Ring Cycle Review: Götterdämmerung
It's over! *sob*
What's interesting about the Cycle is that Wagner took a decade long break in the middle of Siegfried, so the music of Götterdämmerung is very different than what came before -- but it's still built around the system of leitmotifs that he established in the first three operas. The result is that the music of Götterdåmmerung is richly layered and surprisingly different from the first three operas.
I have to say that I walked into Götterdämmerung a Wagner fan. I may have walked out a Ringhead. I can understand why people will travel the globe seeing Ring Cycle after Ring Cycle. (There was a gentleman in the row ahead of me who was watching his twelfth cycle!)
In this cycle, there was a different tenor (Ian Storey) performing Siegfried in Götterdämmerung, as learning the part in both operas at one proved to be too much for one man (Storey realized this early in rehearsals and so they brought up the alternate, Jay Hunter Morris, to perform in Siegfried). I actually found that the two performances worked quite well together, for which I'll give credit to both tenors and to the director. Storey is a bit older than Morris and it seemed to work that love for Brünnhilde has matured him slightly. But only slightly. He's still a punk. ;)
Götterdämmerung opens with the Norns. In this production, their threads become wires and cables, and when the thread breaks the power flickers out. It was a simple change, but worked quite well. (I did find it interesting that the supertitles contained the words "cable" and "connection", making me think the translation was made especially for this production. It has also instilled a slight distrust in the accuracy of supertitle translations from now on.)
So back on Brünnhilde's rock, it seems Siegfried is already tired of home life and is off to seek more adventures, and Brünnhilde is all "I'm not gonna hold you back, baby." I confess this is the one moment that annoys me about the plot, but I'm not really sure where to lay blame other than the Victorian era in general -- especially since domesticity is supposedly Brünnhilde's punishment for saving Sieglinde.
As with the other opera shifting us forward in time, Götterdåmmerung takes us to the oft-invoked "not too distant future" and the home of the Gibichungs reflected this very well. The set was all steel and glass, very cold, with few colours that occur in nature. In fact, I confess to being slightly distracted by the bright green drink they were passing around. I couldn't get "Soylent Green is people!" out of my head.
Andrea Silvestrelli played Hagen -- he was the Fasholt that so impressed me in Das Rhinegold and Melissa Citro, who was Freia, also doubled at Gutrune. It was lovely to see these two talented singers play off each other in larger roles. (I note that Silvestrelli is playing Hunding at Seattle Opera's Cycle next year, so the temptations there have already begun.)
Ian Storey gave us a lovely moment as Siegfried drinks the potion and twenty seconds later proposes marriage to Gutrune, but only after having a good look at her legs (peeking under her skirts to be sure).
Waltraute (Brünnhilde's sister) visits her sister on the rock to try to convince her to give the Ring back to the Rhienmaidens, but Brünnhilde refuses to give up Siegfried's love token. After she leaves, Siegfried comes back, disguised by the Tarnhelm as Gunter and rips the Ring from Brünnhilde's hand.
I've always found the way the Tarnhelm is used to be interesting. When Alberich transforms in Das Rheingold, all kinds of special effects are used, which always seems odd in retrospect, as Siegfried's "disguise" has no such tricks (really it can't have it without completely interfering in the tenor's performance).
Act Two opened with a fun moment where the projection screen was used to transform the audience into Hagen's television -- and he wasn't very interested in watching us, no matter how many channels he tried. There was also a moment between Citro and Silvestrelli that made me wonder if Hagen and Gutrune were sleeping together.
The next morning, in a stark gathering place with a simple stage, Brünnehilde is brought back by Gunter, wearing a grey dress. Again, Nina Stemme did some wonderful character work -- you can tell that Brünnhilde is not comfortable in such clothing. I also love the touch that both she and Gutrune were wearing combat boots under their dresses. I loved the pomp with which this scene was played and the overt patriarchy of Gibichung society (at one point the female choral members are literally held down by the men) -- which really pays off later in the Immolation scene.
