Valentin Schwarz received almost unanimous rejection for his inconclusive new production of Richard Wagner’s «Ring des Nibelungen». There is hope in music, but the work has yet to really begin.
Do you know how that will be? The norns are still searching in Valentin Schwarz’s Bayreuth “Ring” production.
Well, Alberich, that failed. This is how Wotan, the father of the gods, jokes in the second act of Wagner’s “Siegfried” after he has willfully confronted his opponent with the dragon worm Fafner. He should simply give him this dubious ring, the evil dwarf whispers, so he can sleep on his pot of gold instead of being killed by the “most noble hero in the world”. But all the whistling is useless – especially not in Bayreuth in 2022. Because Fafner isn’t a worm here, he’s in bed instead of the Nibelungen hoard, and he doesn’t die fighting a dragon either, but of a heart attack after Siegfried took his walker away from him. It is questionable whether he ever owned the ring that promises world domination. But it doesn’t really matter either.
In his new production of Wagner’s tetralogy “Der Ring des Nibelungen”, Valentin Schwarz continues to break up the storylines in the third and fourth parts so wantonly that soon one hardly fits into the other. What could pass as a lively game with scenic counterpoints, wrong tracks and cliffhangers in the first two parts “Rheingold” and “Walküre” becomes a nuisance in the second half of the 16-hour cycle. Because this alleged “Netflix ring” is neither a cycle nor a series – any simple four-parter with such an absurd collection of unconnected themes and motifs would fly upright from the program.
howl of protest
At least that’s how the overwhelming majority of the audience in the Bayreuth Festspielhaus sees it, except that the remote control isn’t used to vote here. Instead, Wagner’s venerable opera barn trembled with howls of protest when Schwarz’s team of directors appeared for the first time after the end of “Götterdämmerung” – the sound pressure there in front of the curtain must be considerable. Since the previous production, the Castorf “Ring” (2013 to 2017), which also failed with a bang, the Festspielhaus has not experienced any such demonstrations of displeasure.
Well, Valentin, that failed, one might think so, and the files on this debacle were immediately closed. It’s still a shame because of the missed opportunities. The young director certainly has some ideas that could have turned into something. For example, the observation that all those involved in the mythical ring series define themselves almost constantly through their relationships and mutual family relationships – hence the original series association, which even occurs in phases in the bickering of the gods in “Rheingold” and in the badly exaggerated Gibichungen world of “Götterdämmerung”. rises.
Beware of these Gibichungen: Gutrune (Elisabeth Teige) and Gunther (Michael Kupfer-Radecky) are chasing Siegfried (Clay Hilley, bottom right).
There is also a kernel of truth to the idea that the next generation always inherits the conflicts of their creators and is therefore all too willing to exploit them. He could carry the entire event if Schwarz would stage him coherently. But the numerous child doubles of the protagonists do not gain a clear function. And of all things, the first “Siegfried” act, in which the blue-eyed brawler is conditioned for the senseless murder of Fafner, sinks into chaos after a funny start – not least because the director can’t get a grip on a problem he caused himself.
sword crutch
It is the cerebral way of dealing with the central props of the tetralogy, namely ring, camouflage helmet, sword and spear. All superficial attempts to update the archaic weapons seem unintentionally funny. Schwarz and his dramaturge Konrad Kuhn recognize the danger, but fall into the next trap with their eyes wide open: because the magic sword Nothung is a simple pistol – probably because of an allusion to the clan world of the Mafia that has not yet been carried out – there is in “Siegfried” nothing more to forge. Instead, Wotan brings – caution, dramaturge humor! – passed a crutch from which a ready-made sword can be pulled if necessary. But then again nobody needs it, and the whole thing seems so silly that the last person here loses patience with the director.
Mime (Arnold Bezuyen) wants to indoctrinate Siegfried in his spirit. Or maybe he just cleans his dolls.
Black can create clear, simple scenes and persevere, as he proves in the second act of «Götterdämmerung». Here Hagen’s sinister men – in contrast to most of the soloists, the choir singing in a fantastically understandable way (study: Eberhard Friedrich) – appear with winged helmet masks from the Germanic primeval fog and joke so fiercely about the stumbling gods that it sweeps away all irritations of the director. Something similar happens at the end, where scenically nothing wants to dawn anymore; but the music creates its own meaning here.
Exemplary
This is also the merit of Cornelius Meister, whose conducting undergoes a pleasing development over the course of the four evenings: with the festival orchestra he finds more and more of a flowing narrative stream and in doing so also exploits the tonal framework more and more convincingly. What he still lacks in terms of dynamic fine detail and empathy in the accompaniment of the singers, however, could be experienced on Thursday at the last revival of “Lohengrin” under Christian Thielemann. The ousted music director of the festival showed here in an exemplary manner how singers are carried through their roles and which subtleties are possible, especially in loud passages in the delicate festival hall acoustics.
Wotan (Tomasz Konieczny) has to hope for his favorite daughter Brünnhilde (Daniela Köhler), but she has emancipated herself from Valhalla.
A development seems possible with Cornelius Meister, provided that a certain continuity with the conductors finally returns in Bayreuth in the sense of the workshop idea. In the area of singers, too, continuous ensemble work would be preferable to the constant ad hoc casts, which will also be increased this summer due to Corona failures. Celebrated Wagner greats like Klaus Florian Vogt (Siegmund) and Georg Zeppenfeld (Hunding), interesting younger voices like Lise Davidsen (Sieglinde) and Okka von der Damerau (Erda) and promising newcomers like stand-ins Michael Kupfer-Radecky (Wotan) and Clay Hilley (Siegfried) meets veterans like Iréne Theorin (Brünnhilde) and Albert Dohmen (Hagen); in addition, there are many casts that seem arbitrary.
This juxtaposition can hardly be avoided in view of the few genuine Wagner voices in today’s singing business; the legendary Bayreuth ensembles of the 1950s to 1970s are not obsolete as role models and long-term goals. The musical work on this “Ring” is only just beginning – the gods only know whether there is anything left to be saved in the direction of the director.