Copenhagen, 2003: scenes from Der Ring des Nibelungen Opera Productions Ingrin Theorin (Brünnhilde), Gitta-Maria Sjöberg (Sieglinde), Randi Stene (Fricka), Stig Andersen (Siegmund/Siegfried), Johan Old and New Reuter/James Johnson (Wotan), Guido Paevatalu (Gunther), Peter Klaveness (Hagen). c. Michael Schønwandt; d. Kasper Bech Holten. Das Rheingold. Prelude. A woman (Brünnhilde), realizing that she has betrayed the man she loves, seeks in her father’s library for answers. Most of what will follow is thus a flashback to her father’s story and her own. Scene 1. In their empty house, the Rhinemaidens tend the innocent gold. Scene 2. Wotan plans a new home for his family, while the women fill in time as best they may. Die Walküre. Act 1. While a storm rages outside, Sieglinde looks back on her family memories too. […] Recognizing the wounded stranger as her twin brother Siegmund, Sieglinde shows him the sword that their father (Wotan) had left in the tree. Act 2. Wotan’s wife Fricka forbids Wotan to glorify adultery by having his son Siegmund regain the Ring for him. […] Although Brünnhilde refuses to carry out his orders, and escapes with SIeglinde, Wotan arranges Siegmund’s death. Act 3. Brünnhilde begs her Valkyrie sisters to take Sieglinde to safety. […] Wotan strips of her godhood, but grants her request to be left on a mountaintop surrounded by flame, so that only the bravest hero can reach her. Siegfried. Act 1. Sieglinde has died in childbirth. The dwarf Mime has taken over the task of mothering her son Siegfried, hoping that he will eventually reforge his father’s sword, kill the dragon, and get the Ring. Act 3. Having killed both the dragon and Mime, and got back the Ring, Siegfried comes upon the sleeping Brünnhilde. Götterdämmerung. Prologue. Sensing that he is tiring of domestic life, Brünnhilde sends Siegfried off on new adventures. [These will result in him being drugged by Alberich’s son Hagen, going back to abduct Brünnhilde, and hand her over to his host, Gunther.] Act 3. His tongue loosened by another drug, Siegfried has been induced to tell his story, whereupon Hagen kills him. His last words open Brünnhilde’s own eyes. […] In Wagner’s score, she would ride into his funeral pyre, but Kasper Bech Holten has other ideas…. 7. Ring in the New http://www.brunyate.com/opprodmcc/ Ring in the New The Waters of the Rhine First, a production that probably keeps as close to something that Wagner operas, especially his Ring cycle, make special demands Wagner would recognize, as anything available on DVD: on the modern director. First, because he sought to push the limits of the theater of his time, compelling us also to push the limits of — NY Met, 1989. Otto Schenk d; James Levine c. 2 ours; he demands the Wow! factor. Second, because his stories Next, the opening of the Centennial Ring at Bayreuth, that treats the taken from medieval myth may have little meaning for us today; opera as an allegory of industrialism of Wagner’s time. It was also the each new production must make them relevant; I call this the Aah! first BayreuthRing not directed by a member of the Wagner family: factor. [The unsavory political overtones associated with his work make a third reason; we shall deal with this in detail next week.] — Bayreuth, 1976. Patrice Chéreau d; Pierre Boulez c. 2 Then a production by the Catalan company La Fura dels Baus that Wagner’s Ring eschews illusion in favor of a theatrical approach that lets all its devices show. We shall see the same opening as in the other two clips, Richard Wagner (1813–83) finally presented his then cut to the moment when the Rhinegold awakens: tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen in 1876, at the festival theater built for him in Bayreuth by — Valencia, 2010. Carlus Padrissa d; Zubin Mehta c. 4 his patron, King Ludwig II. He had been working From there to the current Met production by Robert Lepage, an artist on the project for 25 years, interrupting it to who uses much the same means as La Fura dels Baus, but with a write Tristan und Isolde (1865) and Die Meister- significantly different aesthetic: singer (1868), the subject of next week’s class. — NY Met, 2010. Robert Lepage d; James Levine c. 2½ A very brief outline of the cycle is as follows: Finally, the highly controversial production at Bayreuth by the German • Das Rheingold. Alberich steals the Rhinegold theater director Frank Castorf, who sees the lure of Wagner’s gold in to forge the Ring. Wotan steals from Alberich to terms of the wealth and corruption unleashed in the pursuit of Oil. We pay for Valhalla but must relinquish the Ring. shall see the opening of the scene, as always, then the awakening of • Die Walküre. Wotan’s attempts to regain the Ring end in the death of the gold, then finally the transition into the next scene, one of the his son Siegmund and the exile of his disobedient daughter Brünnhilde. orchestral interludes that make the Ring score so special. • Siegfried. Siegfried, the son of Siegmund and his twin Sieglinde, — Bayreuth, 2016. Frank Castorf d; Marek Janowski c. 10 reforges his father’s sword, regains the Ring and awakens Brünnhilde. • Götterdämmerung. Siegfried is tricked into betraying Brünnhilde, and is killed. She leaps onto his pyre, burns Valhalla, and returns the Ring. A Woman’s Story — Trailer for the Ring. Chicago; David Pountney, dir. 1½ The “Cophenhagen Ring” directed by Kasper Bech Holten in 2003 is In the first part of the class, we shall look at five different responses to updated to almost the present day—more precisely, a present day the opening scene of the first opera, Das Rheingold, which takes place in looking back on the ruins of a more foolish past. Many of its scenes— the waters of the Rhine, to see how directors have used new technical the Rheingold that opens in a drained indoor swimming pool, for means to execute Wagner’s wishes, or to present him in a new context. instance—have all the “Wow!” factor one could want. But Holten is We shall then view an hour-long compilation of scenes from the entire really after the “Aah!” that recognizes that this notorious saga of men Ring in a production that challenges its traditional macho interpretation. behaving badly can also work as a narrative of women and family.