Act Three brings us back to the Rhien of the first scene of Das Rheingold, only now the water is choked with garbage and the three Rhienmaidens formerly pristine costumes are completely stained with grime. They are futilely trying to clean the river, but one can see at a glance that the process is a lost cause. Siegfried appears and they try to convince him to give up the ring, but in the end they console themselves that Brünnehilde will give them a better hearing.
Siegfried returns to the hunt and, in the trope of telling stories around the campfire, Hagen encourages Siegfried to tell the story of his youth. Hagen seems to be trying to goad Gunter into killing Siegfried when he gives the latter a potion of remembrance to make him tell of waking Brünnhilde, but in the end, Hagen break the shaft off his spear and stabs Siegfried.
And at this point, Wagner says: "You like my music? Now listen to this!"
Siegfried's funeral march is overwhelming. Hearing it on a recording is one thing, but in a live production it was enough to bring tears to my eyes. As with many of the transitions in this production, this music was left to carry itself against projections. In this case, it was a moon travelling across the sky, slowly coming into eclipse.
Back at the Gibichung hall, Guntrune awaits Siegfried's return. This is a wonderful moment from Citro again, as we realize that she really did fall for Siegfried. There was no potion on her side.
Of course, the truth comes out and Brünnehilde once again performs Wotan's wishes in spite of him. Nina Stemme carried the last twenty minutes or so of the Ring Cycle masterfully as the chorus women built the funeral pyre, the men arriving too late to stop them.
Brünnhilde takes a torch and walks into the flames. The flames rise up and as Vallhalla burns, the same pictures of American heros that we saw in the Ride of the Valkeries come spilling down. As the Rhine overflows and the Ring is returned, the golden fabric of the Rhinegold reappears.
Lastly a child in white appears from the ashes and walks downstage, carefully bringing a small bit of greenery, which she plants and carefully begins to tend as the curtain falls.
Thus ended my first Ring Cycle, and I have a feeling it won't be my last. It was worth all the planning, expense and, yes, even the sunburn.
Cate
What's interesting about the Cycle is that Wagner took a decade long break in the middle of Siegfried, so the music of Götterdämmerung is very different than what came before -- but it's still built around the system of leitmotifs that he established in the first three operas. The result is that the music of Götterdåmmerung is richly layered and surprisingly different from the first three operas.
I have to say that I walked into Götterdämmerung a Wagner fan. I may have walked out a Ringhead. I can understand why people will travel the globe seeing Ring Cycle after Ring Cycle. (There was a gentleman in the row ahead of me who was watching his twelfth cycle!)
In this cycle, there was a different tenor (Ian Storey) performing Siegfried in Götterdämmerung, as learning the part in both operas at one proved to be too much for one man (Storey realized this early in rehearsals and so they brought up the alternate, Jay Hunter Morris, to perform in Siegfried). I actually found that the two performances worked quite well together, for which I'll give credit to both tenors and to the director. Storey is a bit older than Morris and it seemed to work that love for Brünnhilde has matured him slightly. But only slightly. He's still a punk. ;)
Götterdämmerung opens with the Norns. In this production, their threads become wires and cables, and when the thread breaks the power flickers out. It was a simple change, but worked quite well. (I did find it interesting that the supertitles contained the words "cable" and "connection", making me think the translation was made especially for this production. It has also instilled a slight distrust in the accuracy of supertitle translations from now on.)
So back on Brünnhilde's rock, it seems Siegfried is already tired of home life and is off to seek more adventures, and Brünnhilde is all "I'm not gonna hold you back, baby." I confess this is the one moment that annoys me about the plot, but I'm not really sure where to lay blame other than the Victorian era in general -- especially since domesticity is supposedly Brünnhilde's punishment for saving Sieglinde.
As with the other opera shifting us forward in time, Götterdåmmerung takes us to the oft-invoked "not too distant future" and the home of the Gibichungs reflected this very well. The set was all steel and glass, very cold, with few colours that occur in nature. In fact, I confess to being slightly distracted by the bright green drink they were passing around. I couldn't get "Soylent Green is people!" out of my head.
