Wagner: The End of Gods

Wagner's two notable heroes, Siegfried and Parsifal, are both naive, straightforward and uneducated. But Siegfried, who seems more intelligent of the two, ends up duped and vanquished, while the dim-witted Parsifal learns to recognize the evil and resist it. Thus he earns the honor of joining the ranks of selected knights that guard the Holy Grail and, according to Wagner, sires another hero, Lohengrin. Siegfried perishes without glory or issue as a result of betrayal and his own errors.

If Siegfried's demise reminds you of Greek tragedy, there is a good reason for it. Other than the name Nibelung in the title, Wagner's tetralogy has little to do with medieval German poem Das Nibelunglied, and what it does have is contained in Götterdämmerung. Wagner's other sources include ancient Norse sagas, German mythology, classical fairy tales and, yes, Greek drama. His ability to compress and modify elements from divergent sources into a more or less coherent story continues to dazzle with its brilliance. The Nibelunglied's Siegfried was neither a product of an incestuous union, nor a lover of his aunt. He subdued and abducted Brünhilde for his prospective brother in law Gunther.  There are several older sagas that differ in their accounts of Siegfried (or Sigurd), but in Das Nibelunglied, Siegfried loved and married Krimhild, Götterdämmerung's Gutrune.

Wagner's Siegfried is physically strong, beautiful and intrepid. He is intelligent enough to figure out that Mime is not his father, he is able to forge a sword, something a much more experienced Mime cannot, and he knows where to inflict the most effective blow to kill Fafner. All of those skills have made him cocky and overconfident, but have not prepared him to deal with treachery. As a boy, Siegfried would have taken advice from Forest Bird, but as an adult he laughs off the warning from Rhein maidens that could have saved his life. His braggadocio is perhaps his biggest flaw and he pays for it dearly.
 
Brünhilde's case is a little more complex. Generally considered The Ring's larger-than-life heroine  - the savior of the world - she makes her share of mistakes before doing the right thing. Siegfried's betrayal seems unforgivable, but to plot with Hagen to kill him in revenge? That's bad manners even in the pre-historic era. In the end, she returns the cursed ring to its rightful owners, but on careful analysis it was Wotan's plan for her (remember Wotan's dialogue with Erda in Siegfried). Brünhilde's downfall began when she first refused to give up the ring, a token of love from Siegfried. The moment she held on to it, the curse kicked in: Siegfried accepted a doctored "refreshment" from Gutrune and fell prey to Hagen's plot. If Brünhilde is a hero, she is that because of the tragedies that befell her, rather than any grand deeds on her part. That seems to be the case with most Ring heroes - their appeal is in their failures more than in their accomplishments.

Götterdämmerung, the Norns

The last installment of The Ring cycle on Friday was a glorious end of the gods. Director Francesca Zambello, achieved the right balance between dream and reality. The Norns in the opening scene worked with electric cables instead of yarns, while they discussed the past, present and future, providing helpful information for those who missed the first three operas. A cable (aka rope of destiny) breaking at one point portends bad future. All three singers (Lindsay Ammann, Jamie Barton and Marcy Stonikas) were excellent and I hope we are spared yet another review labeling Wagner's narratives as "excruciatingly" long. Zambello has done a superb job of making the Norns scene somber, but lively. I love that prologue even when there is nothing on the stage, because it unveils another nuance of the story every time, but on Friday just examining details on the stage along with the music made it fly by.

In the next scene, we are back at the Valkyre's rock last seen in Siegfried. Catherine Foster and Daniel Brenna reprized the roles of Brünhilde and Siegfried. They seemed to sing with vigor, but it was hard to hear them over the orchestra.

Siegfried's Rhein journey is accompanied by somewhat abstract projections of flowing water, which is all that was needed. The Gibichung Hall was austere and elegant in black-and-white, and shades in between. Eric Halverson's Hagen was older than expected, but had a voice that no orchestra could overpower. His take on Gunther's conniving step brother was as good as one could wish, but completely different from Gidon Saks's portrayal in the WNO's 2009 concert performance. Saks was a more brooding and moody Hagen, who could be seductive, insinuating and commanding by turns - the most sexy Hagen I have ever seen. Halverson projected power and self confidence, and was more of a bully.

Götterdämmerung, Hunting Scene

Brenna's Siegfried changed from an inexperienced young man, a boy really, to a self-assured grown up which Siegfried had become through his relationship with Brünhilde. The former demi-godess taught him all she knew, she said, but that clearly did not include how to recognize deceit. Having lived mostly in isolation, Siegfried has poor social skills and makes his first sortie into the real world completely unprepared. He trusts the lying Gibichungs, but not the sincere river maidens. His memory is selective: he remembers that he has gained the ring by killing the dragon, but forgets all about Brünhilde. What a confused young man! Brenna was good in Siegfried, but affirmed himself definitively in the crucial death scene of Götterdämmerung. 

Foster was not my favorite Brünhilde. She may have done everything right but, as far as I am concerned,  failed to electrify with her presence. The weakest scene of the evening for me was the meeting between Brünhilde and Waltraute. Foster was more of a revengeful daughter than a woman in love, and Jamie Barton was neither a fierce Valkyre, nor a desperate daughter.

As Gutrune, Melissa Citro was simply lovely. Her seduction of Siegfried was a charming combination of tease and restraint, her desperation over his death genuine, her remorse at having been part of a ploy that killed him convincing.

