Wally is the daughter of a man, Stromminger, implied as rich and prominent in the community. Her father’s friend, Gellner, suspected Wally of being in love with Hagenbach, the son of Stromminger’s enemy. Apparently, he wanted Wally for himself. So he went and immediately asked for Wally’s hand in marriage before she could find an opportunity to be with Hagenbach. Wally is aghast with this under-handed tactic. She bluntly turned Gellner down.
The pacing in La Wally 1990 edition was fast enough to see where Wally’s state of heart and mind are. Sometimes it feels like there is too much going on that there wasn’t much time for character build-up. Notable exceptions are in that scene where Hagenbach bets on Wally’s feelings, where Hagenbach got pushed from an icy mountain and close to the end of Act 4 that I would discuss later. So in essence, it’s quick when it needs to be quick and slow when there is a need to build up that suspense. It’s the kind of suspense that makes you feel bad for Wally and disappointed with Hagenbach.
Sometimes, La Wally 1990 edition becomes an introspection into the life of Wally. She has only one friend, Walter, who may or may not be interested in Wally romantically. She doesn’t seem to be close with her father either. And she only got close to Gellner when she needed a favor from him. Not much is said about how close Gellner is to Wally prior to that crucial favor. But I ended up getting PO’d with the way he asked for Wally’s hand in marriage. Stromminger didn’t even give his daughter an opportunity to say no. Again, La Wally 1990 edition implied that Stromminger is not close to Wally.
On the other hand, what could Wally see in Hagenbach despite being a man that Stromminger hated? La Wally was an opera based on a play that was written at the time when hunters are the closest thing that a remote village could have to heroes. Hagenbach’s claim to fame is slaying a big bear for its fur. An accomplishment not many men in this Alpine village can prove. Wally found it impressive unlike Stromminger. La Wally 1990 edition managed to show how Wally gazed at Hagenbach differently from how she looked at Gellner.
The sad thing about some verismo operas like La Wally is how nobody’s perfect. Hagenbach is a topnotch hunter but a disappointing excuse for a human being. Wally herself admitted finding fun in emotionally tormenting Gellner especially in Act 2. Gellner loved Wally. But he failed to control himself in giving Wally a dose of her own medicine by telling her of Hagenbach’s engagement to Afra, the tavern owner. You then realize a painful chain of flawed love. Gellner loves Wally who loves Hagenbach who loves Afra. La Wally 1990 showed how people are capable of loving people despite being wronged. And no other plot in opera had ever been truer.
Depression eventually brought out the worst in Wally. The glaciers in La Wally 1990 edition gains a different perspective when shown with a catatonic Wally. As if that song she wrote served as a prelude to how she would meet her end. And Walter, the young boy that interpreted that song earlier in the opera, failed to see it when he left Wally beside the snowy mountain. Sometimes I wished that her vision of Hagenbach was just a fruit of her psychosis. But La Wally 1990 edition implied how the cold weather has affected Wally’s judgment. It could be simply a figment of her hallucination. The freezing temperature might have affected the way she sees things. And she may want to see things as opposed to what they really are.
La Wally 1990 edition featured Mara Zampieri and Michael Sylvester as Wally and Hagenbach respectively. No copy so far in DVD found online. Only one copy of the DVD was found on Arkiv Music released in 2014. Hopefully I get to watch and review the other versions of La Wally found online. Hopefully, you enjoyed reading this article. I would appreciate it more if you send over your tips by clicking the “Donate” button below. Thanks for reading.
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