Andrea Silvestrelli played Hagen -- he was the Fasholt that so impressed me in Das Rhinegold and Melissa Citro, who was Freia, also doubled at Gutrune. It was lovely to see these two talented singers play off each other in larger roles. (I note that Silvestrelli is playing Hunding at Seattle Opera's Cycle next year, so the temptations there have already begun.)
Ian Storey gave us a lovely moment as Siegfried drinks the potion and twenty seconds later proposes marriage to Gutrune, but only after having a good look at her legs (peeking under her skirts to be sure).
Waltraute (Brünnhilde's sister) visits her sister on the rock to try to convince her to give the Ring back to the Rhienmaidens, but Brünnhilde refuses to give up Siegfried's love token. After she leaves, Siegfried comes back, disguised by the Tarnhelm as Gunter and rips the Ring from Brünnhilde's hand.
I've always found the way the Tarnhelm is used to be interesting. When Alberich transforms in Das Rheingold, all kinds of special effects are used, which always seems odd in retrospect, as Siegfried's "disguise" has no such tricks (really it can't have it without completely interfering in the tenor's performance).
Act Two opened with a fun moment where the projection screen was used to transform the audience into Hagen's television -- and he wasn't very interested in watching us, no matter how many channels he tried. There was also a moment between Citro and Silvestrelli that made me wonder if Hagen and Gutrune were sleeping together.
The next morning, in a stark gathering place with a simple stage, Brünnehilde is brought back by Gunter, wearing a grey dress. Again, Nina Stemme did some wonderful character work -- you can tell that Brünnhilde is not comfortable in such clothing. I also love the touch that both she and Gutrune were wearing combat boots under their dresses. I loved the pomp with which this scene was played and the overt patriarchy of Gibichung society (at one point the female choral members are literally held down by the men) -- which really pays off later in the Immolation scene.
Act Three brings us back to the Rhien of the first scene of Das Rheingold, only now the water is choked with garbage and the three Rhienmaidens formerly pristine costumes are completely stained with grime. They are futilely trying to clean the river, but one can see at a glance that the process is a lost cause. Siegfried appears and they try to convince him to give up the ring, but in the end they console themselves that Brünnehilde will give them a better hearing.
Siegfried returns to the hunt and, in the trope of telling stories around the campfire, Hagen encourages Siegfried to tell the story of his youth. Hagen seems to be trying to goad Gunter into killing Siegfried when he gives the latter a potion of remembrance to make him tell of waking Brünnhilde, but in the end, Hagen break the shaft off his spear and stabs Siegfried.
And at this point, Wagner says: "You like my music? Now listen to this!"
Siegfried's funeral march is overwhelming. Hearing it on a recording is one thing, but in a live production it was enough to bring tears to my eyes. As with many of the transitions in this production, this music was left to carry itself against projections. In this case, it was a moon travelling across the sky, slowly coming into eclipse.
Back at the Gibichung hall, Guntrune awaits Siegfried's return. This is a wonderful moment from Citro again, as we realize that she really did fall for Siegfried. There was no potion on her side.
Of course, the truth comes out and Brünnehilde once again performs Wotan's wishes in spite of him. Nina Stemme carried the last twenty minutes or so of the Ring Cycle masterfully as the chorus women built the funeral pyre, the men arriving too late to stop them.
Brünnhilde takes a torch and walks into the flames. The flames rise up and as Vallhalla burns, the same pictures of American heros that we saw in the Ride of the Valkeries come spilling down. As the Rhine overflows and the Ring is returned, the golden fabric of the Rhinegold reappears.
Lastly a child in white appears from the ashes and walks downstage, carefully bringing a small bit of greenery, which she plants and carefully begins to tend as the curtain falls.
Thus ended my first Ring Cycle, and I have a feeling it won't be my last. It was worth all the planning, expense and, yes, even the sunburn.
Cate