Götterdämmerung, Hagen and Gutrune

The male chorus was excellent throughout. Conductor Philippe Auguin was impressive yet again, though he turned up the volume too high in more places than I would have liked.

Rhein maidens wading through the river full of trash was Zambello's environmental message, creative and effective. Less creative and somewhat kitschy was the closing scene in which a young girl comes to plant a tree next to the now cleansed river, as a symbol of new and better world coming after the departure of corrupt gods. 

I couldn't quite understand the meaning of barbed wires and watch towers projected in black-and-white in the background before the hunting scene.  Good reason to see the opera again.

The great thing about Wagner's Ring is that it fits into almost any time and place. It lends itself to diverse concepts, settings and interpretations more than any other opera I can think of, and every production reveals another layer worth exploring. 

Wotan can be a male chauvinist or a henpecked husband. He did seek wisdom from women - the Norns, Erda - but for advice on legal loopholes he turns to a male, Loge. Having once made a wrong choice, could he have stopped the downright spiraling and get back on the right path? 

And who is the real hero of The Ring?  Is it Siegmund who refused glory in the name of love, or is it the fearless Siegfried? Brünhilde the Valkyre, or Brünhilde the woman? There is no definitive answer to any of these questions, which allows everyone to find his or her own. Perhaps that's a secret ingredient of Wagner's lasting appeal.

Siegfried - A Hero of Our Time

If Siegfried is your favorite Ring opera, as it is mine, getting to see a new production can be a mixed blessing.  Depending on the tenor portraying the title hero, the performance can offer four hours of pure bliss or just an average musical evening. WNO's rendition of the third part of Wagner's Nibelung Ring on Wednesday not only had charismatic Siegfried - it was outstanding in every way.

When we first meet Sigfried, he is a teenage orphan, adopted by Nibelung dwarf Mime who is grooming him for a fight with Fafner (giant-cum-dragon) over the Rhine treasure.  Like his brother Alberich and like ruling god Wotan, Mime covets the gold ring and headcover Tarnhelm, for their special powers. The evil dwarf hopes that Siegfried will get the gold for him just like Wotan hoped Siegfried's father would get it for him. Neither the dwarf nor the god can fight for the treasure themselves, one because he is too weak, the other because he is bound by a contract, which forbids him to fight the giant.

Mime trying to forge a sword, Act I, Siegfried

Wotan therefore needs a hero who would get the ring for him without implicating the gods. The hero must be a human and an enemy of gods. Siegmund may have been all of that, but Wotan's plan to use his estranged son, fell through when his wife Fricka convinced him (for her own reasons) that providing Siegmund with the god's invincible sword, no matter how indirectly, would still make him an accomplice.

There are countless interpretations of Wagner's story and intent, but this much is clear from the narrative. People who doze off during The Ring's lengthy recitatives may miss important details and subsequently watch the highlights without enough context. Among the multitude of questions that one hears these days is why is Wotan looking for a strong male hero when a female one ( his daughter Brünhilde) is standing right before him. Wotan explains it extensively in Act II, Scene 2 of Die Walküre and knowing the gist of that narrative helps understand the whole cycle. In Siegfried, I would suggest paying careful attention to Wotan's dialogue with Erda because it contains important clues to understanding The Ring's last opera, Götterdämmerung.

This is not to say that you can't simply sit back and enjoy the music. Daniel Brenna's Siegfried on Wednesday was captivating. He looked and sounded the age he is supposed to be - presumably late teens - so much so that I could almost hear him saying "whatever," or "you are hovering," and many other things my son used to say to me when he was a teenager.  He also made me think of many young U.S. servicemen shipped off to Iraq and Afghanistan, not quite knowing what awaits there. Brenna sang with a clear bell-like voice that sounded fresh till the very end, including the grueling Act III, after he had already been singing more than two hours and Brünhilde only began.

Daniel Brenna is a youthful and charismatic Siegfried

Catherine Foster's Brünhilde was a pleasure to hear and if you did not know she had hurt her ankle, you would not know it. She made it look like she was somewhat insecure on her legs because she was still waking up from her 18-year-long nap.

Alan Held showed us yet another side of Wotan - an aging god still holding on to power, but aware it won't be for long. Lindsay Ammann as Erda, was convincing as a wise Earth goddess who has gotten tired of the World and wants to retire for good. Her resignation is a last blow to Wotan, one that convinces him to accept the demise of the gods. Again, pay attention to what is said between them!

David Cangelosi as Mime provided the most entertainment for the evening, pausing with his shenanigans long enough and in right places to remind us of his evil intentions. Gordon Hawkins as his brother Alberich was straightforward in expressing anger and frustration at being duped. They made a good pair.

I was looking forward to Soloman Howard's Fafner and he was worth the wait. Howard has a deep, alluring bass and as a dying giant, he elicited compassion. Singing from inside a huge armored machine, which sensibly replaces the dragon in this production, gave his voice a sinister tint.

Jacqueline Echols was a chirpy Forest Bird, presented as a bookish young girl, intent on mentoring Siegfried, who is illiterate at least in some ways.  She connected well with Brenna.

The greatest hero of Wednesday night's performance was conductor Philippe Auguin. He spun some of the most beguiling sounds to be had from Wagner's score, and I'd never heard the WNO orchestra play so well.