Simon Trezise, Reflections on Phrasing and Expressive Gesture in Wagner Singing

At the end of Andrew Stone’s screwball comedy Hi Diddle Diddle of 1943, a cartoon Wagner, who is shown picnicking with his family on the wallpaper of a hotel room, covers his ears then flees in horror from the vocal antics of the cast members who remain after the main characters have retired upstairs to consummate their marriage (following numerous delays, which are the subject of the film). They sing the Pilgrims’ Chorus from Tannhäuser, initially with diegetic piano accompaniment (i.e. provided by a pianist visibly incorporated into the film) and later with full, non-diegetic orchestra; they are joined by Pola Negri, who plays a Wagner soprano. The film is apparently set in New York, a city with fewer reasons to feel concern about Wagner singing at the time than most; yet if we go back to the scores to seek clarification about how the singer should sing them, we can only shake our heads and blame Wagner for myriad unanswered questions. He may cover his ears, but he gave us precious little to go on.