse.com/gerettetepress.html

And then Christopher Rouse resurrected the character Mime as an encore. Hmm....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wIG3-_2Zps